In thirteen chapters packed with information, we are led through the layers of history, palaeontology, poetry, music and science, all showing the ways that birds have become an indivisible part of human life and culture ... Fascinating ... Encourages us to appreciate the Umwelt of birds ... Stands as a strong message to value what we have while we still have it.
In part a deep topography of a local patch, and in part an exploration of the intricacies of the lives of the birds that reside there ... Deeply satisfying ... Instead of attempting to capture the unknowable, he draws upon an impressive depth of scientific and historical research to bring his subjects to life ... He only loses focus when, on occasion, he ventures too far afield ... When he stays put, Bird School is a worthy addition to a literary lineage that stretches back to the 18th-century writer and naturalist Gilbert White ... Nicolson’s dispassionate style is effective at illustrating the threat to Britain’s birds.
Bird School is elegant and involving. Like one of the nests Nicolson finds on his property, it’s been deftly assembled ... The findings in his pages are also a little like birds’ eggs: they wink up at you fascinatingly before you realise that some of what you’re looking at is smashed
Often a bit over-the-top, especially at first, as Nicolson’s literary quirks seep into the prose, bogging down the narrative with literary allusions and purple prose ... But eventually Nicolson’s naturalist heart modulates the narrative, revealing singular facts and compelling anecdotes about the ‘extraordinary capacity’ of birds that will fire the imagination of any and all avid birders ... One of the more interesting sections involves blackbirds and a work of Beethoven.
An evocative ode to English birds that invites readers to look more closely at the world around them ... A poetic study ... Nicolson’s solutions may be more applicable to those who own large swaths of land or work in environmental policy, but the book’s wider point can inspire any of its readers: If we learn to pay attention to the world around us, we’ll become a part of it again.
Revelatory ... Nicolson is especially good at illuminating what goes unseen (or unheard), like the fact that birds perceive time more slowly than humans. He also draws attention to the ways human activity, like intensive farming, has caused bird populations to plummet in recent decades. This is a beautiful love letter to the avian world.
