An Obsession, a Quest, and the Biggest Year in the World
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
November 2017
On Sale: October 10, 2017
336 pages ISBN: 0544558146 EAN: 9780544558144 Kindle: B01MY6O5QN Hardcover / e-Book Add to Wish List
Traveling to 41 countries in 2015 with a backpack and binoculars, Noah Strycker became the first person to see more than half the worldβs 10,000 species of birds in one year.
In 2015, Noah Strycker set himself a lofty goal: to become the first person to see half the worldβs birds in one year. For 365 days, with a backpack, binoculars, and a series of one-way tickets, he traveled across forty-one countries and all seven continents, eventually spotting 6,042 speciesβby far the biggest birding year on record.
This is no travelogue or glorified checklist. Noah ventures deep into a world of blood-sucking leeches, chronic sleep deprivation, airline snafus, breakdowns, mudslides, floods, war zones, ecologic devastation, conservation triumphs, common and iconic species, and scores of passionate bird lovers around the globe. By pursuing the freest creatures on the planet, Noah gains a unique perspective on the world they share with usβand offers a hopeful message that even as many birds face an uncertain future, more people than ever are working to protect them.
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