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A Supremely Bad Idea: Three Mad Birders and Their Quest to See It All
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$ 12.80
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$ 16.00 |
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| Item Number |
781584 |
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Item Description...
Overview
An unlikely birder traces his indoctrination into the hobby by a pair of obsessive fellow enthusiasts and their zealous nation-wide search for rare and noteworthy species, in an account that describes their haphazard encounters with human and natural challenges. Reprint.
Publishers Description
“Riotously funny, utterly enthralling…Dempsey's a hoot.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune It began innocently enough, when two eccentric guests at L uke Dempsey's weekend home pointed out a small bird flitting through his garden. Dempsey, entranced, found himself falling head over heels. Before he knew it, he and his friends were off on an epic birding journey down the backroads of America, in search of the country's rarest and most beautiful birds. A Supremely Bad Idea is the hilarious story of their trip—what WildBird magazine calls “as close as we have to Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods.” |
Item Specifications...
Pages 264
Dimensions: Length: 1" Width: 5.5" Height: 8.5"
Weight: 0.56 lbs.
Binding Softcover
Release Date Aug 4, 2009
ISBN 1596916346
EAN 9781596916340
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Availability 5 units.
Availability accurate as of May 30, 2012 05:05.
Usually ships within one to two business days from La Vergne, TN.
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Reviews - What do our customers think?
 | Birding as Hip Road Trip Oct 1, 2009 |
If you still think birdwatchers are little old ladies in tennis shoes, you really should read this book. Even if you could care less about birdwatchers and don't know a trogon from a fish, you will likely enjoy the adventures and misadventures of three self-diagnosed crazies as they go out looking for birds.
Unlike Kenn Kaufman, who spent a year hitchhiking around America to set a record for most species seen in one year, Luke Dempsey and his companions just want to get out and see birds. Dempsey doesn't even keep a life list(but he does have an astonishingly good memory), and his observations of the habits and habitats of local homo sapiens are as astute and detailed as his description of the killing methods of the loggerhead shrike.
Dempsey structures his story as a road trip in the best tradition of American road trips as established by Twain, Steinbeck and Kerouac. A big part of the appeal is his crazy companions, a couple with the unlikely names of Don and Donna Graffiti (so unlikely that the new edition includes an afterword "with more words and extra punctuation" by Don to try to prove that he really exists), who are expert but eccentric birders to say the least. They do not drive, so Dempsey is always the driver on their excursions to Texas, Florida, Colorado, Michigan, Arizona, the Northeast and the Northwest in search of more and more life birds.
It doesn't take long to realize that Dempsey and the Graffitis are obsessed, deeply obsessed, in the way that all great people are obsessed. But that doesn't mean they are single-minded. Their obsession for birds is matched by their obsession for proper behavior and etiquette (Dempsey is an immigrant Englishman), which they rarely hesitate to enforce on the boorish, often without regard to their own safety. You have to cringe when Dempsey obstinately refuses to hand his camera over to a probable drug smuggler on the banks of the Rio Grande River.
Their obsessions carry over to their own interactions with themselves, like Don's continual interrogations of Luke over just what about tomatoes he likes or doesn't like. That particular dialogue comes up so often, in fact, that you begin to wonder why Luke doesn't feed Don to a flock of loggerhead shrikes, garnished perhaps with some sun-dried tomatoes. But just then, Luke redeems his friend with an account of his generosity and selflessness that transcends almost anything Don could have done.
And then you realize that what appears to be obsession is in fact passion -- and compassion -- of the highest order. Dempsey and his friends care not so much about collecting bird sightings, but at least as much about the habitats of the birds and what we humans are doing to those habitats. For all his impatience with some of the worst of Americans, Dempsey also deeply loves his adopted homeland and its values, and he has strong personal values of his own, as well. No matter how exciting, exhilarating and exhausting a day of birding in the middle of nowhere might be, Dempsey's twin daughters are never out of his mind, even when he thinks he has gone out of his mind.
