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Why Birds Sing
David Rothenberg
其他書名
A Journey Into the Mystery of Bird Song
出版
Basic Books
, 2005-04-12
主題
Nature / General
ISBN
046507135X
9780465071357
URL
http://books.google.com.hk/books?id=6EEtswEACAAJ&hl=&source=gbs_api
註釋
The astonishing variety and richness of bird song is both an aesthetic and a scientific mystery. Biologists have never been able to understand why bird song displays are often so inventive and why so many species devote so many hours to singing. The standard explanations, which generally have to do with territoriality and sexual display, don't begin to account for the astonishing variety and energy that the commonest birds exhibit. Is it possible that birds sing because they like to? This seemingly naïve explanation is starting to look more and more like the truth.In the tradition of classic works by Bernd Heinrich, Edward Abbey, and Terry Tempest Williams,
Why Birds Sing
is a lyric exploration of bird song that blends the latest scientific research with a deep understanding of musical beauty and form. Based on conversations with neuroscientists, ecologists, and composers, it is the first book to investigate why birds sing and how, and what effect their music has on other animals—particularly humans. Whether playing the clarinet with the white-crested laughing thrush in Pittsburgh, or jamming in the Australian winter breeding grounds of the Albert's lyrebird, Rothenberg journeys to the heart and soul of bird song.
Why Birds Sing
offers an intimate look at the most lovely of natural phenomena—with surprising insights about the origin of music.