Steven's Reviews > The Wonderful Mr Willughby: The First True Ornithologist

Although this book bills itself as a biography of Francis Willughby as an ornithologist, it's more about his scientific partnership with fellow naturalist John Ray, their travels, and their efforts toward scientifically describing and categorizing the natural world around them, notably birds, fish and insects.

As an ornithologist himself, the author has a tendency to get a bit sidetracked with the minutiae of descriptions of various species. It's understandable, but not the most interesting for this reader. I was more intrigued with Willughby's personal life and travels.

The later chapter about Willughby and Ray's legacy is really quite well written and made me thoughtful of the way people's legacies are interpreted and change over time. Overall, the book was a bit of a slog, but I did learn quite a bit about a scientist I had known nothing about, and that's what counts. Also, I learned that modern bird watching is much less gruesome than 17th century specimen collection.

[I liked the fleurons that marked sections within chapters -- three soaring birds -- likely European Honey Buzzards, which Willughby first described scientifically]