Bad to the bone

One of the great joys of the library, and to a certain extent the bookstore as well — although tempered there by the odium of commerce — is browsing. Yes, the same word is used for the internet, but it is not the same. Differences: the serendipity and physicality, for two, and the winnowing done by the librarians for another. The internet, after all, is a blizzard of chaff. Just because any idiot can put up a blog doesn’t mean they should. Just because millions of people are self-publishing books doesn’t mean they should (you should check out Xlibis sometime; evidently the authors write their own book descriptions, resulting in much cliche, meaningless blather, and ugly grammar).

All this to preface the finding of this book while searching at NYPL’s Mid-Manhattan for something completely different: How to Be A Bad Birdwatcher, by Simon Barnes. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is thinking of becoming a birdwatcher or anyone who wonders about birdwatchers:

“I don’t go birdwatching. I am birdwatching. Birdwatching is a state of being, not an activity. It doesn’t depend on place, on equipment, on specific purpose, like, fishing. It is not a matter of organic train-spotting; it is about life and it is about living.”