The Birds That Audubon Missed
Discovery and Desire in the American Wilderness
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Narrated by:
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Mack Sanderson
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By:
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Kenn Kaufman
About this listen
Renowned naturalist Kenn Kaufman examines the scientific discoveries of John James Audubon and his artistic and ornithologist peers to show how what they saw (and what they missed) reflects how we perceive and understand the natural world.
Raging ambition. Towering egos. Competition under a veneer of courtesy. Heroic effort combined with plagiarism, theft, exaggeration, and fraud. This was the state of bird study in eastern North America during the early 1800s, as a handful of intrepid men raced to find the last few birds that were still unknown to science.
The most famous name in the bird world was John James Audubon, who painted spectacular portraits of birds. But although his images were beautiful, creating great art was not his main goal. Instead, he aimed to illustrate (and write about) as many different species as possible, obsessed with trying to outdo his rival, Alexander Wilson. George Ord, a fan and protégé of Wilson, held a bitter grudge against Audubon for years, claiming he had faked much of his information and his scientific claims. A few of Audubon’s birds were pure fiction, and some of his writing was invented or plagiarized. Other naturalists of the era, including Charles Bonaparte (nephew of Napoleon), John Townsend, and Thomas Nuttall, also became entangled in the scientific derby, as they stumbled toward an understanding of the natural world—an endeavor that continues to this day.
Despite this intense competition, a few species—including some surprisingly common songbirds, hawks, sandpipers, and more—managed to evade discovery for years. Here, renowned bird expert and artist Kenn Kaufman explores this period in history from a new angle, by considering the birds these people discovered and, especially, the ones they missed. Kaufman has created portraits of the birds that Audubon never saw, attempting to paint them in that artist’s own stunning style, as a way of examining the history of natural sciences and nature art. He shows how our understanding of birds continues to gain clarity, even as some mysteries persist from Audubon’s time until ours.
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- Narrated by: Neil deGrasse Tyson, Vikas Adam, Piper Goodeve, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has attracted one of the world’s largest online followings with his fascinating, widely accessible insights into science and our universe. Now, Tyson invites us to go behind the scenes of his public fame by unveiling his candid correspondence with people across the globe who have sought him out in search of answers. In this hand-picked collection of 100 letters, Tyson draws upon cosmic perspectives to address a vast array of questions about science, faith, philosophy, life, and of course, Pluto.
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Dear Neil...
- By Tina G. on 10-14-19
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Napoleon's Hemorrhoids…And Other Small Events That Changed History
- By: Phil Mason
- Narrated by: LJ Ganser
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Hilarious, fascinating, and a roller coaster of dizzying, historical what-ifs, Napoleon's Hemorrhoids is a potpourri for serious historians and casual history buffs. In one of Phil Mason's many revelations, you'll learn that Communist jets were two minutes away from opening fire on American planes during the Cuban missile crisis, when they had to turn back as they were running out of fuel. You'll discover that before the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon's painful hemorrhoids prevented him from mounting his horse to survey the battlefield.
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They just throw the facts too fast
- By Concerned_llama on 12-11-20
By: Phil Mason
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Plant Science: An Introduction to Botany
- By: Catherine Kleier, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Catherine Kleier
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
- Original Recording
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Dr. Catherine Kleier invites us to open our eyes to the phenomenal world of plant life and to the process she calls “Natura Revelata”, the joy of celebrating and learning from the secrets of nature. As Dr. Kleier shares her knowledge with contagious excitement for her subject, she emphasizes the middle ground: Instead of focusing on cell microbiology or the study of ecosystems and habitats, she stresses the basic biology, function, and the amazing adaptations of the plants we see all around us.
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Needs accompanying documentation and visual aides
- By Ryan on 04-04-19
By: Catherine Kleier, and others
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Cosmic Queries
- StarTalk’s Guide to Who We Are, How We Got Here, and Where We’re Going
- By: James Trefil, Lindsey N. Walker - editor, Neil deGrasse Tyson
- Narrated by: Neil deGrasse Tyson, Lauren Fortgang
- Length: 6 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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In this illuminating audiobook, Tyson and coauthor James Trefil, a renowned physicist and science popularizer, take on the big questions that humanity has been posing for millennia - How did life begin? What is our place in the universe? Are we alone? - and provide answers based on the most current data, observations, and theories.
