The Verb 'To Bird' Sightings of an Avid Birder edition by Peter Cashwell Literature Fiction eBooks
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"[A] delightfully literary and eclectic memoir about the manifold joys of birding…Cashwell is a storyteller. A very literate, observant, insightful storyteller."—The Bloomsbury Review
"Reading this book was the next best thing to wandering in the woods with Peter Cashwell hoping to add a rufous-capped warbler to my life list. No, it was better—I could laugh out loud in delight as I turned the pages without fear of scaring the birds."—Katharine Weber, author of The Music Lesson
"An entertaining and witty meditation on birding."—Library Journal
All around the world, birds are the subject of intense, even spiritual, fascination, but relatively few people see the word bird as a verb. Peter Cashwell is one who does, and with good reason He birds (because he can't help it), and he teaches grammar (because he's paid to). An English teacher by profession and an avid birder by inner calling, Cashwell has written a whimsical and critical book about his many obsessions—birds, birders, language, literature, parenting, pop culture, and the human race.
Cashwell lovingly but irreverently explores the practice of birding, from choosing a field guide to luring vultures out of shrubbery, and gives his own eclectic travelogue of some of the nation's finest bird habitats. Part memoir, part natural history, part apology, The Verb 'To Bird' will enlighten and entertain anyone who's ever wandered around wet fields at the crack of dawn with dog-eared field guides crushed against the granola bars in their pockets. But you don't have to know the field marks of an indigo bunting to appreciate Cashwell's experiences with non-lending libraries, venomous insects, sports marketing, and animated Christmas specials.
"Birders as well as all others interested in birds will enjoy this witty and informative meditation. Declaring himself a victim of birding compulsive disorder, Cashwell, an English teacher in Virginia, does an excellent job of describing his fascination with observing and listening to birds."—Publishers Weekly
"Peter Cashwell possesses one of the rarest of all qualities in a nature writer an intelligent wit."—Robert Finch, co-editor of The Norton Book of Nature Writing
"A fine literary ramble and a good laugh to boot—no mean feat in a genre that perhaps takes itself to seriously."—John Hanson Mitchell, Editor of Sanctuary, Journal of the Massachusetts Audubon Society
"Writing with humor and gentle environmental rants, Cashwell does for his beloved birds what Bill Bryson did for the Appalachian Trail in his best-selling A Walk in the Woods."—Fredericksburg Free-Lance Star
"[Cashwell] does not stint on the details that matter to birders, but it's his ability to translate the joy of the experience for the non-birder that extends the book's appeal beyond the Nature/Ornithology shelves."—The Charlotte Observer
"Cashwell plays with the language as joyfully and skillfully as a musician coaxes melodies from his instrument."—Rocky Mount Telegram
Birds first captured Peter Cashwell's attention when his mother hung an avian mobile over his crib. He was born in Raleigh, N.C., grew up in Chapel Hill, and graduated from the University of North Carolina, where he took every creative writing course permitted by the English department (and one that wasn't). Cashwell has worked at lots of different jobs—radio announcer, rock musician, comic-book critic, improv comedy accompanist. Now he teaches English and speech at Woodberry Forest School in the foothills of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains.
The Verb 'To Bird' Sightings of an Avid Birder edition by Peter Cashwell Literature Fiction eBooks
This is the kind of book my husband hates...it's the kind of book that makes me grab his sleeve so that I can read the funny bits out loud. Except the funny bits keep coming, so he can't ever get away!Peter Cashwell manages to dissect his birding obsession, give you nuggets of information, and throw in snippets of history all while making you smile, chortle or laugh out loud. I don't know that I learned a lot...but then I have a bird-obsessed mother so have heard a lot of these facts before, but I enjoyed every step of this birding expedition. I'd love to go bird-watching with the author because I'd be sure that even if we saw no birds, we'd have a great time and I'd come home smarter.
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The Verb 'To Bird' Sightings of an Avid Birder edition by Peter Cashwell Literature Fiction eBooks Reviews
Readers with no interest in food or nature are missing out on some of today's most humorous, personable and evocative writing. Take Peter Cashwell, for instance, an English teacher (why couldn't I have had a teacher like him?) and self-styled victim of Birding Compulsive Disorder, whose first book, a lively and very funny loose-knit collection of essays, begins a description of pelican flight "If pelicans were drivers, they'd own huge, rectangular American luxury cars with plush interiors...."
Or how about this perfect picture of Skimmers off a damp, chilly beach "thirty or forty slim, scissorlike black birds wheeling around in the deepening gray; they looked like feathered knives tossed aloft by a master juggler."
Cashwell, who cross-references an eclectic knowledge of popular culture (particularly rock music and comic books), serious literature, and research with his birding, divides the book into three sections Birding, Birds, Birded. The first section leans toward the evolution of a birder - boyhood experiences with birds and mosquitoes in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, his later establishment of a life list (the move from casual to avid), migration counts, haiku from the Peterson Field Guide, and the serendipitous birding experiences of daily life, like the inherently funny attempted rescue of a vulture in the front yard.
The second section focuses on individual birds - how the cardinal got its name, why the starling deserves our hostility, the "social cachet" of raptors, and the poignant, funny tale of the owl that saved Christmas. And the third leans a bit more to the outings of the experienced birder, trips to add to the life list in Delaware, Iowa, even Long Island, NY. These are particularly evocative and full of the surprises that Cashwell finds especially rewarding in birding.
Those who pick this book up for the funny stories and incisive visuals of chilly, drizzly beautiful dawns, and then succumb to Cashwells' infectious enthusiasm will also find plenty of practical information on birding whens, wheres and hows. A word of warning though; casual backyard birders are likely to find themselves itching to get up at dawn and go tramping around bug-infested habitat with a pair of binoculars and a Peterson guide.
Loved this book!! Beautifuuly written and easy to read.
As a "Birder", I found this book to be a delightful read. It brought back memories of bird sightings over the past 30 years in the Southeastern U.S.
Mr. Cashwell has written a delightful book that all would enjoy. Regardless of whether or not you can tell the difference between a warbler and nuthatch, Cashwell enthusiasm for birding and his skill with the language will keep you chuckling throughout. If you love stories about family, friends, travel, and well, birds, this book is sure to please.
It is a good and interesting book for everyone who loves birds. The author obviously enjoys seeking new ones.
I would love to identify every new bird that I see. They usually fly away before I can see all the identifying marks.
This is an entertaining read. Not enormously informative, but definitely pleasurable.
As a birder, I could really relate to this book. Thoroughly enjoyed his stories of various species as it reminded me of my own first encounters. His writing style and wit makes this a good read for birders as well as non-birders. My only critique is that I wish it were longer. I was sad to reach the end.
This is the kind of book my husband hates...it's the kind of book that makes me grab his sleeve so that I can read the funny bits out loud. Except the funny bits keep coming, so he can't ever get away!
Peter Cashwell manages to dissect his birding obsession, give you nuggets of information, and throw in snippets of history all while making you smile, chortle or laugh out loud. I don't know that I learned a lot...but then I have a bird-obsessed mother so have heard a lot of these facts before, but I enjoyed every step of this birding expedition. I'd love to go bird-watching with the author because I'd be sure that even if we saw no birds, we'd have a great time and I'd come home smarter.
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