
TRAVEL AND NATURE WRITING
The Most Perfect Thing:
Inside (and Outside) a Bird’s Egg
Tim Birkhead
From the author of Bird Sense and The Wisdom of Birds, a revealing and
enthralling book about the extraordinary creation that is a bird’s egg
‘I think that, if required on pain of death to name instantly the most perfect
thing in the universe, I should risk my fate on a bird’s egg’
Thomas Wentworth Higginson, 1862
How are eggs of diff erent shapes made, and why are they the shape they are?
When does the shell of an egg harden? Why do some eggs contain two yolks?
How are the colours and patterns of an eggshell created, and why do they vary?
And which end of an egg is laid rst – the blunt end or the pointy end?
These are just some of the questions The Most Perfect Thing answers, as the
journey of a bird’s egg from creation and fertilisation to its eventual hatching is
examined, with current scienti c knowledge placed within an historical context.
Beginning with an examination of the stunning eggs of the guillemot, each
of which is so variable in pattern and colour that no two are ever the same,
acclaimed ornithologist Tim Birkhead then looks at the eggs of hens, cuckoos
and many other birds, revealing weird and wonderful facts about these miracles
of nature. Woven around and supporting these facts are extraordinary stories
of the individuals who from as far back as Ancient Egypt have been xated on
the study and collection of eggs, not always to the bene t of their conservation.
Firmly grounded in science and enriched by a wealth of observation drawn
from a lifetime spent studying birds, The Most Perfect Thing is an illuminating
and engaging exploration of the science behind eggs and the history of man’s
obsession with them.
Tim Birkhead is a professor at the University of She eld where he teaches
animal behaviour and the history of science. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society
of London and his research has taken him all over the world in the quest to
understand the lives of birds. He has written for the Independent, New Scientist,
BBC Wildlife. Among his other books are Promiscuity, Great Auk Islands, The
Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Birds which won the McColvin medal, The Red
Canary which won the Consul Cremer Prize, The Wisdom of Birds and Bird
Sense. He is married with three children and lives in She eld.
Bloomsbury Publishing
PUBLICATION DATE: 07/04/16
EXTENT: 288
RIGHTS SOLD: De Bezige Bij
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The Red
Canary
Tim Birkhead
Bird Sense
Tim Birkhead
The Wisdom of Birds
Tim Birkhead
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