Homing
On Pigeons, Dwellings and Why We Return
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Narrated by:
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Matt Addis
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By:
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Jon Day
About this listen
'[Day has] succeeded in making that most familiar of birds seem mysterious, almost magical, and illuminated, brilliantly, the urge towards home' Malachy Tallack
A feral history of home, and our relationship with that most unloved bird.
As a boy, Jon Day was fascinated by pigeons, which he used to rescue from the streets of London. Twenty years later he moved away from the city centre to the suburbs to start a family. But in moving house, he began to lose a sense of what it means to feel at home.
Returning to his childhood obsession with the birds, he built a coop in his garden and joined a local pigeon racing club. Over the next few years, as he made a home with his young family in Leyton, he learned to train and race his pigeons, hoping that they might teach him to feel homed.
Having lived closely with humans for tens of thousands of years, pigeons have become powerful symbols of peace and domesticity. But they are also much-maligned, and nowadays most people think of these birds, if they do so at all, as vermin.
A book about the overlooked beauty of this species, and about what it means to dwell, Homing delves into the curious world of pigeon fancying, explores the scientific mysteries of animal homing, and traces the cultural, political and philosophical meanings of home. It is a book about the making of home and making for home: a book about why we return.
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The Art of Travel
- By: Alain de Botton
- Narrated by: Nicholas Bell
- Length: 5 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Aside from love, few actvities seem to promise us as much happiness as going traveling: taking off for somewhere else, somewhere far from home, a place with more interesting weather, customs, and landscapes. But although we are inundated with advice on where to travel, few people seem to talk about why we should go and how we can become more fulfilled by doing so.
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Dull, suggestions for better alternatives
- By J. Natael on 08-07-13
By: Alain de Botton
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Come On Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All
- A New Zealand Story
- By: Christina Thompson
- Narrated by: Sarah Mollo-Christensen
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Come on Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All is the story of the cultural collision between Westerners and the Maoris of New Zealand, told partly as a history of the complex and bloody period of contact between Europeans and the Maoris in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and partly as the story of Christina Thompson's marriage to a Maori man.
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a beautiful story
- By Pumpkin99 on 12-24-22
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Desert Notebooks
- A Road Map for the End of Time
- By: Ben Ehrenreich
- Narrated by: David Bendena
- Length: 11 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Layering climate science, mythologies, nature writing, and personal experiences, Desert Notebooks offers a vital and necessary chronicle of our past and our present - perfect for fans of Robert Macfarlane and Elizabeth Rush - that’s unflinching, urgent, and yet timeless and profound.
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Not about the desert, Not about Joshua Tree
- By Steve on 07-12-20
By: Ben Ehrenreich
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The Ravenmaster
- My Life with the Ravens at the Tower of London
- By: Christopher Skaife
- Narrated by: Christopher Skaife
- Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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The title of Ravenmaster is a serious title indeed, and after decades of serving the Queen, Yeoman Warder Christopher Skaife took on the added responsibility of caring for the infamous ravens. In The Ravenmaster, he lets listeners in on his life as he feeds his birds raw meat and biscuits soaked in blood, buys their food at Smithfield Market, and ensures that these unusual, misunderstood, and utterly brilliant corvids are healthy, happy, and ready to captivate the four million tourists who flock to the Tower every year.
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A Classic, I Was Spellbound! Master Story Telling!
- By A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. on 10-08-18
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Wild Ones
- A Sometimes Dismaying, Weirdly Reassuring Story About Looking at People Looking at Animals in America
- By: Jon Mooallem
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Half of all species could disappear by the end of the century, and scientists now concede that most of America’s endangered animals will survive only if conservationists keep rigging the world around them in their favor. So Jon Mooallem ventures into the field, often taking his daughter with him, to move beyond childlike fascination and make those creatures feel more real. Wild Ones is a tour through our environmental moment and the eccentric cultural history of people and wild animals in America that inflects it.
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The line between conservation and domestication...
- By Bonny on 04-02-14
By: Jon Mooallem
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Skyfaring
- By: Mark Vanhoenacker
- Narrated by: John Moraitis
- Length: 12 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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In Skyfaring, airline pilot and flight romantic Mark Vanhoenacker shares his irrepressible love of flying on a journey from day to night, from new ways of mapmaking and the poetry of physics to the names of winds and the nature of clouds. Here, anew, is the simple wonder and transcendent joy of motion and the remarkable new perspectives that height and distance bestow on everything we love.
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I agree with most comments about the narrator
- By Warren on 08-26-15
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The Wright Brothers
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: David McCullough
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize David McCullough tells the dramatic story behind the story about the courageous brothers who taught the world how to fly: Wilbur and Orville Wright.
On December 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Wilbur and Orville Wright's Wright Flyer became the first powered, heavier-than-air machine to achieve controlled, sustained flight with a pilot aboard. The Age of Flight had begun. How did they do it? And why?
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Disappointing
- By Sara on 07-10-16
By: David McCullough
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1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows
- A Memoir
- By: Ai Weiwei, Allan H. Barr - translator
- Narrated by: David Shih
- Length: 13 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Once a close associate of Mao Zedong and the nation’s most celebrated poet, Ai Weiwei’s father, Ai Qing, was branded a rightist during the Cultural Revolution, and he and his family were banished to a desolate place known as “Little Siberia,” where Ai Qing was sentenced to hard labor cleaning public toilets. Ai Weiwei recounts his childhood in exile, and his difficult decision to leave his family to study art in America, where he befriended Allen Ginsberg and was inspired by Andy Warhol and the artworks of Marcel Duchamp.
