Book Review: NAS Birds of North America

 

Image: The cover of the book is a white background with the left side covered by an image of a bohemian waxwing- a light tan bird with a black mask and throat. The right side says BIRDS in large red letters and national audubon society and of america in smaller red letters. The description of the text in the lower right in red letters states: The complete guide to birding- with full-color photographs, updated range maps, and authoritative notes on voice, behavior, nesting, and conservation status. The lower far right corner has the black audubon logo.1

I am not sure where I stand on the birder experience list. I think of myself somewhat close to a beginner because I have been an avid birder years, contributing to citizen science like ebird.org, but I only recently started taking classes and consulting more than apps. Audubon's app, in my opinion, is best for visual ID and Cornell's Merlin for sound and photo ID. I am at the stage where I have learned enough that I realize how little I know. That said, I do think I have gained enough experience to be able to review new guides when they come out. The National Audubon* Society's new edition of Birds of North America has been updated for the first time in decades, which is an important step given the massive negative effects and changes caused by human intervention and climate destruction. 

The start of the book includes a short and helpful overview of bird biology topics written by experts in the various fields. There is some ranking of "intelligence" and other anthropocentric metrics, but they also do well to highlight birds' own interesting characteristics and abilities separate from humans.

This volume does the same thing that all of my other bird guides do- they refer to birds as "it" throughout the book when it is entirely unnecessary. I was also not a huge fan of how they discussed non-native species. While they do initially account for humans being at fault, they tend to describe birds like starlings almost entirely by the damage they do to industry (with no acknowledgement of how many of those industries are a far greater threat to birds than any non-native species.) They also do not acknowledge that many non-native species populations are in decline along with native birds and the perceived damage done by species is not shown in studies to be nearly as bad as the mythology around them- which is used as an excuse to offer them no protection. Though, I admit I did not read every bird description in the book.

The guide, like all others I have encountered, focuses visually on adult male animals (with the exception of rare more colorful females such as the belted kingfisher.) I am not 100% against this- it can work in one's favor for certain kinds of IDs. Many breeding plumage males (like many warblers) will show the most extreme versions of the field markings that can then be sought out in their lighter expressions in nonbreeding plumage males, females, and  juveniles (if there's a difference in said species.) But, the focus on the flashy male species not only ignores the wonders of female camouflage (again, if the species has it,) it also causes birders and others to have an extremely difficult time identifying sexually dimorphic females of unfamiliar birds. Given how massive this volume is (textbook sized, even larger than my Sibley volume and far larger than my other 3 guides,) it would have been nice to see more images of juveniles, females, nests, eggs, etc. The images could also have been labeled better and seem to be the same ones from their app (which are labeled in the software.)

One major improvement is the updates to conservation statuses and some of the texts. The first thing I did was flip to the section on wild turkeys to see if the same horrid description from the app- calling domestic turkeys "rather stupid creature(s)" was present in the text. It was not. (Though it is still in the app unfortunately despite my and others complaints.) The conservation information and discussion of population changes are critical given that since the original publication, bird species have declined and changed in major ways. The volume is also well organized by types of birds and including cover flaps and a ribbon to hold one's place. There is also an index to find each bird without needing to scan an entire family section. 

The photos are gorgeous and seeing them on the larger printed page vs the app or website is nice. I won the softcover version from a goodreads giveaway, so I cannot comment on the hardcover design. Overall, it's a beautiful and valuable guide I am happy to add to my collection.

*NAS has acknowledged that Audubon was a slaver and colonialist who shot and posed the dead bodies of all of the birds in his famous illustrations. This is a good first step, but I and others think they still should change the name, especially since there are a great many genius workers in the NAS that descend from Audubon's victims.

This was also posted to my goodreads.

Book Review: Creative Interventions Workbook

Image: the cover of the book is a light teal background with a black and white linocut print of a fern unfurling in the center. Across the top in large white letters is "creative interventions workbook." Below that in small letters is "practical tools to stop interpersonal violence." On the bottom there are four circles with symbols in them- a bee, a conch shell, a gear with a wrench, and an ocean wave.

Creative Interventions has been a valuable resource for quite some time, but the print publication of their Toolkit and now Workbook by AK Press has given them much needed further reach. I read and reviewed the toolkit in the past out and found it to be incredibly helpful and informative instruction on dealing with abuse, violence, and other harms perpetuated in a variety of communities without relying on authoritarian state systems that often do not help and can make the problems worse. The toolkit is also a textbook sized, repetitive, massive volume that many people may not have the time, energy, or persistence to get through. I tried to read it cover to cover, but admittedly ended up skimming much of it halfway through due to the size and repetition. The repetition is not a bad thing- it allows the book to be broken up, copied into sections, and shared without constantly reading through the whole thing. But, a more condensed overall review of the processes was much needed (and requested of the organizers.)

Enter the Creative Interventions Workbook: a small volume that is far more accessible and less intimidating. This will allow more people to access and use the information. CI makes it clear that the workbook is not meant as a replacement for the Toolkit and that they are meant to be used in tandem. However, realistically, the important thing is to get as much information to people as is possible. They acknowledged this in the toolkit as well- encouraging people to find ways to share the info with those who have barriers of ability, lack of time, etc. Even in college courses, most people are not reading their textbooks cover to cover. Since the toolkit is designed in a way that different sections can be referenced separately, the workbook allows people to get the gist of things while also helping them understand what parts of the toolkit are most important to reference. The workbook also condenses much of the written exercises, allowing people to do that work in one smaller space, rather than sifting through or marking up the larger volume. 

A personal access note: I have pretty painful arthritis in my hands and wrists as well as some coordination issues that legit make big heavy books a massive pain to hold up and read. There is a significant difference when I can hold up something light and read anywhere vs lugging something heavy that I can only read at my desk. Ebooks can be a solution to some of this, but with the great design of the CI series, I end up preferring the print versions. I also adore the art by Kill Joy on the cover.

All in all, the workbook is an excellent partner to the toolkit as well as something that can be used on its own when that's the only option. I hope these methods are able to be used by more communities granting us all more protection from the state and better solutions to very human problems.

This was also posted to my goodreads.