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| The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession | 
| Author: Mark Obmascik
Publisher: Free Press
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
Buy New: $1.91
You Save: $12.09 (86%)
New (46) Collectible (2) from $1.91
Avg. Customer Rating:  47 reviews
Sales Rank: 76601
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.8
ISBN: 0743245466
Dewey Decimal Number: 598.07234
EAN: 9780743245463
ASIN: 0743245466
Publication Date: February 1, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Thankyou for looking at Bookscorner1. May have a remainder mark and shelf wear.
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| Also Available In:
| • | Hardcover - The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession (Random House Large Print (Cloth/Paper)) | | • | Audio Cassette - The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature and Fowl Obsession | | • | Audio CD - The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature and Fowl Obsession | | • | Audio CD - The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession | | • | Audio Cassette - The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession | | • | Hardcover - The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession | | • | Audio Download - The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession (Unabridged) | | • | Audio Download - The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Every January 1, a quirky crowd storms out across North America for a spectacularly competitive event called a Big Year -- a grand, expensive, and occasionally vicious 365-day marathon of birdwatching. For three men in particular, 1998 would become a grueling battle for a new North American birding record. Bouncing from coast to coast on frenetic pilgrimages for once-in-a-lifetime rarities, they brave broiling deserts, bug-infested swamps, and some of the lumpiest motel mattresses known to man. This unprecedented year of beat-the-clock adventures ultimately leads one man to a record so gigantic that it is unlikely ever to be bested. Here, prize-winning journalist Mark Obmascik creates a dazzling, fun narrative of the 275,000-mile odyssey of these three obsessives as they fight to win the greatest -- or maybe worst -- birding contest of all time.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 42 more reviews...
 Fowl Language April 2, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"The Big Year" is an amazing, amusing, suspenseful read about competing birders. Who would've thought that birdwatching could be so cutthroat, and so FUN?
It traces the adventures of three men- Sandy Komito (whose achievements are astounding in the birding world), the chemist Al Levantin, and software expert Greg Miller. They sacrifice a year of their lives to find as many birds as possible. Komito is in it to break records. Levantin is looking for a new way to live his retirement. Miller is recovering from a nasty divorce. In the Big Year, they find adventure, birds, and themselves. They travel in the Rockies, the Florida wilderness, remote parts of Nevada--- it's great as a quest story.
"Big Year" is exuberant nature writing. Like the blackbird in the Beatles song, read this and take flight!
Competitive birding: obsession or passion? January 28, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
If you enjoyed Kingbird Highway: The Biggest Year in the Life of an Extreme Birder, Wild America: The Record of a 30,000 Mile Journey Around the Continent by a Distinguished Naturalist and His British Colleague or anything by Scott Weidensaul, you'll enjoy Obmascik's account of an unlikely collection of birders bent on breaking records.
The concept of the Big Year is pretty simple: see as many birds as possible. Since its inception, this simple concept has ballooned into a circus of maxed out credit cards, exorbitant helicopter flights and boat rides, visits to dumps on the Mexican border, and Christmas dinners in isolated Chinese restaurants. This book chronicles three competitors and their attempts at Birdwatching glory: Sandy Komito (the hardcore favorite, record-holding former construction worker), Greg Miller (the longshot computer programmer, working with limited resources) and Al Levantin (the rich, passionate retired chemical company tycoon).
As I see it, this book has two real strengths:
1.) For those of us who dream of dropping everything, getting in a car with a pair of binoculars and seeing all the birds that had previously only been pictures in field guides, this book is both fulfilling and inspiring. Fulfilling, in that at the end of a long day, its a passable substitute for having the time to actually go out and see the rare birds. Inspiring, in its affirmation that anybody--even you--can do it, as long as you're willing to sacrifice.
2.) The subjects of the story are developed into character so nicely in journalistic prose. You'll learn to root for the underdog, respect their sacrifice, and pity all of them for their clinically obsessive behavior.
I'd encourage anyone interested in adventure or birding to read this book. You won't be disappointed, and probably won't be able to put it down.
A terrific book, even for non-birders. January 26, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
An awesome book. It took recommendations from several friends before I finally decided to give this book a try. The subject matter seemed so uninteresting to me.
When you're wrong, you're wrong, and I was totally off base on this one. It was fascinating from start to finish. What I realise now is that books like this one, which document someone's obsession (doesn't have to be the author's) often turn out to be completely engrossing, if the author (as Obmascik does) succeeds in conveying the inherent excitement in a topic that gave rise to the obsession in the first place.
Never thought I would say it about a book related to birding, but I just cannot give this book a high enough recommendation.
 Not a birder but loved the book January 2, 2008
I particularly enjoyed this book for the exposure that it gave me to the birder's world. I can never see myself being as enthusiastic about birds as these folks were but it was fascinating to hear about the "sub-culture". Everyone has something they are passionate about and there are a few of my passions that I am sure have made others look at me strangely. My recommendation is to definitely get this book and then have a guide to birds handy so that when the birders get particularly enamored with some bird or another, you can look it up and see what all the fuss is about. My only hold back for not giving this book 5 stars is that the author wrote in a very detached style. The only time I really felt any passion from the author was when he wrote about the hummingbird that had traveled the coast and nearly died. He is a birder but yet his book read very factual - not emotional. It read like a fact-filled newspaper story...just the facts ma'am. (but i still loved the book)
Very entertaining, even for non-birders July 29, 2007
This book is an absolute must for birders who like to read about birders. Three totally different birders are depicted in such a clever way that they may start serving as prototypes for any birder you'll meet on birding travels later on.
This may all relate to obsessive birders (both the ones who are described as the readers themselves, like me) but also for non-birders (or less obsessive birders) the story is entertaining enough, as a sort of psychological thriller.
If you like it, then also read Kenn Kaufman's Kingbird Highway.
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