Preview
  • Birds and Us

  • A 12,000-Year History from Cave Art to Conservation
  • By: Tim Birkhead
  • Narrated by: Tim Birkhead
  • Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (12 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Birds and Us

By: Tim Birkhead
Narrated by: Tim Birkhead
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $27.30

Buy for $27.30

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

This audiobook narrated by acclaimed ornithologist Tim Birkhead traces the history of the long and close relationship between birds and humans.

Since the dawn of human history, birds have stirred our imagination, inspiring and challenging our ideas about science, faith, art, and philosophy. We have worshipped birds as gods, hunted them for sustenance, adorned ourselves with their feathers, studied their wings to engineer flight, and, more recently, attempted to protect them. In Birds and Us, award-winning writer and ornithologist Tim Birkhead takes us on a dazzling epic journey through our mutual history with birds, from the ibises mummified and deified by Ancient Egyptians to the Renaissance fascination with woodpecker anatomy—and from the Victorian obsession with egg collecting to today’s fight to save endangered species and restore their habitats.

Spanning continents and millennia, Birds and Us chronicles the beginnings of a written history of birds in ancient Greece and Rome, the obsession with falconry in the Middle Ages, and the development of ornithological science. Moving to the twentieth century, the book tells the story of the emergence of birdwatching and the field study of birds, and how they triggered an extraordinary flowering of knowledge and empathy for birds, eventually leading to today’s massive worldwide interest in birds—and the realization of the urgent need to save them.

Weaving in stories from Birkhead’s life as scientist, including far-flung expeditions to wondrous Neolithic caves in Spain and the bustling guillemot colonies of the Faroe Islands, this rich and fascinating book is an unforgettable account of how birds have shaped us, and how we have shaped them.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2022 Tim Birkhead (P)2022 Princeton University Press
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Critic reviews

"Birkhead shows how, across history, [birds] have continually captured our imaginations."—Matthew Broaddus, Publishers Weekly

"Tim Birkhead’s book succeeds at being both an excellent history book and an informative nature guide."—Matthew Benzing, Foreword Reviews

“Tim Birkhead is one of Britain’s leading zoologists, yet he skillfully bridges the gap between scientists and nonscientists.”—Stephen Moss, author of Mrs. Moreau’s Warbler: How Birds Got Their Names

What listeners say about Birds and Us

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    10
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    9
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    8
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Why birds ate important

Good social history of interaction between birds and humans. I enjoy watching birds although I am not a birder. The stories of bird behavior and importance of them in science was something I had not considered.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Voice unmatched

Incredible performance. Fascinating material lifted from the page and elevated beyond a reading to a transformative experience. I’ve never felt so relaxed.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!