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This book changed my life
- By Johnny Nopolis on 08-16-22
By: Ai Weiwei, and others
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The End of Night
- Searching for Natural Darkness in an Age of Artificial Light
- By: Paul Bogard
- Narrated by: Paul Bogard
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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A deeply panoramic tour of the night, from its brightest spots to the darkest skies we have left. A starry night is one of nature's most magical wonders. Yet in our artificially lit world, three-quarters of Americans' eyes never switch to night vision and most of us no longer experience true darkness. In The End of Night, Paul Bogard restores our awareness of the spectacularly primal, wildly dark night sky and how it has influenced the human experience across everything from science to art.
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A little too poetic for my taste
- By Dan B on 03-18-19
By: Paul Bogard
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Dog Years
- By: Mark Doty
- Narrated by: Mark Doty
- Length: 6 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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When Mark Doty went looking to adopt a small dog, a cuddly creature who might comfort his terminally ill partner, Wally Roberts, he was surprised to find himself returning home from an animal shelter with a full-grown golden retriever, a dog whose "absolute openess of regard", and paw gently offered through the bars of a cage, proved irresistable to him.
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I cried my face off
- By Brad on 10-27-08
By: Mark Doty
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The Sisters of Auschwitz
- The True Story of Two Jewish Sisters’ Resistance in the Heart of Nazi Territory
- By: Roxane van Iperen
- Narrated by: Susan Hoffman
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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The unforgettable story of two unsung heroes of World War II: sisters Janny and Lien Brilleslijper who joined the Dutch Resistance, helped save dozen of lives, were captured by the Nazis, and ultimately survived the Holocaust.
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A Miss
- By FritzFamily on 10-06-21
What listeners say about Homing
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Brian Kurtz
- 07-17-21
Very Touching Story
This book was wonderful. It is as close to a hearty meal of roast beef and potatoes that your mother used to make as a book could be. Deep and satisfying and leaves you wishing it wasn’t over when it reaches its conclusion.
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- Anonymous User
- 02-15-22
Sky rats
After reading this book I find myself thinking of getting a couple pigeons to keep as pets. keep in mind they are unlike any other pet. Come to think of it they’re not a pet at all, free to go as they please, yet stay to live with us. They’re more like us then you probably realize.
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- Mettaphorica
- 03-05-21
Set Your Heart Aflutter
Pigeons, or rock doves as this species who star in this lovely book, really need a new PR agent, and Jon Day may just be the person for the job. Vilified throughout history – except for the period they were message carriers until we invented flight and the postal service - these ‘rats with wings’, like the rats they’re compared with, suffer an unjustly terrible reputation in modern lore.
Jon Day’s fascination with pigeons is their ability to home, and it’s the essence of home, what it is, and what it means, as seen through the eyes of Day and the keen eyes of pigeons, sprinkled with some pigeon history and a dip into other writer’s thoughts and ideas, that he explores in this beautifully written book.
I bought this book because I too have become entranced by the humble pigeon. Scores of them visit my backyard every day, several times a day, and I feed them. Sometimes one is sick, and I trap it, and either take it to the vet for euthanasia or, with the vet’s help and a bit of my own cash, medicate and rehabilitate the bird then set it free again.
Like Day, I find a peace sitting with them, and watching the cocks dance and twirl or dominate the bird bath, or hand feeding the brave few, who beg for food from me with, as he describes so perfectly, 'burnt orange eyes'. They’re considered a pest, yes, but we brought them here,...
Day becomes involved in racing, but stops when he is told that the only way to win races is through the ‘widow’ method; separate a pigeon from its chicks and mate and it will fly home more quickly. He reflects on this and decides its cruel and that he doesn’t need to win a race that badly.
Before I acquired the book, I’d already decided that pigeon racing is cruel, given the condition of some of the racing birds who land in my yard, attaching themselves to these feral flocks, never mind the widow method. I listened to Day’s book anyway and his stories are beautiful and his descriptions of the pigeons apt; I too know the ‘clatter’ of their wings as a flock takes off in startle, and the soft, silky lightness of their feathers if one sits on me and eats out of my hand, her breast feathers lightly grazing my fingers. His writing is visceral and poetic.
I only wish that Day decided that pigeons are beautiful and wonderful and can be enjoyed in their own right, and not have raced them at all, ever. Still, if pigeons need a PR makeover, Day is the person for the job. Highly recommended.
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- Ruth
- 07-16-24
Not just about pigeons
Interesting thoughts about life, parenthood and the meaning of home, amongst quite a bit of information about keeping, breeding and racing pigeons. I knew nothing about keeping pigeons before reading this book, but I am not surprised to learn that a reasonable amount of time and effort is required for racing pigeons with any hope of success.
This is a very readable book and I enjoyed learning more about these often unappreciated birds.
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- CrysMarie
- 01-11-20
If your interested in Pigeons, this is really a great Audible Book
This is a great Audible Book. The only caveat being the subject mater may only appeal to narrow audience. I thought about holding back a star for that, but I've been reeding a lot of Audible Books recently and this one was particularly well done in every sense.
So to begin with, the story was well done about the subject mater. I guess being interested in birds in general or Pigeons specifically is kind of a fringe thing. But the author did a great story here.
Secondly, this authors style I feel is noteworthy. Maybe it's because he was telling his story, but the timbre of story was enjoyable in a way I would compare to reading Harper Lee's book. It feels uncluttered and without backtracking & explanation that draws things out. This is a feel I enjoy but don't get in long bios about important historical subjects.
Lastly, the narrator does first class work here! He does well by this story and he might even help it.
If this subject interests you, I don't think you can go wrong with this read.
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- Dr. Connie DePinho
- 02-28-20
So beautiful and moving
I loved this book. I wasn't expecting something so poetic about the nature of homes and homing.
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