Birding Babylon: A Soldier's Journal from Iraq by Jonathan Trouern-Trend. First published 2006.
Subtitled A Soldier's Journal from Iraq, Birding Babylon began life as a natural history and birding blog by a deployed National Guardsman in Iraq. The book is formatted as journal, from the faux handmade paper cover to the short, dated entries of no more than two pages for each date. At just under 80 pages this is a quick read. A year of birding and observing wildlife in various spots in Iraq is covered, beginning in February 2004.
While the observations are interesting and the surroundings are at times riveting, I found the writing a bit dry and would hope for a bit more fluid text when the online journal was turned into a book. Trouern-Trend's blog, birdingbabylon.blogspot.com, is still active, and it seems he has recently returned to the Middle East once again. I will be following the blog to see what other interesting Mideast specialties are found in his day to day routine. Meanwhile I give Birding Babylon 3 Goldfinches out of 5.
Going Wild : Adventures with Birds in the Suburban Wilderness by Robert Winkler. First published 2003. Robert Winkler's Going Wild is a collection of essays on the birds and wildlife found close to his Connecticut home. While the essays are well-written, I didn't find them to be particularly...
Thanks to Robert of Birding is Fun for letting me know about this book by reviewing it on his blog.
A while back I came across a funny typo on Amazon.com. The title of the book RSPB British Birdfinder was instead indicated to be a Nirdfinder. The error has since been corrected. If...
My birding library grew by leaps and bounds in 2011, with a high number of books acquired and a very short list of books traded out. In 2011 I only managed to review 11 books (out of a goal of 20) and got rid of less than that....
