Why read Condor?

Book cover of Condor: To the Brink and Back--The Life and Times of One Giant Bird

Book description

The California condor
has been described as a bird
"with one wing in the grave."

Flying on wings nearly ten feet wide from tip to tip, these birds thrived on the carcasses of animals like woolly mammoths. Then, as humans began dramatically reshaping North America, the continent's largest flying land…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Condor as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Michael Sheldon

Author

For anyone who loves birds and nature like I do, seeing a wild California Condor soaring over a jagged rock face is a peak experience. Reading John Nielsen’s Condor makes this all the more meaningful as he chronicles the species’ decline over the last ten thousand years, as well as the equally dramatic story of its recovery.

It’s hard to believe there was controversy as recently as the 1980s over the need to save the Condor. Nielsen describes the competing interests, with detailed profiles of the key players.

For me, the most emotionally gripping part of the book was Nielsen’s…

From Michael's 3 favorite reads in 2023.