If you like birds and birding, you'll enjoy this book. If you like road trips, you'll enjoy this book. If you like good writing, you'll enjoy this book. If you don't have a sense of humor, you won't enjoy this book.
| | | | A supremely good book Sep 30, 2009 |
As most birders will tell you, the pursuit often becomes a delightful combination of reverence and irreverence: reverence for the sublimely beautiful and miraculous creatures that are the subject of a birder's passion; irreverence for the odd people one meets, and for one's own odd self.
I've read many books about birders' quests to visit America's birding hot spots, and I've enjoyed nearly all of them. But A SUPREMELY BAD IDEA is the first I've read that so effectively combines these fraternal twins, Reverence and Irreverence, and I had a great deal of trouble putting it down. Highest recommendation. | | | | Great read! Sep 2, 2009 |
| This book rocks! It's so entertaining and fascinating. I couldn't put it down. | | |  | Fun read............... Aug 24, 2009 |
Dempsey has written an extremely fun read. I am not a birder but none the less, I enjoyed the story of these three "odd ball" birders. Though the book is considered comic, it also contains serious commentary about nature and Americana.
The book also puts a human face on all those who find themselves in the grip of an obsession. Being an obsessive "reader" and "book collector" it was fun to meet a group of people with an obsession so completely different than my own. The obsession was different but amazingly the people were much the same. I believe it is a testament to the artful story telling of Luke Dempsey that he was able to use humor to engage the reader in an activity that not everyone shares.
It was a great read ! | | |  | AND THIS WORK COULD HAVE BEEN SUCH A WONDERFUL READ! Aug 21, 2009 |
I really and truly wanted to like this book, indeed I most certainly did. But alas, what could have been a wonderful tale; an informative an entertaining tale, just did not meet the elements that make up a good read in this particular genre. First, so that you will know where I am coming from, I have been active in birding for over 50 years now. Secondly, I have personally visited and birded each and ever area and spot mentioned in this book and have in fact lived very near several of them for extended periods. Thirdly, I am a fanatic conservationist and most certainly fall into the area of being labeled a "tree hugger." Fourth, I do have an acute and off beat sense of humor...just ask my friends. I can normally find something or the other to laugh at or at least come up with a smile, in just about any situation. Again, I mention this just so you will know from what angle I read and viewed this book from.
Now before I get started, I must note that there are strong points to this book. Some of it I did enjoy reading and some of the statements the author makes I found to be absolutely hilarious. I also note that the author does have a reasonable command of the language and is, if you look at it a certain way, a very skillful writer. I also was attracted to the subject matter, being somewhat obsessive as to my birding myself. I like travel books and I like books about birding and I like stories of quirky people. This book partially fulfilled those likes from my standpoint. But I fear to report that the book was so flawed that what should have been a great reading experience turned into a rather pointless read that left a sour taste in my mouth after completion. I feel one of the problems was that the author was trying to emulate Bill Bryson and sort of fell flat on his face in doing so. That is such a pity...all that potential just simply wasted!
Oh my, where to start? Well it must first be noted that the author and one other member of this birding threesome are both in this country as guest workers and holders of Green Cards. The author mentions several times in this story how much he loves this country and how much it has done for him. It should also be noted that there is little evidence of this "love" in any given page in this book. I would think that a better title for this book would have been "Three Clueless Urban Elitists go Birding and spend their time taking cheap shots at everything and everyone they observe." We are informed right at the beginning that the author is an Oxford Graduate and lives in the middle of New York City and has just gobs and gobs of highly sophisticated friends. Okay, no problem so far. The author is quick to point out that he and his ex-wife have bought a weekend house far from the city (this is where he becomes hooked on birding) which is all fine and dandy until we get to the various rants throughout the book on "Rich Texans and others who are ruining our environment by buying up places to place their summer homes." My goodness!
