NO WONDER Alfred Hitchcock struck a scary chord with The Birds. Worldwide, there are 400 billion of the creatures, outnumbering us humans by nearly 60 to 1. But while there is no shortage of stories involving our feathered friends, accounts of their defining characteristic are sparse.
Thor Hanson’s Feathers is a sparkling history of the protein-based structures that keep birds aloft. Flitting between the aerodynamics of flight, thermodynamics of heat regulation, aesthetics of courtship and plenty more besides, Hanson provides an accessible and interesting introduction to what could have proved a dry topic.
Well-written science adds gravity to the…
