From autumn to spring, J.A. Baker set out to track the daily comings and goings of a pair of peregrine falcons across the flat fen lands of eastern England. He followed the birds obsessively, observing them in the air and on the ground, in pursuit of their prey, making a kill, eating, and at rest, activities he describes with an extraordinary fusion of precision and poetry. And as he continued his mysterious private quest, his sense of human self slowly dissolved, to be replaced with the alien and implacable consciousness of a hawk.
It is this extraordinary metamorphosis, magical and terrifying, that these beautifully written pages record.
Picked this up on audio where it's narrated by David Attenborough. Not sure how many of these stars are contributed by his unrivaled talent.
That said, this was a timely salve for the soul. A spellbinding chronicle of Baker's time in Essex observing the falcons. Some beautiful poetic passages and writing I wish I was capable of.
The appendices include a few notes on skepticism whether Baker actually encountered peregrines or not (others had trouble ever seeing them). I appreciated his need to document or capture something that he feared would soon not exist.
A great use of descriptive language and appreciation of nature
3 stars
Not my usual fare for buying or reading, but worth a shot. I was pushed this way by filmmaker Werner Herzog, and I'm glad I picked it up. If you want to know more about attention to detail and how to render that in your writing and other work, this book is a good example of that. I mean, I felt like I was seeing these moments right there with the author the more the book went on, and you see his obsessive attention to detail regarding the Peregrine falcons and their prey, their lives, patterns, etc.
He doesn't give them cutesy names or anything, and if you're not familiar with British varieties of bird and small animal species, then definitely check out the introduction for a bit of help (otherwise you'll probably get lost). No, he's so into his observation that at times his use of the word "I" …
Not my usual fare for buying or reading, but worth a shot. I was pushed this way by filmmaker Werner Herzog, and I'm glad I picked it up. If you want to know more about attention to detail and how to render that in your writing and other work, this book is a good example of that. I mean, I felt like I was seeing these moments right there with the author the more the book went on, and you see his obsessive attention to detail regarding the Peregrine falcons and their prey, their lives, patterns, etc.
He doesn't give them cutesy names or anything, and if you're not familiar with British varieties of bird and small animal species, then definitely check out the introduction for a bit of help (otherwise you'll probably get lost). No, he's so into his observation that at times his use of the word "I" becomes "we" sometimes. The more the book goes on, the more annoyed he gets with human intrusion on days when people come in, and gives them just the barest mention before going back to his observations...and then a summation of nature or humans and whatnot.
At least, that's the pattern I've noticed.
All in all, great resource to understand how a command of the language, the moment, and details can really put a person there. Any creative who has trouble with words and details should pick this one up.
The Peregrine is unlike anything else that I have read. In the 1960s, JA Baker took his binoculars into the south England countryside and spent every day taking diary entries that carefully observed the behaviour of a small number of peregrines in the area. Wind, rain or snow, he went out and recorded what he saw.
By the end of the book, Baker's diary entries have started to read like those that might have been written by a peregrine itself. He becomes part hawk through spending so much time with the birds (and, although the book never really acknowledges it, you could argue that at least one of the peregrine tiercels has also become part human in this process). It is a deep book, brilliantly and passionately written, and as unique an experience as the written word can offer.
I've wanted to read this book for a while now, quite a few other nature books I've read have been inspired by this book, glad I gave it a go as it was a beautifully written book, almost poetic at times. Baker goes into great detail about the countryside, other animals and every aspect of the peregrines life. J. A. Baker was diagnosed as being very ill so he decided to dedicate his life to stalking these peregrines he had spotted. In the end he does start to go feral, at times when writing about the peregrine his says "we" a lot, like he has become a bird too. At times the book gets quite dark as he rants about the damage humans are doing. Here is one of my favourite lines from the book when describing humans.
"We are the killers. We stink of death. We carry it with …
I've wanted to read this book for a while now, quite a few other nature books I've read have been inspired by this book, glad I gave it a go as it was a beautifully written book, almost poetic at times. Baker goes into great detail about the countryside, other animals and every aspect of the peregrines life. J. A. Baker was diagnosed as being very ill so he decided to dedicate his life to stalking these peregrines he had spotted. In the end he does start to go feral, at times when writing about the peregrine his says "we" a lot, like he has become a bird too. At times the book gets quite dark as he rants about the damage humans are doing. Here is one of my favourite lines from the book when describing humans.
"We are the killers. We stink of death. We carry it with us. It sticks to us like frost. We cannot tear it away"
