Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #364079 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-06
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Many people consider the ubiquitous rock dove, better known as the pigeon, a "rat with wings." But as Blechman demonstrates in his enjoyable and informative book, this much maligned bird has served humans well for thousands of years, carrying messages informing the ancient Egyptians about flood levels along the Nile, bearing news of Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo and saving thousands of soldiers' lives during the two world wars. Today pigeons are found everywhere, from the queen of England's luxurious racing pigeon lofts to the garbage-strewn streets of every large city. Pigeons—gregarious, easily domesticated and capable of flying for hours at speeds of more than 100 mph—are interesting in their own right, but Blechman writes not so much about the birds themselves as about the people who either love or hate them. These include members of a Newe York City homing pigeon club who dedicate themselves to raising and racing pigeons; Queen Elizabeth's royal pigeon handler; breeders who spend years perfecting champion birds for show; gun enthusiasts who participate in brutal live pigeon shoots. Many of these people are eccentric, and while Blechman's book won't convert pigeon haters to pigeon lovers, it does make for entertaining reading. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal
Adult/High School—Domesticated, docile pets or dirty, disease-ridden hangers-on? Pigeons are not a neutral subject. They have lived in unison with humans since ancient Egyptian times, a relationship that historically was productive but sadly has deteriorated into a fine mess. Pigeons routinely went to war as messengers; their dung was used as fertilizer for farmers or manufactured into saltpeter, an ingredient in gunpowder. Since the Industrial Revolution, these birds have clustered in urban areas. With an easy food supply and ample shelter, their populations have soared, as has the desire to trap and shoot, poison, and relocate them. Blechman introduces readers to their many advocates and adversaries. His whimsical style and the colorful cast of experts on either side of the debate make this exhaustive study enjoyable reading. Teens don't have to be particularly passionate about pigeons to pick up this book for social-science, scientific, or literary inquiry.—Brigeen Radoicich, Fresno County Office of Education, CA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
The humble rock dove, Columba livia, is so ubiquitous around human habitations that most people cease to notice them. Domesticated almost as long as the dog, pigeons have been a part of human lives for millennia and yet today have become mere hangers-on in modern society. When they are noticed, they are thought of as feathered rats, and yet there are enthusiastic clubs that race homing pigeons, breed fancy pigeons, and keep coops of birds on their roofs. From the Main Event (the Kentucky Derby of pigeon racing) to the Grand Nationals (think Westminster Kennel Club with pigeons), the author delves into the world of pigeon fanciers and learns from some of its gurus. Along the way, Blechman examines genetics and evolution (Darwin based much of his theory on his own pigeon breeding), history (carrier pigeons saved thousands of lives during the World Wars), natural history (how pigeons "home"), mythology (pigeons as symbols of peace and fertility), and pigeon control (both humane and lethal). Readers will never look at their cities' pigeons the same way again. Nancy Bent
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Pigeons and Me
What a crisis for me! I always looked at pigeons as objects to be avoided in my urban environment. Now, after many years, I know what I have been missing-they are exciting birds that offer more than they take.Blechman has written a book that will astonish you by what you do not know about these common birds. I am now able to be eloquent about pigeons and enjoy them while sitting in the park. Thank you Mr. Blechman.

Cooing about Pigeons
It's rare that any book I'm reading gets a rise out of people when they see the cover. Not so with "Pigeons." Many of the onlookers gave the impression that I was just a few pages short from being placed in a straitjacket and escorted into a padded room. Mr. Blechman's book was well worth the ridicule. A mild curiosity made me pick up the book and purchase it. It was money well spent. Mr. Blechman does an excellent job educating the reader and reporting in a breezy manner the many kinds of relationships between people and pigeons. It's unlikely you'll ever look at this bird in the same way. Highly entertaining and informative.

The Ways We Make Pigeons Our Projects
There isn't quite as much information as I would have liked about pigeons themselves here - their physiology, their psychology, their habits. But then, that really isn't the point of this book. Blechman's aim is more to take us on a tour of what we do to and with pigeons, of the various ways we continue to turn them into our projects. On this score, he has written a very interesting, wide-ranging book. It will leave you sadder but wiser - if not always about pigeon nature - certainly about human nature.

He infiltrated (and in many cases, that is literally the right word) the inner sanctums of a variety of pigeon enthusiasts and shows us the world from their often obsessed point of view.

He takes us inside the world of pigeon breeders, giving us a view of some of the fantastical pigeon forms that have been created through years of dedicated interbreeding - forms clearly no longer able to survive in the wild. He takes us into the world of pigeon racers, whose lives are lived on their rooftops, with stopwatches and binoculars in hand. He walks us along with sometimes dotty, sometimes themselves nearly homeless pigeon "protectors" - eccentric individuals who will NOT stop feeding the birds, even though that is often not even in the best interests of the pigeons themselves. He interviews people charged with exterminating pigeons from the urban landscape. He even managed to gain an uneasy foothold in the waning, but still secretively active world of the pigeon shoot - where pigeons, usually culled from urban settings, are released into the rural wilds to be shot at en masse.

"Pigeons" also includes a surprising chapter on Mike Tyson, a pigeon fancier on the side. There is a lot of unexpected suspense here as we breathlessly follow along behind Blechman, wondering if he'll be able to break through Tyson's phalanx of bodyguards and frontmen to get an interview with the boxer.

There are a couple of minor problems with this book. Blechman occasionally creates confusion by failing to make proper paragraph breaks. Then a second failing is the lack of pictures. I'd like to have seen some of these rarified forms and activities he was describing.

Again, be prepared to feel somewhat depressed by the end of this book. It might cause you to sigh along with Pascal about man's inability to just "sit quietly in a room alone." Our relationship with pigeons shows clearly how we always have to be up and about, altering our landscape, imposing ourselves on it, interfering with nature's ways.

If you want a book that admittedly anthropomorphizes pigeons to some degree, but that in general offers a better view of pigeons on their own terms, you might try to get hold of a copy of "Diary of a Pigeon Watcher" by Doris Schwerin. Then if you want to read about another creature that inhabits our urban landscape with us and that is so often the target of our drive to make projects, you might read "Rats" by Robert Sullivan.