What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World's Most Enigmatic Birds

By Jennifer Ackerman

Book Overview

An instant New York Times bestseller

A New York Times Notable Book of 2023

Named a Best Book of 2023 by Publishers Weekly

From the author of The Genius of Birds and The Bird Way, a brilliant scientific investigation into owls--the most elusive of birds--and why they exert such a hold on human imagination

With their forward gaze and quiet flight, owls are often a symbol of wisdom, knowledge, and foresight. But what does an owl really know? And what do we really know about owls? Some two hundred sixty species of owls exist today, and they reside on every continent except Antarctica, but they are far more difficult to find and study than other birds because they are cryptic, camouflaged, and mostly active at night. Though human fascination with owls goes back centuries, scientists have only recently begun to understand the complex nature of these extraordinary birds.

In What an Owl Knows, Jennifer Ackerman joins scientists in the field and explores how researchers are using modern technology and tools to learn how owls communicate, hunt, court, mate, raise their young, and move about from season to season. Ackerman brings this research alive with her own personal field observations; the result is an awe-inspiring exploration of owls across the globe and through human history, and a spellbinding account of the world's most enigmatic group of birds.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0593298888
• ISBN13: 9780593298886
• Release Date: June 2023
• Publisher: Penguin Press
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Reads like the script for a PBS documentary

Shouldn't this book be called, "What we know about owls"? She talks more about the experts studying the owls then the owls. Does she get a kick back for each name she mentions? She is obligated to mention evolution every few pages. I guess she has never read "Darwin's Black Box", by Michael Behe. He reading is 30 years behind. There are no drawings or illustrations, only pictures of owls. She describes the auditory system of the owl. It is screaming for a drawing. None. She describes the locking tendons in the claw. It fails because there is no drawing. I would prefer an encyclopedian arrangement: Show me a picture of a type of owl, describe it, then go to the next. With drawings of anatomy, descriptions of habitat, maybe even how to build a box and attract an owl. More fact and less fluf.