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Original Essays | May 1, 2013
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More copies of this ISBNThe Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsessionby Mark Obmascik
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:Now reissued to tie in to the 2011 major motion picture release from 20th Century Fox starring Steve Martin, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson, the critically heralded book by award-winning journalist Mark Obmascik—“a feathered version of It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World ” ( Outside ).
With engaging, unflappably wry humor, The Big Year re-creates the grand, grueling, expensive, and occasionally vicious, “extreme” 365-day contest for a new North American birdwatching record. In this thrilling real-life adventure, three men battle the daunting forces of nature—and each other—in their whirlwind 275,000-mile odyssey from Texas to British Columbia, Cape May to Alaska. One of them achieves an astonishing record unlikely ever to be bested. A captivating tour of human and avian nature, passion and paranoia, honor and deceit, fear and loathing, The Big Year shows the lengths to which people will go to pursue their dreams, to conquer and categorize—no matter how low the stakes. Synopsis:Every January 1, a quirky crowd storms out across North America for a spectacularly competitive event called a Big Year—a grand, expensive, and occasionally vicious 365-day marathon of birdwatching. For three men in particular, 1998 would become a grueling battle for a new North American birding record. Bouncing from coast to coast on frenetic pilgrimages for once-in-a-lifetime rarities, they brave broiling deserts, bug-infested swamps, and some of the lumpiest motel mattresses known to man. This unprecedented year of beat-the-clock adventures ultimately leads one man to a record so gigantic that it is unlikely ever to be bested. Here, prizewinning journalist Mark Obmascik creates a dazzling, fun narrative of the 275,000-mile odyssey of these three obsessives as they fight to win the greatest— or maybe worst—birding contest of all time.
Synopsis:A rollicking, witty chronicle of the human need to conquer and categorize--in this case, every bird on the planet--no matter how low the stakes.
About the AuthorMark Obmascik has been a journalist for two decades, most recently at the Denver Post, where he was lead writer for the newspaper's Pulitzer Prize in 2000 and winner of the 2003 National Press Club Award for environmental journalism. His freelance stories have been published in Outside and other magazines, and he has aired numerous political stories on public affairs and television news programs. An obsessed birder himself, he lives in Denver with his wife and sons.
Table of ContentsContents
Introduction 1. January 1, 1998 2. A Birder Is Hatched 3. The Early Birds 4. Strategy 5. Bodega Bluff 6. Whirlwind 7. El Niño 8. The Wise Owl 9. Yucatán Express 10. The Big Yak 11. The Cradle of Storms 12. The B.O.D. 13. Doubt 14. Forked 15. Conquest 16. Cape Hatteras Clincher 17. Two in the Bush 18. Nemesis 19. Honorbound 20. December 31, 1998 Epilogue Acknowledgments Bibliography Index What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
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