Sometime in the midst of working on radio shows this past year and a half on vaccines, the election, parenting and other deep and immediate subjects, I read a book about birds.
Helen Macdonald’s latest book, "Vesper Flights," has essays called "The Human Flock," "Swan Upping," and "A Cuckoo in the House." There are non-bird essays, too, but somehow they all fit together. In the introduction, Macdonald says she hopes the book is like what in Europe was called a "Wunderkammer," a Cabinet of Curiosities. These were collections in ornate wooden cases containing varieties of objects – feathers, rocks, musical instruments and other seemingly unrelated yet connected things of wonder. She hopes this book acts as a sort of cabinet of wonders, saying: "Someone once told me that every writer has a subject that underlies everything they write. It can be love or death, betrayal or belonging, home or hope or exile. I choose to think that my subject is love, and most specifically love for the glittering world of non-human life around us."
You can hear Macdonald’s voice in our show "Thinking With Animals," where she talks about her relationship with a parrot, following her well-known companionship with a hawk which she wrote about in "H is for Hawk." Other segments in the show delve into gorilla communication, octopus consciousness and living with (and as) a badger. It’s our own TTBOOK sense of wonder, a cabinet of curiosities, the animal-human connection version.
–Shannon