Second Nature - Birds/Biography - Life List
--by Hanje Richards
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Life List : A Woman's Quest For The World's Most Amazing Birds
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Last week, a patron asked me if I had read Life List. I had to admit that I had not (thinking to my
self, "I am not really that into bird books") — but before I had completed the thought, she said, as if reading my mind, "You don’t even have to be into birds."
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Last week, a patron asked me if I had read Life List. I had to admit that I had not (thinking to my
self, "I am not really that into bird books") — but before I had completed the thought, she said, as if reading my mind, "You don’t even have to be into birds." It's a fascinating story, and if you are interested in bird books — or not — take a look.
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After her four kids were nearly grown and she was about to turn 50, Phoebe Snetsinger was told she had less than a year to live. A St. Louis housewife and avid backyard birder, she decided to spend that year traveling the world in search of birds.
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After her four kids were nearly grown and she was about to turn 50, Phoebe Snetsinger was told she had less than a year to live. A St. Louis housewife and avid backyard birder, she decided to spend that year traveling the world in search of birds.
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As i
t turned out, her doctors were wrong. But Phoebe's passion had been ignited, and she spent the next eighteen years crisscrossing the globe recklessly staking out her quarry. En route she contracted malaria in Zambia, nearly fell to her death in Zaire, and was kidnapped — and worse — on the outskirts of Port Moresby. Yet none of this curbed her enthusiasm. By the time she died in a bus accident while birding in Madagascar in 1999, Phoebe was world renowned and had seen more species — 8,500 of the roughly 10,000 — than anyone in history.
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t turned out, her doctors were wrong. But Phoebe's passion had been ignited, and she spent the next eighteen years crisscrossing the globe recklessly staking out her quarry. En route she contracted malaria in Zambia, nearly fell to her death in Zaire, and was kidnapped — and worse — on the outskirts of Port Moresby. Yet none of this curbed her enthusiasm. By the time she died in a bus accident while birding in Madagascar in 1999, Phoebe was world renowned and had seen more species — 8,500 of the roughly 10,000 — than anyone in history. A fascinating portrait of a hobbyist whose obsession contributed to both her success and her demise, Life List brings Phoebe Snetsinger and the wild world of amateur ornithology to vivid life.
posted by msbw @ 6:13 AM
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