FARMINGTON – Acclaimed scientist and author Bernd Heinrich has returned every year since boyhood to a beloved patch of western Maine woods. What is the biology in humans of this deep-in-the-bones pull toward a particular place, and how is it related to animal homing?
Heinrich will be at DDG Booksellers at 193 Broadway for a reading and a book signing at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 13. He will be discussing “The Homing Instinct: Meaning and Mystery in Animal Migration.”
Heinrich explores the fascinating science chipping away at the mysteries of animal migration: how geese imprint true visual landscape memory; how scent trails are used by many creatures, from fish to insects to amphibians, to pinpoint their home if they are displaced from it; and how the tiniest of songbirds are equipped for solar and magnetic orienteering over vast distances.Most movingly, Heinrich chronicles the spring return of a pair of sandhill cranes to their home pond in the Alaska tundra. With his trademark marvelous, mind-altering prose (“Los Angeles Times”), he portrays the unmistakable signs of deep psychological emotion in the newly arrived birds and reminds us that to discount our own emotions toward home is to ignore biology itself.”
The author of numerous award-winning books, including the bestselling Winter World, Mind of the Raven, and Why We Run, Heinrich has received countless honors for his scientific work. He also writes for Scientific American, Outside, American Scientist, and Audubon, and has written book reviews and op-eds for the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. He studied at the University of Maine and UCLA, and is professor emeritus of biology at the University of Vermont. Heinrich divides his time between Vermont and the forests of western Maine.
A gifted writer and astoundingly curious biologist and naturalist, Heinrich has produced a stunning collection of books broaching an impressive array of topics. Heinrich’s writing engages his readers and invites them to share in his fascination with the natural world—a world with which he is becoming increasingly familiar, from his remarkably thorough and compelling studies of how flying squirrels survive the winter (Winter World) or how woodpeckers perform their mating rituals in the summer (Summer World). The New York Times Book Review writes, “Heinrich combines his keen scientific eye with the soul of a poet,” and The Washington Post Nook World says, “He richly deserves comparisons with Thoreau.”
For more information regarding this event contact DDG Booksellers, 193 Broadway, Farmington, ME 04938 at 778-3454, or by email at info@ddgbooks.com.
Praise For The Homing Instinct
“A graceful blend of science and memoir . . . [Heinrich’s] ability to linger and simply be there for the moment when, for instance, an elderly spider descends from a silken strand to take the insect he offers her is the heart of his appeal.” — Julie Zickefoose, Wall Street Journal
“Deep and insightful writing.” — David Gessner, Washington Post
Praise for Bernd Heinrich
“Bernd Heinrich’s books open my eyes and help me see the wonder of the natural world…I love the fascinating details of his drawings, the lyricism of his observations, the way he unveils not only the physical workings of nature but the stories and dramas within it.”
—Amy Tan, bestselling author of The Bonesetter’s Daughter and The Joy Luck Club
“This lovely book, meticulously etched and based on impassioned but exacting scientific research, illustrate why Bernd Heinrich is generally regarded as the most truly Thoreauvian of modern natural history writers.”
—Edward O. Wilson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of On Human Nature
“[Heinrich] is an artful storyteller, crafting his explorations into nature as tight narratives…As with the author’s Winter World (2003), Heinrich presents natural science at its engaging best.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
I enjoy Mr Heinrich’s books a lot – great author.