As seen on PBS's American Spring Live, one of America's great nature-writers explores the magic and science of feathers

Feathers are an evolutionary marvel: aerodynamic, insulating, beguiling. They date back more than 100 million years. Yet their story has never been fully told. In Feathers, biologist Thor Hanson details a sweeping natural history, as feathers have been used to fly, protect, attract, and adorn through time and place. Applying the research of paleontologists, ornithologists, biologists, engineers, and even art historians, Hanson asks: What are feathers? How did they evolve? What do they mean to us?

Engineers call feathers the most efficient insulating material ever discovered, and they are at the root of biology's most enduring debate. They silence the flight of owls and keep penguins dry below the ice. They have decorated queens, jesters, and priests. And they have inked documents from the Constitution to the novels of Jane Austen.

Feathers is a captivating and beautiful exploration of this most enchanting object.

Author: Thor Hanson
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Basic Books
Published: 07/31/2012
Pages: 352
Weight: 0.7lbs
Size: 8.00h x 5.40w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9780465028788
Audience: Young Adult


Award: 2013 John Burroughs Medal for Outstanding Natural History Writing Winner - Natural History

About the Author
Thor Hanson is a conservation biologist, Guggenheim Fellow, and author of award-winning books including Buzz, Feathers, The Impenetrable Forest, and The Triumph of Seeds. He lives with his wife and son on an island in Washington State.

www.thorhanson.net