The Big Year

Wacky, wonderfully funny (and occasionally alarming) story of the race to win the greatest bird-watching competition of all time - now a major film, starring Jack Black, Steve Martin and Owen Wilson.Each year, hundreds of people set out across North America determined to set a new record in a spectacularly competitive event. Is it tennis? Golf? Racing? Poker perhaps? No, it's bird-watching, and a contest known as the Big Year - a grand, gruelling, expensive (and occasionally vicious) 365-day marathon to identify the most species.THE BIG YEAR is the rollicking chronicle of the 275,000-mile odyssey of three unlikely adventurers who take their bird-watching so seriously it nearly kills them. From Texas in pursuit of the Rufus-capped Warbler to British Columbia in search of Xantus' Hummingbird, these obsessive enthusiasts brave roasting deserts, storm-tossed oceans, infested swamps and disgruntled lions (not to mention some of the lumpiest hotel mattresses known to man) as they vie to become North America's number one bird-watcher in what would prove to be the biggest Big Year of them all...This captivating tour of human and avian nature, of courage and deceit, of passion and paranoia reveals the extremes to which Man will go to pursue his dreams, to conquer and to categorize...

“A true and unexpectedly exhilarating tale of guile, obsession and competitiveness as rich and involving as any novel... You will care”

The Week
An adrenaline rush of a book... about an obsession almost as mad as it is magnificent YORKSHIRE POST
An exciting road trip of a story... This sense of thrilling liberation, forays into uncharted territories and an understanding of what drives these men is as much part of the story as the quest itself THE LIST

Mark Obmascik has been a journalist for over two decades, most recently at the 'Denver Post', where he was lead writer for the newspaper's Pulitzer Prize. He has also won the National Press Club Award for his environmental journalism. An obsessed birdwatcher himself, he lives in Denver with his wife and sons.

The strange but true tale of the extremes to which Man will go to pursue his dreams, to conquer and to categorize... Each year, hundreds set out across North America determined to set a new record in a spectacularly competitive event. Is it tennis? Golf? Racing? Or even poker? No, it's bird-watching. And a contest known as the Big Year - a grand, gruelling, expensive (and occasionally vicious) 365-day marathon to identify the most species. And this is the extraordinary story of three unlikely adventurers who take their bird-watching so seriously it nearly kills them. From Texas in pursuit of the Rufus-capped Warbler to British Columbia in search of Xantus' Hummingbird, they brave roasting deserts, storm-tossed oceans, infested swamps and bad-tempered lions as they compete to become the number one bird-watcher in what proved to be the biggest Big Year of them all.

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