Customer Reviews:
 history of an obsession June 22, 2005
this is a good, well written history of the madness that is twitching. It gave me an insight into that strange psyche that belongs to a certain kind of birder. It was also a very enjoyable read
The title says it all August 7, 2004
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is by a committed birder; not a birdwatcher, a birder. If you don't know the difference, you're a birdwatcher, a dude, or someone with no interest in birds at all. If you're a birdwatcher, you probably won't understand what's at the heart of this book, but if you're part of the tribe, it'll ring true all the way through. Whether it be the need to identify every single bird he sees, or the compulsion to have a pair of bins to hand 'just in case', I feel the same thread running through my life. I've never been able to devote as much time as I'd like to birding, but this book talks about things that are important to birders, however large their list. It may be a who's who of the legends in places, but that just makes it better; we're all birders, connected in some way by the way that birds rule our lives.
 Doesn't capture the joy I get from birding December 20, 2002
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
I love bird-watching and have spent many happy hours around the world behind a pair of binoculars but this book captures very little of the joy I get from watching birds. Yes it's occasionally funny and occasionally well written but most of the time it consists of little more than the birder equivalent of name dropping. I came away with a strong feeling that birding is a clique of people who feel that they are the only people who know what real birding is.
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