has gone far beyond using birdsong as a way of identifying birds. His aim in this book is to get us to identify with the birds themselves. With his knowledge of context and nuance, he manages the enthralling feat of hearing birds as individuals.
Kroodsma is a man you would love to go birding with. He takes us through a year of listening and recording 鈥� two superb CDs accompany the book 鈥� making notes and producing sonograms of demented beauty. If God dwells in the details, this is a devilishly godly man, his head lost in the hymns of the birds.
鈥淲ow!鈥� 鈥淜ur-r-ee-ow!鈥� 鈥淥h my gosh!鈥� 鈥淜ikikikikikik!鈥� he exclaims. The book is all in the present tense, too. Then he gives the game away: 鈥淭he words just don鈥檛 do. They don鈥檛 add up to what swirls within.鈥� True enough, but it鈥檚 not words that have limitations, it鈥檚 writers. His cheerful prose does not capture the feelings he has for birdsong.
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Listen to the songs and see Kroodsma鈥檚 sonograms
Houghton Mifflin