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Not worth it
- By Daniel Earl on 03-15-21
By: James Trefil, and others
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The Theory of Everything: The Quest to Explain All Reality
- By: Don Lincoln, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Don Lincoln
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Original Recording
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At the end of his career, Albert Einstein was pursuing a dream far more ambitious than the theory of relativity. He was trying to find an equation that explained all physical reality - a theory of everything. Experimental physicist and award-winning educator Dr. Don Lincoln takes you on this exciting journey in The Theory of Everything: The Quest to Explain All Reality. Suitable for the intellectually curious at all levels and assuming no background beyond basic high-school math, these 24 half-hour lectures cover recent developments at the forefront of particle physics and cosmology.
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Audible’s Best Science Offering, A Gem
- By MikeB on 12-08-18
By: Don Lincoln, and others
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The Quantum Universe
- (And Why Anything That Can Happen, Does)
- By: Brian Cox, Jeff Forshaw
- Narrated by: Samuel West
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Quantum Universe, Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw approach the world of quantum mechanics in the same way they did in Why Does E=mc2? and make fundamental scientific principles accessible - and fascinating - to everyone.The subatomic realm has a reputation for weirdness, spawning any number of profound misunderstandings, journeys into Eastern mysticism, and woolly pronouncements on the interconnectedness of all things. Cox and Forshaw's contention? There is no need for quantum mechanics to be viewed this way.
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Not suitable as an audio book
- By SPN on 03-29-22
By: Brian Cox, and others
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I should have read the description more carefully
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Great!
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Christian Cooper is a self-described “Blerd” (Black nerd), an avid comics fan and expert birder who devotes every spring to gazing upon the migratory birds that stop to rest in Central Park, just a subway ride away from where he lives in New York City. While in the park one morning in May 2020, Cooper was engaged in the birdwatching ritual that had been a part of his life since he was ten years old when what might have been a routine encounter with a dog walker exploded age-oldracial tensions. Cooper’s viral video of the incident would send shock waves through the nation.
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If you’re not a birder yet, you soon will be.
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Not just for bird lovers but for everyone
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Every spring, billions of birds sweep north, driven by ancient instincts to return to their breeding grounds. This vast parade often goes unnoticed, except in a few places where these small travelers concentrate in large numbers. One such place is along Lake Erie in northwestern Ohio. There, the peak of spring migration is so spectacular that it attracts bird watchers from around the globe, culminating in one of the world’s biggest birding festivals. Now climate change threatens to disrupt patterns of migration and the delicate balance between birds, seasons, and habitats.
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Great!
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In The Courage of Birds, Pete Dunne—winner of the American Birding Association’s Roger Tory Peterson Award for lifetime achievement in promoting the cause of birding—chronicles the behavior of the birds of North America.
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Become a better birder with brief profiles of 200 top North American birds. This friendly, relatable audiobook is a celebration of the art, science, and delights of bird-watching. How to Know the Birds introduces a new, holistic approach to bird-watching, by noting how behaviors, settings, and seasonal cycles connect with shape, song, color, gender, age distinctions, and other features traditionally used to identify species. With short essays on 200 observable species, expert author Ted Floyd guides us through a year of becoming a better birder.
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Great book but poorly indexed
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An enthralling account of a modern voyage of discovery as we meet the clever, social birds of prey called caracaras, which puzzled Darwin, fascinate modern-day falconers, and carry secrets of our planet's deep past in their family history.
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I don't leave reviews often, but . . .
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For the whole of human history, we have lived alongside birds. We have hunted and domesticated them for food; venerated them in our mythologies, religions, and rituals; exploited them for their natural resources; and been inspired by them for our music, art, and poetry. In Ten Birds That Changed the World, naturalist and author Stephen Moss tells the gripping story of this long and intimate relationship through key species from all seven of the world’s continents.
