WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY MARGARET ATWOOD Featured in the vast majority of mythologies and religions, birds are generally associated with creativity and the human spirit. From the Christian dove to Quetzalcoatl (the Aztec plumed serpent), and from Raven Man to Plato’s description of the soul growing wings and feathers, birds have represented the soul in contrast to the body, the spiritual as opposed to the earthly. The Bedside Book of Birds is an unexpected and fascinating treasure trove of paintings, drawings, essays and scientific observations: it marvellously conveys the hope, the longing and the enchantment that birds have evoked in humans in all cultures and all times. Beautifully produced, the book contains more than one hundred illustrations, ranging from early cave paintings through works by Audubon, Morris and Gould, to Inuit and other works created in the twentieth century. There are writings by naturalists like W.H. Hudson, Laurens van der Post, Peter Matthiessen and Barry Lopez, and by classical authors such as Shakespeare, Coleridge, Melville and Poe. There is also a rich seam of contemporary work by Jorge Luis Borges, Ted Hughes, Italo Calvino, Bruce Chatwin and Haruki Murakami, among many others. The Bedside Book of Birds is a book to explore, to savour, and to learn from – a book for the winged soul in all of us. Reviews The most compulsively readable of a clutch of bird-themed books out this autumn. Taking in everything from classic nature-writing to poetry via folklore and Mayan creation myths, The Bedside Book Of Birds is by no means for ‘twitchers’ only * Daily Mail * The perfect book for armchair ornithologists with an eye for words as well as feathers * Daily Telegraph * A wonderful collection of poetry and prose, folk tales and myths, which pay tribute to our feathered friend ... A perfect Christmas present, even for non-anoraks * Mail on Sunday * Anyone who has watched birds, studied them, given them the least attention, will find this a treat. It is a compilation of writings that celebrate themany ways people have engaged with birds – made companions of them, mythologised them, hunted and eaten them. There’s an account of a mocking thrush drinking from Charles Darwin’s hand on the voyage of the Beagle, and of a woman in Ohio who incubated 50 hens’ eggs by laying them alongside the body of her dying, fevered husband. This book is well worth buying for the illustrations alone * New Scientist * About the Author Graeme Gibson CM FRCGS was a Canadian novelist.He was a Member of the Order of Canada (1992), a Senior Fellow of Massey College and one of the organizers of the Writers Union of Canada (chair, 1974-75). He was also a founder of the Writers’ Trust of Canada, a non-profit literary organization that seeks to encourage Canada’s writing community. He died in 2019. Promotional Information The perfect gift for birdwatchers and literary ornithologists everywhere – with a new introduction by Margaret Atwood