Nigel Andrew
Petrel Head
Far from Land: The Mysterious Lives of Seabirds
By Michael Brooke
Princeton University Press 249pp £24.95
Very early in his career as a seabird biologist, Michael Brooke discovered the truth about puffins: ‘They are horrible to handle. The beak is strong and sharp, as are the claws. It is all but impossible to hold them in a way that leaves one’s hand safe from biting beak and scratching claws.’ So much for those tourist-pleasing ‘clowns of the sea’.
Brooke learned this useful lesson on an undergraduate expedition to the Shiant Isles, a name that will ring a bell with anyone who has read Adam Nicolson’s brilliant The Seabird’s Cry. Nicolson’s family owns these Hebridean islands, rich in puffins, razorbills and guillemots, and it was there that his passion for seabirds was born.
In terms of passion, Brooke is not far behind Nicolson, though he approaches his subject as a scientist. Being a seabird biologist is, Brooke reckons, ‘the best job in the world’, and now is the best time ever to be doing it, such has been the explosion in
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
Knowledge of Sufism increased markedly with the publication in 1964 of The Sufis, by Idries Shah. Nowadays his writings, much like his father’s, are dismissed for their Orientalism and inaccuracy.
@fitzmorrissey investigates who the Shahs really were.
Fitzroy Morrissey - Sufism Goes West
Fitzroy Morrissey: Sufism Goes West - Empire’s Son, Empire’s Orphan: The Fantastical Lives of Ikbal and Idries Shah by Nile Green
literaryreview.co.uk
Rats have plagued cities for centuries. But in Baltimore, researchers alighted on one surprising solution to the problem of rat infestation: more rats.
@WillWiles looks at what lessons can be learned from rat ecosystems – for both rats and humans.
Will Wiles - Puss Gets the Boot
Will Wiles: Puss Gets the Boot - Rat City: Overcrowding and Urban Derangement in the Rodent Universes of John B ...
literaryreview.co.uk
Twisters features destructive tempests and blockbuster action sequences.
@JonathanRomney asks what the real danger is in Lee Isaac Chung's disaster movie.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/eyes-of-the-storm