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Fascinating Stories
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What an Owl Knows
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For millennia, owls have captivated and intrigued us. Our fascination with these mysterious birds was first documented more than thirty thousand years ago in the Chauvet Cave paintings in southern France. With their forward gaze and quiet flight, owls are often a symbol of wisdom, knowledge, and foresight. But what does an owl really know? And what do we really know about owls? Jennifer Ackerman illuminates the rich biology and natural history of these birds and reveals remarkable new scientific discoveries about their brains and behavior.
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Moving
- By Amanda on 11-29-23
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Birding Under the Influence
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In Birding Under the Influence, Dorian Anderson, a neuroscience researcher on a pressure-filled life trajectory, walks away from the world of elite institutions, research labs, and academic publishing. In doing so, he falls in love and discovers he has freed himself to embrace his lifelong passion for birding.
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Fantastic audiobook
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By: Dorian Anderson
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The Big Year
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- Unabridged
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Every year on January 1, a quirky crowd of adventurers storms out across North America for a spectacularly competitive event called a Big Year: a grand, grueling, expensive, and occasionally vicious, "extreme" 365-day marathon of birdwatching. For three men in particular, 1998 would be a whirlwind, a winner-takes-nothing battle for a new North American birding record.
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Not for the Birds
- By Anonymous User on 09-18-04
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National Geographic Birding Basics
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Targeted to beginners and beyond, National Geographic's fun, inspiring guide to the art, craft, and science of bird-watching combines practical know-how and expert knowledge. Browsable and bursting with helpful illustrations and photographs, Birding Basics offers new ideas for when, where, and how to get to know the birds in your world.
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Narration is very inviting
- By Anonymous User on 10-31-24
By: Noah Strycker
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The Bird Way
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- By: Jennifer Ackerman
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- Unabridged
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"There is the mammal way and there is the bird way." But the bird way is much more than a unique pattern of brain wiring, and lately, scientists have taken a new look at bird behaviors they have, for years, dismissed as anomalies or mysteries - what they are finding is upending the traditional view of how birds conduct their lives, how they communicate, forage, court, breed, survive. They are also revealing the remarkable intelligence underlying these activities, abilities we once considered uniquely our own.
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Good Work but it doesn’t scale
- By Stanley Lippman on 07-02-20
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What It's Like to Be a Bird
- From Flying to Nesting, Eating to Singing: What Birds Are Doing, and Why (Sibley Guides)
- By: David Allen Sibley
- Narrated by: Evan Sibley
- Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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In What It's Like to Be a Bird, David Sibley answers the most frequently asked questions about the birds we see most often. This special brand-new audio edition is geared as much to nonbirders as it is to the out-and-out obsessed, covering more than 200 species. While its focus is on familiar backyard birds—blue jays, nuthatches, chickadees—it also examines certain species that can be fairly easily observed, such as the seashore-dwelling Atlantic puffin.
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Birding Without Borders
- An Obsession, a Quest, and the Biggest Year in the World
- By: Noah Strycker
- Narrated by: Luke Welland
- Length: 8 hrs
- Unabridged
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With an itinerary covering 41 countries, spanning all seven continents, and armed with a backpack, binoculars, and a series of one-way tickets, he sets out on the greatest adventure in the birding world. Along the way he meets a colorful cast of fellow birders—and discovers a world of blood-sucking leeches, chronic sleep deprivation, floods, war zones, ecologic devastation, and conservation triumphs.
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Birding and travel. Win win.
- By Melinda Wheeler on 11-29-23
By: Noah Strycker
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Slow Birding
- The Art and Science of Enjoying the Birds in Your Own Backyard
- By: Joan E. Strassmann
- Narrated by: Joan E. Strassmann
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Many birders travel far and wide to popular birding destinations to catch sight of rare or “exotic” birds. In Slow Birding, evolutionary biologist Joan E. Strassmann introduces listeners to the joys of birding right where they are.
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A combination of science and personal experience
- By IWONDER on 12-11-23
What listeners say about The Birds That Audubon Missed
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Jose Padilla
- 05-23-24
New insights on the history of North American ornithology presented in an engaging and interesting way.
I’ve always been a student of history and science, two subjects that fascinate me. Thirty years ago I started birding by myself without knowing that such a thing existed. Now birding occupies most of my leisure time and when I’m not out birding I love to read history or natural science. Here Mr. Kauffman hits all my interests in this very enjoyable book. Thanks Kenn Kauffman!
