Jonathan Safran Foer has long had a passion for the work of the twentieth-century American assemblage artist Joseph Cornell. Inspired by Cornell�s avian-themed boxes, and suspecting that they would be similarly inspiring to others, Foer began to write letters. The responses he received from luminaries of American writing were nothing short of astounding. Twenty writers generously contributed pieces of prose and poetry that are as eclectic as they are imaginative, and the result is a unique collaborative project and one of the most significant engagements of literature with art for many years.

Edited by Jonathan Safran Foer. Writings by: Jonathan Safran Foer, Diane Ackerman, Martine Bellen, John Burghardt, Mary Caponegro, Robert Coover, Lydia Davis, Siri Hustvedt, Ann Lauterbach, Barry Lopez, Rick Moody, Bradford Morrow, Howard Norman, Joyce Carol Oates, Robert Pinsky, Erik Anderson Reece, Rosemarie Waldrop, Paul West, Diane Williams, John Yau.

There is more to a bird than simply feathers. And just because birds evolved from a single flying ancestor doesn't mean they are structurally the same. With 385 stunning drawings depicting 200 species, The Unfeathered bird is a richly illustrated book on bird anatomy that offers refreshingly original insights into what goes on beneath the feathered surface.

"Inspired by the spectacular discoveries of the past two decades from the Age of Reptiles in China, Riddle of the Feathered Dragons explores how these miraculous fossils have transformed the contentious arena of bird and dinosaur evolution. Aside from being the most comprehensive discussion of these avian and associated discoveries, the author delves into the world of investigative journalism to expose the darker side of the world of fossil birds and dinosaurs. The book exposes the massive unfounded speculation that has characterized the field of vertebrate paleontology and published extensively in the world's most prestigious journals, including everything from supposed dinosaur protein to so-called feathered dinosaurs. The book questions the validity of the foundational tenets of the now "unquestionable orthodoxy" of bird and dinosaur evolution, including bird origins, feathered dinosaurs, flight origin from the ground-up and hot-blooded dinosaurs and their proteins. It exposes how speculation has gone far beyond the ability of the currently available evidence to yield answers. The author concludes that birds are best defined by a more traditional definition of the possession of feathers and avian flight architecture, that the so-called "feathered dinosaurs" are most likely derived avians, and that flight clearly originated from the trees-down, from ancestors that antedated the dinosaurs, rather than a direct linear descent"--

"The first comprehensive and in-depth assessment of Minnesota's breeding birds in nearly a century, The Breeding Birds of Minnesota offers an unprecedented, extraordinarily detailed, finely illustrated account of 250 of those birds, including their historical and present breeding distribution, habitat, population abundance, and prospects for the future"--

Covers "approximately 400 species" and has "more than 100 maps."

In addition, the enormous spans of cranes' migrations have encouraged international conservation efforts.".