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A review by ifpoetshadmerch
To See Every Bird on Earth: A Father, a Son, and a Lifelong Obsession by Dan Koeppel
3.0
This wasn’t the book I was expecting.
I guess I wanted a book more about birds and less about birding. I only have myself to blame for this; the description is pretty clear as to what the book is about. Still, I was surprised, and a little bit sad, about the tone of the book. Seeing over 7,000 species of birds in a lifetime seems like an incredible feat, one that I can’t totally wrap my head around. For example, if I saw one new bird everyday, it would take me over 19 years to see 7,000. But the way that Richard’s (Koeppel’s father) birding is described in the book took away the marvel of the feat. Koeppel reiterates time and time again that his father doesn’t even like birds… Excuse me?!
I would say that Koeppel is jaded with his father’s birding obsession for 90 percent of the book (not without good reason). While I appreciate the honest portrayal, I still would have liked to see a bit more balance between awe and critique. This book was also a little too speculative for me, like Koeppel was forcing a storyline and trying to explain his father’s obsession based on fragments of memory. A little too unscientific for me.
I guess I wanted a book more about birds and less about birding. I only have myself to blame for this; the description is pretty clear as to what the book is about. Still, I was surprised, and a little bit sad, about the tone of the book. Seeing over 7,000 species of birds in a lifetime seems like an incredible feat, one that I can’t totally wrap my head around. For example, if I saw one new bird everyday, it would take me over 19 years to see 7,000. But the way that Richard’s (Koeppel’s father) birding is described in the book took away the marvel of the feat. Koeppel reiterates time and time again that his father doesn’t even like birds… Excuse me?!
I would say that Koeppel is jaded with his father’s birding obsession for 90 percent of the book (not without good reason). While I appreciate the honest portrayal, I still would have liked to see a bit more balance between awe and critique. This book was also a little too speculative for me, like Koeppel was forcing a storyline and trying to explain his father’s obsession based on fragments of memory. A little too unscientific for me.