Review by Booklist Review
This browsable and beautifully illustrated tour of the world's birds provides not only biological but also cultural profiles of 100 birds. Toft's approach highlights how humans, birds, and politics are intertwined, telling human stories as well as ornithological ones.The work presents the birds of 99 countries and details all of the U.S. state birds and Canadian province birds. Although the coverage is comprehensive, the scholarship is not the most rigorous. Toft primarily cites the Handbook of the Birds of the World series, although Wikipedia also makes an appearance. The entries are very engaging, with wonderful photographs of birds as well as illustrations of flags, stamps, and other images related to birds as cultural symbols. Most entries are 1 or 2 pages, although the U.S. entry, which includes information on the state birds, is 12 pages. Each entry includes a paragraph or two describing the bird's journey to official or unofficial national-bird status. Entries also provide basic facts about the birds, including status on the endangered-species list, size, description, diet, reproduction, range, and habitat. Finally, each has a section devoted to cultural presence. National Birds of the World ultimately seems better suited to coffee-table enjoyment than to use strictly for reference. However, it should provide a good entry point for students, novice ornithologists, armchair travelers, and amateur historians, and so is recommended for public and school libraries.--Weak, Emily Copyright 2015 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
