Mind of the Raven by Bernd Heinrich

I finally finished Bernd Heinrich's New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year in 1999 Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds (click here to read all my entries about this book) and wanted to share this humorous Eskimo tale that Heinrich used to end Chapter Twenty-One "Tulugaq":

The practice of following ravens must once have been common, because it has inspired humorous Eskimo tales. I presume any truly humorous tale must have a highly serious antithesis. In "The Raven and the Hunter" tale, a raven tells a hunter who wants to settle near some seal breathing holes he has found precisely where to camp. The hunter foolishly heeds the raven and camps where directed. There in the night he is killed by a boulder falling from the mountain above. The raven then flies down and pecks out the hunter's eyes, saying, "I don't know why all these hunters believe my silly stories."

Just one example of how Heinrich uses personal stories and mythology, not just science and research, to teach readers about ravens in this captivating book.

Mind of the Raven by Bernd Heinrich

I am finally about done with Bernd Heinrich’s Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds — click here to read all my entries about this book.

It's really been a intriguing and educational read -- I've just taken so long to get through it because I haven't had as much time to read these past few weeks.

Henrich is really an inquisitive, dedicated and natural researcher.

His professional research and personal experiments with ravens written with the full joy and wonder of a truly passionate scientist and intertwined with drawings he's made of ravens is just remarkable.

I don't even like birds and I've never seen a raven but I've enjoyed this book.

Hope to finally find the time to finish it this week!

Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds by Bernd Heinrich

I've been enjoying Bernd Heinrich's New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year in 1999 Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds (click here to read all my entries about this book).

Yes I'm still getting through it. It's really quite good; easy to read, full of interesting facts and thoughtful writing. It's just that my reading pace has slowed down now that it's summer time.

By the way, did you know that the author Bernd Heinrich is a record-setting ultramarathoner?

Quoting wikipedia:

In 1981, he set an absolute American Record (i.e., the best of either road or track venues; this one was a road race in Chicago) of 6:38:20 for 100km (62.137 miles). Two years later, he set an absolute American Record for the 24 Hour Run of 156 miles, 1388 yards in a track race in Maine. In 1984, he set an absolute American 100 mile record of 12:27:01, again in a track race. One year later, he set the American track record of 7:00:12 for 100km. In so doing, he became the only American man to hold both the road and track versions of the American Record for the same event. His 12:27:01 for 100 miles and 7:00:12 for 100km still remained, at the end of 2007, the official American Track records. At the end of 2007, Heinrich was inducted into the American Ultrarunning Association's Hall of Fame.

Will write more when I finish this book.

Mind of the Raven by Bernd Heinrich

I've just started reading Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds by Bernd Heinrich. As I mentioned in my entry about borrowing this book, Mind of the Raven was a New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year in the year it was published (1999).

I didn't know much about ravens -- really all I knew was Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven -- so I was surprise to read in the Introduction that "ravens have throughout history commonly been singled out to be most like man . . . [and] have been considered highly intelligent, and mythologized as creators, destroyers, prophets, playful crowns, and tricksters."

Here's an unbelievable quote from Mark Pavelka, who studied ravens for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, in the Introduction:

With other animals you can usually throw out 90 percent of the stories you hear about them as exaggerations. With ravens, it's the opposite. No matter how strange or amazing the story, chances are pretty good that at least some raven somewhere actually did that.

I'm eager to learn more, especially since our local NFL football team is the Baltimore Ravens (after Baltimore-born Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven)!