{"product_id":"the-book-of-birds-a-field-guide-to-wonder-and-loss-9780241404737","title":"The Book of Birds: A Field Guide to Wonder and Loss","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003ePlt;bPgt;From the creators of the internationally bestselling, award-winning, multi-adapted phenomenon Plt;iPgt;The Lost WordsPlt;\/iPgt;: a dazzling celebration of birdlife in Britain, re-imagining the classic field guide for a new generation of nature loversPlt;\/bPgt;  Plt;pPgt;A great thinning of the skies is underway. Around 50% of bird species are in decline worldwide. Our dawns and springs are quieter each year than the last. An almost unimaginable abundance has been lost. It does not have to be this way P#8211;P#8211; but we will not save what we do not love.Plt;BRPgt;Plt;BRPgt;Plt;iPgt;The Book of BirdsPlt;\/iPgt; is a compendium of forty-nine bird species, from Avocet to Yellowhammer, all of which are presently declining or endangered in Britain. Inspired by the classic bird-books with which the authors grew up, this is a field guide with a difference. It asks not P#8216;What is that bird?P#8217;, but P#8216;Who is that bird?P#8217; It shows its readers how to identify birds, but also how to identify with them.Plt;BRPgt;Plt;BRPgt;With lyrical precision and playfulness, Robert Macfarlane evokes each birdP#8217;s habits and habitats P#8211;P#8211; their patterns of flight and of song, how they hunt and gather, how they nest and raise their young, the stories and myths which attend them, the threats which shadow them, and how their wild lives intersect with our own. And on every page we encounter Jackie MorrisP#8217;s exhilarating artwork, painted in watercolour and gold and animated by an extraordinary attention to detail and sense of life. Set among this dazzling flock of species are seven sections celebrating the P#39;Seven WondersP#39; that together make up the everyday miracle of P#39;BirdP#39;: Nest, Egg, Beak, Song, Feather, Flight and Migration.Plt;BRPgt;Plt;BRPgt;Seven years in the making, Plt;iPgt;The Book of BirdsPlt;\/iPgt; is a love letter to the splendours and mysteries of birdlife, and a clarion call to halt the loss of birds from land, sea and sky. From Dipper to Dunnock and Kestrel to Kingfisher, from mountain to ocean and city to river, Jackie Morris and Robert Macfarlane conjure the unique spirit and lifeway of each species. This is a book to be treasured by bird-lovers of all ages, and a future classic work of reference.Plt;\/pPgt;\u003ch4\u003eDetails\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cp\u003eISBN13: 9780241404737\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFormat: Hardback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNumber of Pages: 384\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEdition: \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication Date: 11 Aug 2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublisher: Penguin Books Ltd\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication City, Country: London, United Kingdom\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDimensions (cm): 25.4(H)x17.6(L)x3.6(W)1149\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWeight (gm): 1149\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch4\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h4\u003ePlt;bPgt;Robert Macfarlane (Author) Plt;\/bPgt;Plt;BRPgt;Robert MacfarlaneP#39;s Plt;iPgt;Sunday TimesPlt;\/iPgt;- and Plt;iPgt;New York TimesPlt;\/iPgt;-bestselling books include Plt;iPgt;Is a River Alive?Plt;\/iPgt;, Plt;iPgt;UnderlandPlt;\/iPgt;, Plt;iPgt;LandmarksPlt;\/iPgt;, Plt;iPgt;The Old WaysPlt;\/iPgt;, Plt;iPgt;The Wild PlacesPlt;\/iPgt; and Plt;iPgt;Mountains of the MindPlt;\/iPgt;, as well as a book-length prose-poem, Plt;iPgt;NessPlt;\/iPgt;. His work has been translated into more than thirty languages, won prizes around the world, and been widely adapted for film, music, theatre, radio and dance. He has also written operas, plays, albums, choral works, and films including Plt;iPgt;RiverPlt;\/iPgt; and Plt;iPgt;MountainPlt;\/iPgt;, both narrated by Willem Dafoe.Plt;BRPgt;Plt;BRPgt;Macfarlane has collaborated closely with artists including Olafur Eliasson, and with the artist Jackie Morris he co-created the internationally bestselling books of nature-poetry and art, Plt;iPgt;The Lost WordsPlt;\/iPgt; and Plt;iPgt;The Lost SpellsPlt;\/iPgt;. In 2017, the American Academy of Arts and Letters awarded him the E.M. Forster Prize for Literature, and in 2023 in Toronto he was the inaugural winner of the Weston International Award for a body of work in the field of non-fiction. He is a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and is presently working on a graphic novel re-telling of the Plt;iPgt;Epic of GilgameshPlt;\/iPgt;.Plt;BRPgt;Plt;BRPgt;Macfarlane and MorrisP#39;s latest project, Plt;iPgt;The Book of Birds, Plt;\/iPgt;will be published in May 2026.Plt;BRPgt;Plt;BRPgt;Plt;bPgt;Jackie Morris (Author) Plt;\/bPgt;Plt;BRPgt;Jackie Morris has written or illustrated over seventy books, including the beloved childrenP#8217;s classics