How Birds Work: An Illustrated Guide to the Wonders of Form and Function—from Bones to Beak

How Birds Work is an adept technical examination of birds and the mechanisms they have developed to interact with and survive in their environment. Released 28th April 2020 by The Experiment, it's 224 pages and available in flexibound and ebook formats.


This isn't a field guide or just a collection of facts. Each of the entries contains isometric drawings and line art showing the engineering concepts and principles behind many of the functional physiological characteristics of different types of birds.


The layout is logical and easy to follow. The introductory chapter covers the ancient bird-like animals and dinosaurs - the family tree of modern day birds including convergent evolutionary lines and extinct oddities without comparable modern day equivalents. The following chapters "build up" the bird structurally from the inside out: the skeleton, muscles, nervous system, sensory organs, circulatory system, respiratory, and digestive systems and more. Each is thoroughly represented, accurate, and very well illustrated and interesting.


This would make a nice choice for all ages, bird watchers, students of nature and biology, as well as artists and readers interested in technical drawing.  Note: no drawing tutorials or instructions are included, but there are numerous well illustrated exploded drawings to study.


Five stars, very impressive.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.