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The Snoring Bird

My Family's Journey Through a Century of Biology
May 27, 2014sess430 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
This memoir reads like an epic novel ~ life, love, fidelity, endurance, war, loss ~ written in evocative prose. In Part 1 Bernd Heinrich relates his early family history. His father, Gerd Heinrich (1896 - 1984), was a naturalist & heir to a large agricultural estate in Prussia (since 1918, Polish). After WWII the Heinrichs fled to the West and lived in a tiny hut in the Hahnheide Nature Reserve, reduced at times to eating fried mice. Part 2 relates the family's new beginning when they moved to a run-down farm near Wilton, Maine. The title of the book refers to a secretive rail that Gerd spent 2 years searching for in Sulawesi. The photos, childhood sketches, etc. greatly enhance this wonderful book.