Better Living Through Birding : : Notes From a Black man in the Natural World

Locations
Call Number: 921 Cooper, Christian, Adult Book / Nonfiction / Biography / General / Cooper, Christian
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Malletts Creek Branch, Traverwood Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	921 Cooper, Christian	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Malletts Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Nonfiction / Biography / General / Cooper, Christian	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Traverwood Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Nonfiction / Biography / General / Cooper, Christian	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Westgate Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Nonfiction / Biography / General / Cooper, Christian	4-week checkout	Due 04-25-2024

"Christian Cooper is a self-described Blerd (Black nerd), an avid comics fan, and an expert birder who devotes every spring to gazing upon the migratory birds that stop to rest in Central Park, just a subway ride away from where he lives in New York City. When birdwatching in the park one morning in May 2020, Cooper was engaged in the ritual that had been a part of his life since he was ten years old. But when a routine encounter with a dog-walker escalates age old racial tensions, Cooper's viral video of the incident would send shockwaves through the nation. In Better Living Through Birding, Cooper tells the story of his extraordinary life leading up to the now-infamous encounter in Central Park and shows how a life spent looking up at the birds prepared him, in the most uncanny of ways, to be a gay, Black man in American today. From sharpened senses that work just as well in a protest as in a park, to what a bird like the Common Grackle can teach us about self-acceptance, Better Living Through Birding exults in the pleasures of a life lived in pursuit of the natural world and invites you to discover your own. Equal parts memoir, travelogue, and primer on the art of birding, this is Cooper's story of learning to claim and defend space for himself and others like him, from his days as a writer for Marvel Comics, where Cooper introduced the first gay storyline, to vivid and life-changing birding expeditions through Africa, Australia, the Americas and the Himalayas. Better Living Through Birding is Cooper's invitation into the wonderful world of birds, and what they can teach us about life, if only we would stop and listen"-- Provided by publisher.

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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Not Just for Birders! submitted by sdunav on August 9, 2023, 10:55am This is a delightful memoir of a gay Black man who is an unabashed nerd - a lover of birds, comics, and science fiction. He's a wonderful writer, and the infamous incident in Central Park on Memorial Day 2020 is a minor part of the story (almost the final chapter in the book, actually). I enjoyed the story immensely, and even though I'm only vaguely interested in birds, I appreciated his passion - and will pay more attention to the sounds and sights of the birds around me from now on.