Reviews

• This book is for people with a passion for birds and a thirst for knowledge of where they came from, how they diversified and why they are not the same all over the world. The best of its kind, it is written as a series of exciting stories about each of the major groups of birds, with minimum jargon, maximum clarity, and in a warmly accessible style. —Peter R. Grant
• Combines the passion of an ornithologist with a flair for explaining the latest scientific ideas in captivating prose. A wonderful read. —Prof Nick Davies, Cambridge University
• A vivid account of some of the most interesting aspects of the evolution of modern birds, it shows the reader that current research in avian evolution covers far more topics than the well-popularised dinosaur bird transition. —Gerald Mayr, Senckenberg Research Institute
• ...this ranks among the best popular science books and provides a great guide to our current understanding of where, and how, birds evolved. —Rob Robinson, BTO News
• Every once in a while you stumble on a new natural history book that seems destined to be a classic. Is that a bold enough opening to convey how much I enjoyed The Ascent of Birds by John Reilly, new this spring from Pelagic Publishing? —Carrie Laben, 10000 Birds
• I don’t normally start reading a book and post a review before I’ve finished (or in the case of a few abandoned) reading it. I’m making an exception for this as its not just an important contribution to ornithology it really is a shining example of how a technical subject can be presented in an easily digestible way to the lay readership. This is very well written and makes the evolutionary process in birds easy to understand and compelling. The author’s own passions get shared and you quickly go along for the ride and lap up the facts presented to you. This one’s a keeper! —Fatbirder
• ...one of those publications that makes you realise how much you didn't know you didn't know. It is also tremendous fun to read, and would be a valuable addition to any keen birder's library. —Martin Collinson, British Birds
• I highly recommend it to more experienced birders and to all interested in birds and avian evolution as an entertaining and instructive resource. —Clifford Frith, Australian Field Ornithology
• A readable overview of avian evolution. —Ian Paulsen, Birdbooker
• This book will become a bible. A very clearly written one, at that. —Professor Ian Clark, Australian National University
• ....we finally have a good volume presenting the vast amount of modern work done on bird evolution to those interested. This is a notable achievement and has been well executed. —Darren Naish, Tetrapod Zoology
• While this book is a little daunting at first, covering as it does the entire evolutionary history of birds, the author does an excellent job of breaking the latest science down into understandable chunks, and I highly recommend it as an excellent synthesis of this amazing field of research. You won’t look at birds the same again. —Cyndi M. Smith, Canadian Field Naturalist
• The Ascent of Birds is a fascinating story of bird history, a collection of exciting and readable essays on the development of different bird types from ancient times to the present and the future. —Pertti Koskimies, Linnut
• We expect to find well‐read copies of this book in libraries near famous birding locations across the globe, from Pipeline Road to Kinabalu National Park. —Journal of Field Ornithology
• This is perhaps the most exciting book on bird evolution I have ever read. Far from a chronological follow-up of the main fossils of dinosaurs to date, the author has chosen to present 27 species or groups of species, chosen for their spectacular or very particular adaptations, and to show where they come from, how they have evolved and spread, diversified, or sometimes contracted, and therefore how complex specializations or astonishing distributions can be explained today. Some may use recent or unusual evolutions (sympatric speciation of two Azorean petrels) or may not be the result of as long a history as was thought (Hoatzin's claw), but all show to what point evolution takes various paths to achieve the extraordinary biodiversity of today. There are practically no illustrations (except for a central notebook of photos of the protagonists) and references are relegated to the end, but the style is so captivating that we do not notice it. For such a low price, it is an opportunity to learn to what extent the evolution of our birds over the ages is not simply a succession of morphological changes, but that ecology, biogeography, plate tectonics or sometimes chance may have played an important role. —Jean Marc Thiollay, Ornithos