Birding and Birders: A Few Books (part I)

Speaking of lists, here's one of books about birders and birdwatching that I think I'll try to pick up when I get home:

Of a Feather: A Brief History of American Birding, by Scott Widensaul
The evolution of an eccentric hobby into a popular pastime, including biographies of key luminaries.

Birding on Borrowed Time, by Phoebe Snetsinger
The memoir of a woman who, upon receiving a cancer diagnosis in 1981 at age 49, set off to see as many birds as she could before she died. She ended up living 17 more years and became the first person to see more than 8,000 species.

Life List: A Woman's Quest for the World's Most Amazing Birds, by Olivia Gentile
A biography of Phoebe Snetsinger.

John James Audubon: The Making of an American, by Richard Rhodes
The man, the myth, the legend.

Birdwatcher: The Life of Roger Tory Peterson, by Elizabeth Rosenthal
The author of landmark field guides, Peterson helped to make birding what it is today.

The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession, by Mark Obmascik
The story of three men vying to see the most North American birds in a year. It's a very entertaining book, and movie too.

To See Every Bird on Earth: A Father, A Son, and a Lifelong Obsession, by Dan Koeppel
As told by the son of a man who traveled to sixty countries in his pursuit of "every bird on earth."

Kingbird Highway: The Biggest Year in the Life of an Extreme Birder, by Kenn Kaufman
A memoir chronicling a sixteen-year-old's big year in the 1970s, considered a classic in the birding literature by someone who is now revered as one of America's top birders.

Lost among the Birds: Accidentally Finding Myself in One Very Big Year, by Neil Hayward
At age 39, having quit his high-paying job and being on the other side of a failed relationship, Hayward, almost on a lark, decided to try for a big year in 2013.

Birding without Borders: An Obsession, a Quest, and the Biggest Year in the World, by Noah Stryker
Traveling to 41 countries in 2015 with a backpack and binoculars, Stryker became the first person to see more than half the world's ten thousand birds in a single year.