The astonishing variety and richness of birdsong is both an aesthetic and scientific mystery. Biologists have never been able to understand why birdsong displays are often so inventive and why so many species devote so many hours to singing. The standard explanations, which generally have to do with territoriality and sexual display, don't begin to account for the astonishing variety and energy that the commonest birds exhibit. Is it possible that birds sing because they like to? This seemingly naive explanation is starting to look more and more like the truth. In the tradition of classic works by Bernd Heinrich, Edward Abbey, and Terry Tempest Williams, Why Birds Sing is a lyric exploration of birdsong that blends the latest scientific research with a deep understanding of musical beauty and form. Based on conversations with neuroscientists, ecologists, and composers, it is the first book to investigate why birds sing and how, and what effect their music has on other animals — particularly humans. Whether playing the clarinet with the white-crested laughing thrush in Pittsburgh, or jamming in the Australian winter breeding grounds of the Albert's lyrebird, Rothenberg journeys to the heart and soul of birdsong. Why Birds Sing offers an intimate look at the most lovely of natural phenomena — with surprising insights about the origin of music.

"As science explores the frontiers of the measurable, it begins to intrude into the realm of art, and this book occupies that uneasy zone. Rothenberg, a musician and philosopher, became fascinated with the similarities between human music and birds' songs. His investigations into these matters led him to zoos and forests, where he played his clarinet along with virtuoso lyrebirds and thrushes. His goal: to find out why birds sing by using 'the whole toolbox of human talents,' rather than just the theories and experiments of reductionist Darwinism. 'Just because science demonstrates that a song has a specific territorial or sexual purpose doesn't mean that birds aren't singing because they love to,' he writes. Assuming we can know what a bird loves to do is quite a bit of anthropomorphic conjecture, of course. 'It may be impossible to escape the human perspective,' Rothenberg writes, and then he joyfully acknowledges what he feels to be the truth: birds make music as surely as Charlie 'Bird' Parker ever did. Rothenberg delves heartily into the lovely and strange structures of bird songs and finds enough syllables, rhythms and syncopations to fill a jazz encyclopedia. Illus." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"This lovely amalgam of science and music will appeal to both left- and right-brained readers." Booklist

"Impressive and stimulating: an enticing exploration, from the artist's perspective, into the largely unanalyzed subject of birdsong." Kirkus Reviews

"[D]elightfully odd little book..." Library Journal

"Why Birds Sing is a witty, insightful, intrepid, and delightful meditation on the limits of science and reason to comprehend not only birdsong but all of nature's mysteries." John Horgan, author of The End of Science and Rational Mysticism

"This book is exuberant! Exuberantly intellectual, exuberantly alive. And when you are finished with it the world will seem more alive as well, which is an awful lot for one book to accomplish." Bill McKibben, author of Wandering Home

"Rothenberg stalks the mystery brilliantly, but in the end it eludes him. Perhaps, he suggests, that like us, birds sing for joy, simply because they can." Los Angeles Times

David Rothenberg is a writer, musician, and teacher. He is the author of four books and his articles have appeared in Orion, the Nation, Wired, and Sierra, among others. As a musician, he has composed and produced six CD's. Rothenberg is currently a professor of philosophy and music at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.