J's Pages

This book interweaves three themes. The first is the story of a pet starling that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had for a bit over three years. The second is information about starlings and their place in the American birding and scientific communities. The third is an account of the author's pet staring that she obtained to help her understand Mozart's relationship with his pet. While I found the whole book interesting, I really didn't get into the Mozart sections. I'm musically unsophisticated, so I didn't connect with or appreciate Ms. Haupt's attempts to delve into Mozart's creative mind. The starling bits, on the other hand, I found fascinating. I always enjoyed science books when I was a kid.¹ Reading the starling portions of the book was a flashback to that, as I got brief lessons in starling biology & development, the behavior of scientists & ecologists toward an invasive species, and the connection between bird song & language. Finally, I also found Ms. Haupt's account of raising a starling interesting. That, for me, was like reading about a foreign culture. I'm not a pet person. But the story of Carmen the starling and her relationship to the household had a kind of beauty that evoked the affection that the family feels for her. Overall, the book is well written.² If you have any interest in pets, birds, or Mozart, I would invite you to check this book out. 

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1 That enjoyment, alas, never pushed me enough to embrace the work of observation and record keeping that a career in science requires.
2 It made me take a second look at the book cover and put Ms. Haupt's Crow Planet on my to read list.  

LibraryThing link

Labels: CheckItOut

// posted by John @ 10:53 AM