After the introduction we then have the story of three ultra sophisticated people taking quick jaunts into the interior of the country supposedly looking for birds. We are assured that all three are not crass "counters," yet we are kept up to date throughout the books as to the number of life birds they gather. Anyway, it would seem that these three have made several findings: First, all people who live in Arizona are gun toting sub-humans who want to shoot Mexicans as the come across the border or they are drug crazed Mexicans who are trying to smuggle drugs across the border. They do not serve salt with their eggs. Secondly we find that all the people living in East Texas are racist clan members and talk in sub-human grunts. Thirdly we find that people living in Michigan are hell bent on destroying their environment and that the State has entirely too many bugs. Fourth we find that these three absolutely hate fat people, which seemingly includes 99 percent of the American population (This trio has a pet name "pregnants" for all of them). The author is not fond of old people and makes it pretty plane that they should not interfere with his sophisticated birding, waiters and waitresses, fellow birders, birding guides, solders, all drivers...and the endless list goes on. Fifth: Despite the fact that the author notes he is grateful to all the dedicated birders who help them along the way, I was unable to find one instance in this book where this trio had anything but complete distain for their fellow birders.
It should also be noted that as this personality filled trio venture out into the land of the commoner; the unwashed masses, they are enraged and completely disdainful of any one that is driving a SUV...good grief. I suppose jetting there and there and renting rent-a-cars in each place is much more environmentally correct than driving a SUV. And eating establishments ...oh my, the food these poor urbanites had to put up with on their travels! The only place they seemed to enjoy was a wonderful little Bed and Breakfast on Padre Island (yup, it had a French Chief or cook). These are also the kind of folks you would certainly like to have visited your home. After their visit to the Patron's home in Arizona and seeing the wonderful hummingbirds there, the author was kind enough to toss some nickels in the bucket as he left to help run the place. Hey Dempsey! Most people leave anywhere from five to twenties in the pot, you cheap......
I suppose the quality that ruined this work the most for me though was the author's whiney and cheap political remarks about the current (Bush) administration. I personally am completely apolitical but I get the fact that the author is extremely cocktail party left wing...no problem here, I have many friends in this category...love all of them, but this certainly will cause this book be become dated rather quickly and to be frank, I read and listen to enough of this whining stuff from both wings that I read to escape it, and don't need a dose of it in a bird book. I suppose the point in the book where I started to shut down was on page 52 as our elitist birders were entering a military installation in Arizona and:
"As we drive past a bunch of soldiers shooting guns at distant target, he said as much - but with the windows firmly up: `Good for you, boys, learning how to kill. Very nice. Lovely way to spend a morning.' He waved sarcastically, and one of the grunts gave a friendly wave back."
I hate to be the one to point it out, but had it not been for those "grunts," the author and his sophisticated friend would probably be speaking German as a first language today.
I could go on and on but I think you get the point, although I will point out, as other reviewers have done, that there were quite a number of geographical and birding errors in this work. No problem here, but it sort of distracted from the work as a whole. Again, the book did have many strong points but the bad far outweighed the good. A wonderful and amusing tale was wasted here.
I would recommend you check this one from the library rather than buy. You will particularly enjoy it if you enjoy scatological jokes of the Jr. High variety; the "F" word used rather freely (in an oh so sophisticated way), and a sense of humor that relies mainly on putting others down and in their place. There were some very nice sequences of finding new birds and the author was somewhat funny at times. For the most part though, this was a rather heavy read and a study of complete intolerance and misplaced sarcasm. Hopefully the author will mature enough to be able to write to the level he is obviously able to write.
Just a note to the author: If we should ever find ourselves birding the same location, do quietly come over to me or my family, friends and fellow birders and inform us that we are in the presence of our betters and that we should move along and not disturb you. We will be more than happy to do so. We are a peaceful group but I fear that if you come at us with one of your effete shrieking hissy fits (sounds like road rage in a parking lot to me and you probably need to work on that aspect of your life), as you did with that poor family if Florida (You remember, The Dunces...the fat family) informing us that we are disturbing you and the wild life and waving your cell phone, it is quite likely that you will spend the next couple of days trying to extract said cell phone from an orifice it was never meant to enter. I am old so you probably won't like me, but that is okay too.
I am giving this book three stars, which is probably two more than it deservers, as I did enjoy aspects of it and it is the type of read that many will enjoy. I cannot say that it stands anywhere near the many other works I have read in this genre but am willing to give the author the benefit of a doubt.
Don Blankenship
The Ozarks
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