Plt;iPgt;Tell Me a DragonPlt;\/iPgt; and Plt;iPgt;East of the Sun, West of the MoonPlt;\/iPgt; and a volume of modern folklore for readers of all ages, Plt;iPgt;Wild FolkPlt;\/iPgt;,Plt;BRPgt;co-created with Tamsin Abbott, as well as introducing and illustrating Barbara Newhall FollettP#8217;s gem of wild literature, Plt;iPgt;The House Without WindowsPlt;\/iPgt;. She is the internationally bestselling and award-winning co-creator of Plt;iPgt;The Lost WordsPlt;\/iPgt; and Plt;iPgt;The Lost SpellsPlt;\/iPgt;, two books which have captured the hearts of hundreds of thousands of readers of all ages. In 2018 she won the Kate Greenaway Medal and the British Book Awards ChildrenP#8217;s Book of the Year for Plt;iPgt;The Lost WordsPlt;\/iPgt;.Plt;BRPgt;Plt;BRPgt;Her artwork is held by public art collections in the UK and USA and has been published in the Plt;iPgt;New Statesman, Independent Plt;\/iPgt;andPlt;iPgt; Plt;\/iPgt;Plt;iPgt;GuardianPlt;\/iPgt; among other venues. She tours and performs with the Spell Songs ensemble around the UK, and is a Fellow of Herefordshire Art College.Plt;BRPgt;Plt;BRPgt;Morris and MacfarlaneP#39;s latest project, Plt;iPgt;The Book of Birds, Plt;\/iPgt;will be published in May 2026.\u003ch4\u003eReviews\u003c\/h4\u003eFull of gorgeous illustrations and inimitable prose . . . \u003ci\u003eThe Book of Birds\u003c\/i\u003e asks us to think of birds in radically new ways: not simply as separate components of Nature that we should learn about and identify, but as co-creators of our world that we can identify with * Country Life *\u003cbr\u003eFrom flight patterns to song, myth and mating rituals, each bird is celebrated in Morris’s vibrant paintings and Macfarlane’s lyrical accompanying notes * National Geographic *\u003cbr\u003eSpellbinding and lyrical . . . A companion, helping you to discover wonder in the everyday . . . The significance of this beautiful book cannot be underestimated . . . Rooted in wonder, \u003ci\u003eThe Book of Birds\u003c\/i\u003e has the power to persuade - to be the catalyst that reminds us all of what we stand to lose, and to spur us on to help our precious birdlife thrive once more * RSPB *\u003cbr\u003eA delight. Macfarlane's love of language and different cultural traditions make it a trove of avian lore and history . . . The book is illustrated by one of our most distinctive and prolific painters, Jackie Morris. She sees the dinosaur in the bird. Her portraits have a savagery about them, as if she is captured by the creatures' appetites, their thrust and strut and will to life. It is as though she is painting their souls as she conceives them . . . The book flaps and yells and squawks with life, its pages bursting with a ferocious, combative kind of beauty * The Spectator *\u003cbr\u003eMorris and Macfarlane’s poetic prose, which often evokes the sparse work of poet laureate Simon Armitage, brings the birds to life * Telegraph, 'The 16 best audiobooks to listen to right now' *\u003cbr\u003eA vivid lexical treasury . . . dramatic, playful and designed to be read aloud . . . Macfarlane's words have a tumbling, delirious, somersaulting quality . . . Morris's watercolours, meanwhile, have a luminous shiver about them, not stiff and scientific, but seemingly reconjured from a first childhood sighting * Irish Independent *\u003cbr\u003eA passionate and lyrical rallying cry to both revel in the beauty of the natural world and to stop its wanton destruction . . . [Morris and Macfarlane's] avowed intent is to make us fall in love with birds. And it works brilliantly . . . Pleasing to hold, beautiful to look at, \u003ci\u003eThe Book of Birds \u003c\/i\u003emarks the moment poetry and art took their rightful places alongside science in a coalition to save our birds – and ourselves * The Tablet *\u003cbr\u003eThese two celebrated collaborators took seven years to produce this poetic tribute to 49 species of birds. Hundreds of Morris’s watercolour illustrations enliven the book’s pages. But the underlying message is stark: a great thinning of the skies is under way as bird species decline across the world * Financial Times – Best summer books of 2026: Environment, Science and Technology *\u003cbr\u003eA love letter to our feathered friends . . . The audio edition features terrific sound design courtesy of field recordist Chris Watson, known for his work with David Attenborough. Watson has meticulously recorded the call of each bird and incorporated them into each chapter. This blend of lyrical prose and birdsong make for moving love letter to our feathered friends * Observer *\u003cbr\u003eA dazzling compendium of 49 bird species inspired by classic bird guides with which the authors grew up * iNews *","brand":"Robert Macfarlane","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49113815711961,"sku":"9780241404737","price":80.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0502\/9530\/8441\/files\/9780241404737.jpg?v=1787147181","url":"https:\/\/www.arielbooks.com.au\/products\/the-book-of-birds-a-field-guide-to-wonder-and-loss-9780241404737","provider":"Ariel","version":"1.0","type":"link"}