Wordy and diffuse, this book often attempts profundity but fails to explore these topics satisfactorily. The author includes pieces reworked from his magazine articles--as well as many, many potted pieces from and about other authors and their works--giving the whole thing an unsatisfying feel. I like the topic very much, and the author has ability. But the whole is more pastiche, sometimes annoyingly self-referential (very much in the modern magazine style), than original essay. It would have been better as a long essay for The New Yorker. As it is, parts seemed repetitive and unnecessarily stretched out and padded. Also, some points seem contradictory and could have been addressed and worked out by a more penetrating author (for example, criticism of Gnosticism at one point, but positive things said about the divine spark in each of us, at another).
Also, I was surprised to find some minor editing errors in a book by an intelligent editor and published by a top New York house. For example, on page 42, I can't figure out how the sentence that begins, "The urge to stalk and kill are murmuring silently in the blood," should be anything other than "The urge to stalk and kill IS murmuring...." Or on page 38: insert "where" after "the places"; right? Or page 54: capitalize "native American"? Minor errors, if errors they are, and nothing to complain about, but surprising in this kind of publication.
I set the bar high for a book that has sold so well and received such high praise. If this book gets more people outside, watching birds, and caring about their planet, it's all to the good. But I think the author is capable of better. |
The Life of the Skies Books In Print, Audio Books.