Sneed B. Collard
Auteur de Animal Dads
A propos de l'auteur
Crédit image: Photo by Amy Ratzlaf
Œuvres de Sneed B. Collard
California Fire 47 exemplaires
Acting for Nature: What Young People Around the World Have Done to Protect the Environment (1999) 29 exemplaires
Our Natural Homes: Exploring Terrestrial Biomes of North and South America (Our Perfect Planet) (1996) 21 exemplaires
Beaver and Otter Get Along...Sort of: A Story of Grit and Patience Between Neighbors (2021) 16 exemplaires
Monteverde: Science and Scientists in a Costa Rican Cloud Forest (Venture - Science) (1997) 12 exemplaires
One Iguana, Two Iguanas: A Story of Accident, Natural Selection, and Evolution (2018) 11 exemplaires
Teaching Nonfiction Revision: A Professional Writer Shares Strategies, Tips, and Lessons (2017) 3 exemplaires
Look At Cubism (Art and Music) 1 exemplaire
Étiqueté
Partage des connaissances
- Date de naissance
- 1959-11-07
- Sexe
- male
- Nationalité
- USA
- Lieu de naissance
- Phoenix, Arizona, USA
- Lieux de résidence
- Montana, USA
- Études
- University of California, Berkeley (BA), University of California, Santa Barbara (MS)
- Professions
- writer
speaker - Prix et distinctions
- Washington PostChildren's Book Guild Children's Nonfiction Writer of the Year Award (2006)
AAAS/Subaru/Science Books & Films Prize for Excellence in Science Books (2006) - Courte biographie
- Born in Phoenix, Arizona, Sneed grew up in Santa Barbara, CA. After his parents divorced, he split his time between Santa Barbara, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and Pensacola, Florida, where his biologist father lived. His love of travel and biology have guided his career. He graduated with Honors in marine biology from Berkeley, but immediately launched his writing career. His first thirty or so books all focused on science and the environment, and he traveled widely to research them. More recently, he's focused his efforts on fiction. His newest, Double Eagle, is a thriller inspired by a summer he spent with his father on Dauphin Island, Alabama.
Sneed Collard's first book,Sea Snakes, was published in 1993, and since then he has published over forty-five books for children, including the award winning A Platypus, Probably; Beaks!; Animal Dads;One Night in the Coral Sea; and The Prairie Builders Reconstructing America's Lost Grasslands, winner of 2006 AAAS/Subaru/Science Books & Films Prize for Excellence in Science Books.
Membres
Critiques
Listes
Zoology (1)
Prix et récompenses
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Auteurs associés
Statistiques
- Œuvres
- 89
- Membres
- 3,405
- Popularité
- #7,484
- Évaluation
- 4.2
- Critiques
- 121
- ISBN
- 222
- Langues
- 1
- Favoris
- 2
Long story short, this is more about neophyte birders than it is a Big Year. It is also a father and son story. Collard doesn’t claim any different, but it is more a small big year than your typical Big Year tale.
It is lightweight and a good enough read. I was hooked in the first few pages, the first chapter which was hysterical, but then things dropped off and remained fairly staid throughout. But it is also a short book so it isn't too much work.
As I briefly touched on above, neither father nor son are significantly into birding in any way; however, that does change. The journey itself is a result of having watched the movie The Big Year starring Jack Black, Owen Wilson and Steve Martin. It's kind of like having watched the Clint Eastwood movie The Eiger Sanction, and then deciding that you are going to climb Mount Everest without ever having strapped on hiking boots let alone a backpack. Well, maybe not as bad as the extreme examples I listed, but along those lines.
In any case, father and son have an enjoyable year chasing and learning about birds in a handful of places in the US, and also squeeze in a side trip to the Galapagos (not counting those birds on their Big Year for some reason). There are some good insights, and the Collards are definitely kindred spirits.
One thing in particular jumped out at me; one of the primary hazards of birding is noise pollution which the Collards quickly found out (and duly noted):
"We slogged through the snow, trying to locate birds by sound, but a serious drawback to the location was that cars from nearby Highway 12 assaulted us with a steady stream of noise pollution - mostly from rigs pulling snowmobiles up to Lolo Pass."
[And at Placid Lake, looking for loons] "The woman directed us to a small parking area a couple of miles up the lakeshore, but the loons hadn't gotten the message to meet us there. What we did find were dozens of off-road vehicles, motorboats, and jet-skis roaring around and across the lake."
"'Why would you come out to this beautiful spot to thrash around on your gas-powered vehicles when you can enjoy just as much noise and craziness back in the city?' I said to the boys."
[He also succinctly summed up the problem (with most of the people on the planet).]
"It was a rhetorical question. Even at Braden's age I had never fathomed this concept of 'escaping town' only to make your camping experience as crazy, hectic, and noisy as your everyday life. Yet, more than ever, that was what millions of Americans considered to be the perfect vacation."
"Maybe I'm just not a good American."
[Yep, I've said the same a million or two times myself.]… (plus d'informations)