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- Julia
- 06-07-24
Engaging and informative
I enjoyed this book start to finish. Kenn Kaufman crafted a thoughtful, educational, and entertaining narrative about the ornithological landscape of the early United States. I definitely recommend this to anyone interested in birds and history. And I'll definitely listen to it again.
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- W. McConnell
- 07-11-24
Great History Lesson
Lean concise writing. Excellent selection of topics and historical characters. Enjoyable read start to finish.
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- Birding_Bubba
- 05-14-24
Wonderful intoxicated.
I will undoubtedly read this/ listen to this again, but there are portions of it that seem unnecessarily scattered. Still a 5/5. I enjoy the intertwining of personal stories and the history.
There is a good amount of political discussion and presentism that some may disagree with, but the author addresses it well and I think those interested in the argument will find this a valuable resource. Great job Mr. Kaufman!
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- NYC person
- 10-01-24
I LOVE the audible version of this book
I purchased the audible version of this book and I’m so glad I did!
Listening to Mack Sanderson was a real treat. A stunning voice with rich shades of meaning, a facility and a flow which makes you feel beautifully at home. His perfect pronunciation of different languages, from Latin, French, Italian, German, to Icelandic, to idiosyncratic local tongues is impressive. My serious interest in birds drew me to this particular book, but I’d enjoy listening to this voice even if it was narrating the phone book! Kaufman approaches the subject from an unusual angle, which is inspiring - somehow a new genre of science combined with oral tradition. The way he observes birds and describes them humanizes them. I enjoyed his vivid descriptions. His personal curiosity is palpable. In this book, Kaufman studies birds and those who have studied birds. He discusses Wilson, Audubon, and other ornithologists. He holds a wide lens but then goes in with a very close-up lens that creates an intimacy with the world of birds, wonderfully conveyed by Sanderson’s voice. We meet the Gray-cheeked Thrush that came to Kaufman’s backyard during the Covid pandemic, we learn that there are more than three dozen species of warblers and over two hundred twenty species of shorebirds. We learn how birds might appear the same, but are in fact so varied and different - if only we could see.
Kaufman finds himself wondering what those birds that Audubon missed would look like in Audubon’s paintings - somehow visualizing what was not there and imagining seeing something through a representation of it that doesn’t exist - which is fascinating. The author himself is trying to emulate Audubon’s work. He strives to represent minute details in the style of Audubon. But in the end, he abandons that for the pursuit of his own style, and inner vision. The author humbly admits that no mastering of a mathematical formula is going to produce artwork similar to Audubon’s. What Kaufman values in Audubon’s work is the essence of his inner vision. He maturely acknowledges Audubon’s talent in spite of Audubon’s serious flaws of character.
Just as well Audubon missed some of the birds he missed. Here comes Kaufman who belongs to a time where tracking and communication is more effective, and he brings many insights. The fictional aspect of Kaufman’s narrative is interesting. I found myself intrigued by characters such as the driver who picked him up when he was hitchhiking at the age of 17. I wanted to know more about the old woman with “kind wrinkles”, but she has no relevance to the bird narrative. This is to say that Kaufman has a skill for fiction writing - perhaps that’s what will come next from him! This book brings an awareness of the nuances and variations of the richness of the world around us. It awakens the desire to look at nature and brings to the fore just how much we can miss if we don’t look. In that way this book is a valuable contribution to the celebration of nature. Sanderson’s beautiful narration brings an intimate encounter with a precious world.
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- E. Buckler
- 06-30-24
Kaufman’s breadth
This was a fascinating story about the early birding history of the US, but it was perfectly blended with Kaufman’s personal experiences and how recent birding has evolved.
The narrator was great to listen to, but he consistently mispronounced about half a dozen bird names (e.g. bobolink). Actually the English language is so messed up - he pronounced phonetically. Why didn’t a birder proof the narration? Get AI in there to edit it.
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- Pradheepa
- 12-02-24
History of birding in America
Audubon the painter and his work described by another bird painter. Very enjoyable. Great Narration that enhances the audiobook.
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