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Product Details
Free Press, February 2005
Trade Paperback, 288 pages
ISBN-10: 0743245466
ISBN-13: 9780743245463
Description
Every January 1, a quirky crowd storms out across North America for a spectacularly competitive event called a Big Year—a grand, expensive, and occasionally vicious 365-day marathon of birdwatching. For three men in particular, 1998 would become a grueling battle for a new North American birding record. Bouncing from coast to coast on frenetic pilgrimages for once-in-a-lifetime rarities, they brave broiling deserts, bug-infested swamps, and some of the lumpiest motel mattresses known to man. This unprecedented year of beat-the-clock adventures ultimately leads one man to a record so gigantic that it is unlikely ever to be bested. Here, prizewinning journalist Mark Obmascik creates a dazzling, fun narrative of the 275,000-mile odyssey of these three obsessives as they fight to win the greatest— or maybe worst—birding contest of all time.
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Stefan Fatsis author of Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players Red-breasted nuthatches! Himalayan snowcocks! Spotted woodpeckers! Nutting's flycatchers! The Big Year is the Gumball Rally of birding
-- a rollicking, nonstop, trans-continental adventure. Mark Obmascik brings the doggedness of an investigative reporter, the grace of an accomplished storyteller, and the compassion of a fellow-traveling obsessive to this alluring quest for avian supremacy.
David Allen Sibley author of The Sibley Guide to Birds Mark Obmascik understands birders, and in this book he has ventured bravely into the fringes of the hobby to report on a sort of extreme birding: the big year. It's the best and the worst of birding in one grueling yearlong contest, and you have to admire the rare passion and dedication that a big year attempt requires. The rest of us must be content with daydreaming about it, and this book will undoubtedly be the source of many daydreams.
Jeff Corwin wildlife biologist, executive producer and host of Animal Planet's The Jeff Corwin Experience The Big Year is big fun. A rollicking, feather-ruffler of a read, this uproarious adventure of three men who flew over the cuckoo's nest in their search for avian glory will have you cawing with laughter.
Kenn Kaufman author of Kaufman Focus Guides: Birds of North America If you didn't think that a bird book could be a gripping page-turner, The Big Year will blow you away. Mark Obmascik has captured the best and the worst of birding, the euphoria and insanity of bird-chasing as an extreme sport, in this vivid, well-crafted epic.
T. R. Reid Washington Post's Rocky Mountain Bureau Chief, regular commentator on National Public Radio's Morning Edition, and author of Confucius Lives Next Door Here's a rare species: a book on birdwatching that turns out to be charming, engrossing, and educational even for people who can't tell a mudhen from a magpie. It was so much fun, I didn't want the big year to end. When it did, there was only one thing to say: "Where'd I put those binoculars?"
Denver Post, October 14, 2011
...At an advance screening of the movie based on his nonfiction bestseller, “ The Big Year ,” author Mark Obmascik admitted he’d often made cracks about a book always being better than the movie it inspired. Well… ...
Denver Post, October 14, 2011
.../scriptFrom left, Owen Wilson, Steve Martin and Jack Black star in "The Big Year." (Provided by 20th Century Fox) if(requestedWidth 0)} "The Big Year" is about frequent fliers. And we don't mean the many feathered species that passionate, ...
Denver Post, October 14, 2011
...From left, Owen Wilson, Steve Martin and Jack Black star in "The Big Year." (Provided by 20th Century Fox) "The Big Year" is about frequent fliers. And we don't mean the many feathered species that passionate, peripatetic birders race to ...
Pegasus News, October 14, 2011
...Century Fox Film Corporation Talk about avid: the three more-or-less likable protagonists of director David Frankel's The Big Year — Bostick, Brad Harris (Jack Black), and Stu Preissler (Steve Martin) — put just about everything in their ...
Keene Sentinel, October 14, 2011
...Miller, who lives in Sugarcreek, Ohio, finds the prospect of being portrayed by Black in the comedy “The Big Year” strangely conflicting. “On one hand, I just want to pinch myself — and it’s exciting,” he said. “On the other ...
MSN Entertainment, October 12, 2011
..."The Big Year" — You'd have to really love birding as much as the guys here do to enjoy this strained buddy comedy to its fullest potential. Except for some lovely ...
Kansas City Star, October 11, 2011
...Miller, who lives in Sugarcreek, Ohio, finds the prospect of being portrayed by Black in the comedy "The Big Year" strangely conflicting. "On one hand, I just want to pinch myself - and it's exciting," he said. "On the other hand, I'm ready ...
Central Utah Daily Herald, October 2, 2011
...This is the first film for director Cameron Crowe (“Almost Famous,” “Jerry Maguire”) since “Elizabethtown” in 2005. “The Big Year” (Oct. 14 — 20th Century Fox) The book: “The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature and Fowl ...
Central Utah Daily Herald, October 2, 2011
...This is the first film for director Cameron Crowe (“Almost Famous,” “Jerry Maguire”) since “Elizabethtown” in 2005. “The Big Year” (Oct. 14 — 20th Century Fox) The book: “The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature and Fowl ...
Denver Post, May 14, 2009
...vodkas. In the back of the house, above the rest- rooms, sits a flock of plastic pink flamingos. Mark Obmascik, 47, is a Denver writer with a passion for the impossible-to-get story. His first book, 'The Big Year,' followed manic ...
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Halfway to HeavenThe beloved author of The Big Year embarks on an outrageous midlife mountain-climbing adventure scaling Colorado's famous Fourteeners.Read More
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