Geoffrey Dabb

This is a chronicle of encounters with a lot of bird books, in fact a lifetime of such encounters. The world of bird books is vast and varied, defying coherent description. The author's qualificationfor making this attempt to describe it is that he owns several hundred of them, gathered over morethan 70 years. To help make sense of this obsession, the describing of the books is linked to a life inwhich traditional birdwatching (and book hunting) went on, in different places, and in betweenother things.
Some non-bird experiences are recounted, to show this is the story of a real person. If further qualification for authorship is needed it is surely the distinction of having been bitten, quiteseriously, while birdwatching, by a fox. Who else, among today's legion of bird-book creators, canclaim that badge? Apart from that event, and no less damaging an experience, the author has triedto chair a committee that recommends names for Australian birds.