Summary
An extraordinary, inspiring book about a lifetime of observing birds, already acclaimed as a classic.
The Running Sky records a lifetime of looking at birds. Beginning in summer with clouds of breeding seabirds in Shetland and ending with crepuscular nightjars like giant moths in the heart of England, Tim Dee maps his own observations and encounters over four decades of tracking birds across the globe. He tells of near-global birds like sparrows, starlings and ravens, and exotic speci…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780099516491 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 0099516497 |
| Author: | Tim Dee |
| Publisher: | Vintage Publishing |
| Imprint: | Vintage |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 272 |
| Release Date: | 15 June 2010 |
| Weight: | 191g |
| Dimensions: | 198mm x 129mm x 17mm |
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What They're Saying
Critics Review
Its author has a forensic eye for detail and a gift for poetry…an intimate and erudite account… he is in the front rank of contributors to the literature of natural history
The Running Sky has the makings of a classic. It’s beautifully written, extraordinarily vigilant, and very moving…as we read it, we learn a lot about ourselves as well as the fellow creatures flying through, over and around our own lives – Andrew Motion
Its author has a forensic eye for detail and a gift for poetry…an intimate and erudite account… he is in the front rank of contributors to the literature of natural history * Daily Telegraph *
Serious and playful…creates a powerful and intensely poetic paean to what others have called the wonder of birds * Guardian *
A beautifully haunting and involving memoir. The writer’s passion for birds becomes his way of expressing his whole relationship to landscape and history and family: unsentimental and urgently contemporary – Tessa Hadley
Dee’s extraordinary, beautifully written account of a life spent watching birds is a fine addition to the flourishing genre of British nature writing * Sunday Times *
Lyrical…sure to become a genuine addition to the literature of birds * Daily Express *
What makes his book wonderful is his passion… He captures the thrill and puzzlement of watching birds as I have never previously seen it captured * Sunday Herald *
Thrillingly original memoir … extraordinary – Lynn Barber * The Sunday Times *
To write a book about a year’s bird-watching as keenly observed as this, you have to be dedicated to the point of obsession; to write one as transcendent, you must be a poet – Christopher Somerville * The Times, Christmas Books *
As unexpected as it is brilliant… A moving, powerful meditation on the natural world that envelops us, even in the heart of our cities – Helen Dunmore * Guardian Summer Reading *
About The Author
Tim Dee
Tim Dee has been a birdwatcher all his life. His first book, The Running Sky (2009), described his first five birdwatching decades. In the same year he collaborated with the poet Simon Armitage on the anthology The Poetry of Birds. Since then he has written and edited several critically acclaimed books- Four Fields (2013), a study of modern pastoral, which was shortlisted for the 2014 Ondaatje Prize; Ground Work (as editor, 2017), a collection of new commissioned writing on place by contemporary writers; and most recently, Landfill (2018), a modern nature-junk monograph on gulls and rubbish. He left the BBC in 2018 having worked as a radio producer for nearly thirty years. He lives in three places- in a flat in inner-city Bristol, in a cottage on the edge of the Cambridgeshire Fens, and in the last-but-one house from the south western tip of Africa, at the Cape of Good Hope.
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