- New Arrivals
Fiction- Historical FictionCrime & ThrillersMysteryScience-FictionFantasyPoetryRomanceChildren’s BooksYoung Adult
- Biographies & MemoirsHistoryCurrent AffairsTech & ScienceBusinessSelf-DevelopmentTravelThe ArtsFood & WineReligion & SpiritualitySportsHumor
Children’s BooksListsGift CardsWhat To ReadMy ListsGames- About & Help
- About Tertulia
- Membership & Co-Ownership
- Shipping & Delivery
- Orders & Payments
- Contact Support
- Send App Feedback
- Follow us
- Download the app
The co-op bookstore for avid readers
The Devil's Cormorant: A Natural History
Behold the cormorant: silent, still, cruciform, and brooding; flashing, soaring, quick as a snake. Evolution has crafted the only creature on Earth that can migrate the length of a continent, dive and hunt deep underwater, perch comfortably on a branch or a wire, walk on land, climb up cliff faces, feed on thousands of different species, and live beside both fresh and salt water in a vast global range of temperatures and altitudes, often in close proximity to man. Long a symbol of gluttony, greed, bad luck, and evil, the cormorant has led a troubled existence in human history, myth, and literature. The birds have been prized as a source of mineral wealth in Peru, hunted to extinction in the Arctic, trained by the Japanese to catch fish, demonized by Milton in Paradise Lost, and reviled, despised, and exterminated by sport and commercial fishermen from Israel to Indianapolis, Toronto to Tierra del Fuego. In The Devil's Cormorant, Richard King takes us back in time and around the world to show us the history, nature, ecology, and economy of the world's most misunderstood waterfowl.
Book Details
- Publisher: Foreedge
- Publish Date: Aug 5th, 2014
- Pages: 360
- Language: English
- Edition: undefined - undefined
- Dimensions: 8.98in - 6.03in - 0.76in - 1.31lb
- EAN: 9781611686999
- Categories: • Life Sciences - Ecology• Natural History• Birdwatching Guides
About the Author
King, Richard J.: - Richard J. King is visiting professor with the Sea Education Association, founding coeditor of Searchable Sea Literature, and a research associate with the Coastal and Ocean Studies Program of Williams College-Mystic Seaport. Most recently, he is the author of Ahab's Rolling Sea: A Natural History of "Moby-Dick" and coeditor of Audubon at Sea: The Coastal and Transatlantic Adventures of John James Audubon, both also published by the University of Chicago Press. He lives with his family in Santa Cruz, CA.
Praise for this book
Despite the subtitle, this is a work as much about human history and values, as it is about nature. King sees past the symbol and presents the real cormorant, living amidst real people. And one is left with this conclusion: Surely we need animals as symbols. But let's not allow it to obscure the real, complicated, beautiful creatures among us.-- "Nature Conservancy"
King teases out this relationship from multiple perspectives--literary, historical, artistic, ornithological, political--in a book that is informative, personable, and fascinating.-- "Birding"
Nature Conservancy"
Birding"
"Splendid and eclectic." "Environmental History""
"Splendid and eclectic." Environmental History"
The Devil s Cormorant combines natural history, social and economic impacts through a series of stories, each told with compassion and humour. British Birds"
They are in short amazing birds, and this book is a great insight into their character and ours. SF Natural History Series"
"Richard King's The Devil's Cormorant is a brilliant book. It is scientifically well-informed, serious, funny, and full of good stories...a post-modern ornithology." --Living Bird
"Splendid and eclectic." --Environmental History
"Despite the subtitle, this is a work as much about human history and values, as it is about nature. King sees past the symbol and presents the real cormorant, living amidst real people. And one is left with this conclusion: Surely we need animals as symbols. But let's not allow it to obscure the real, complicated, beautiful creatures among us." --Nature Conservancy
"King teases out this relationship from multiple perspectives--literary, historical, artistic, ornithological, political--in a book that is informative, personable, and fascinating." --Birding
"Entertaining and thought-provoking. . . . Eloquent and expansive."--Seabird
"The Devil's Cormorant combines natural history, social and economic impacts through a series of stories, each told with compassion and humour."--British Birds
"They are in short amazing birds, and this book is a great insight into their character and ours."--SF Natural History Series
"Thorough and authoritative as well as charming. . . . King demonstrates his multidimensional expertise on matters relating to the sea in this excellent exploration of the world of cormorants."--Library Journal
Richard King's The Devil's Cormorant is a brilliant book. It is scientifically well-informed, serious, funny, and full of good stories...a post-modern ornithology.-- "Living Bird"
Splendid and eclectic.-- "Environmental History"
"Fascinating. . . . A great book to have at home or aboard."--American Schooner Association
"Mankind's literary, historical, cultural, ecological and absurdly comical relationship with the ultimate "love 'em or hate 'em" bird--the only earthly creature that can migrate the length of a continent and climb up cliff faces--is examined by King, a lecturer on the literature of the sea at Williams College and Mystic Seaport."--Connecticut Magazine
" King is asking us to work out the terms of endearment, to figure out compromises that remain crucial to the planet. For more than 300 pages he presses the reader to evaluate bird and human co-existence. Perhaps this duck and its story carry some of the answers. Read the book and get involved. And save some applause for the author."--CoastWeekend.com
"King is asking us to work out the terms of endearment, to figure out compromises that remain crucial to the planet. For more than 300 pages he presses the reader to evaluate bird and human co-existence. Perhaps this duck and its story carry some of the answers. Read the book and get involved. And save some applause for the author."'--CoastWeekend.com
"Splendid and eclectic." --Environmental History
Living Bird"
Environmental History"