RaveThe New York Review of BooksWeinberger’s sensitivity to words and gift for clear, in The Ghosts of Birds, spout like a geyser ... The range of Weinberger’s interests in human cultures might be summarized as 'everything everywhere from the beginning until now,' and he writes with erudition and charm ... A warm humanism pervades The Ghosts of Birds, and Weinberger has ways of making clear that it is universal ... Professors might warn graduate students against such writing as too casual or 'reductive,' but I disagree. The points Weinberger makes here are essentially correct and are much clearer than they would be if dressed up in academic jargon. In addition to its clarity, plain language has the virtue of allowing ideas from ancient times and distant places to extend into our present, just as shared humanity itself extends.
