feathers the evolution of a natural miracle

Readers from science buffs to those interested in cultural history will find this a worthwhile afternoon's read. As seen on PBSs American Spring Live, one of Americas great. This book, about the natural history of feathers, begins with Archaeopteryx. Hanson also recounts many personal encounters with feathers and their avian owners in the wild. Read Feathers The Evolution of a Natural Miracle by Thor Hanson available from Rakuten Kobo. On the grand tour of Vegas, Hanson visits a shop that still dyes feathers by hand, and in Washington, D.C., he visits scientists at the Smithsonian whose expertise is identifying plumage.

He explains clearly for generalists why paleontologists now believe many dinosaurs sported plumage. Yet their story has never been fully told. They date back more than 100 million years. Hanson divides his book into five sections: Evolution, Fluff, Flights, Fancy, and Function. As seen on PBSs American Spring Live, one of Americas great nature-writers explores the magic and science of feathers Feathers are an evolutionary marvel: aerodynamic, insulating, beguiling. Conservation biologist Hanson (The Impenetrable Forest: My Gorilla Years in Uganda) takes readers on a wide-ranging tour of the world of feathers, from Las Vegas revues, whose performers wear thousands of dollars' worth (and they're heavier than you think), to the world of fly fishing, where unscrupulous collectors illegally seek out rare feathers for their lures. We usually think about feathers when we're trying to identify a bird at the feeder on our deck, but feathers are found in pillows, sleeping bags, and fertilizer, and a century or two ago they supplied writing instruments and women's hats. 'As light as a feather,' 'a feather in her cap,' 'you could have knocked me over with a feather' are just a few examples of how feathers permeate conversation.

Feathers the evolution of a natural miracle