Lev ParikianTaking Flight: How Animals Learned to Fly and Transformed Life on Earth

It’s rare to find a book that you know you’re going to love but within a few pages Lev’s style had drawn me in. I loved his take on the subject of evolution of flight shown through the groups of animals that had taken to the air, living and extinct. But flight was just the starting point, I was fascinated to learn so much more about the evolution of the animal groups themselves. Some drawings and photos to illustrate the text would have made it even better.All in all a really interesting book that I can see myself re-reading.I was given this book from the author via netgalley only for the pleasure of reading and leaving an honest review should I choose to.

I bought this to try and read things I wouldn’t normally and expand my horizons. A chapter to each type of winged thing, and discussion around it. Glad I read it, but could be a little tedious at times.

This is a fascinating and highly readable book for anyone with an interest in biology or the natural world around us. I devoured it in a matter of a week or two. What I particularly like about it is the way the author very effectively conveys his personal feelings of wonder at the phenomenon of flight, which humans have spent centuries trying to perfect, but still without coming anywhere near the skill, economy and grace of animals that fly under their own steam.The book explores the various paths taken in the evolution of flight by focussing on a different animal in each chapter, starting with the mayfly, continuing through the amazing dragonfly, bee and the butterfly, then discussing extinct flyers like the pterosaurs and Archaeopteryx, and finally moving onto birds – including the underwater flyer, the penguin! - and bats. The author sometimes goes off at an interesting tangent, for example to comment on how even our language reflects our land-bound, ground-centric outlook on life.The writer intersperses his text with apposite observations like this one on people being overawed by the scale of geological time: “Perhaps this is because true understanding would demand we acknowledge how utterly tiny we are, and I don’t think humans are very good at that.” In a similar vein it’s interesting to note that the mammalian breathing system is actually somewhat inferior, because it mixes the incoming and outgoing air rather than using a one-way system like that of birds and dinosaurs. Hence mammals, for so long perceived as some kind of pinnacle of creation, actually tire out more quickly than birds.The text also includes lots of interesting snippets of information such as the fact that a quarter of all animals on this planet are beetles, and that the ancestors of hummingbirds actually colonised the Americas from Eurasia, rather than the animals being of American origin.I enjoyed every page of this book, not only because of the fascinating details imparted so regularly and readably by the author, but also because the writer is brilliant at conveying his sense of admiration and amazement at what our ‘lowly’ relatives on this planet can achieve on the wing.

I love Lev. Read several of his books. He loves birds and loves music and so do I. He writes so effortlessly (I think), engagingly and wittily I couldn't put it down. No pictures but you don't need them. Lev paints them in your head as you go. Brilliant!

I started this e-book lastnight and it is quite simply sublime. I'm barely a few % into it but it is gripping, soaring if you will. The only other book that has gripped as quickly and as firmly as this is David Attenborough's Life On Earth which I read in the summer of 1984 just prior to going to University and on the back of it chose to study geology. Can't wait to pick Taking Flight up later on today and soaring once again.

It's something that we all take for granted. A bird flies overhead, a bee buzzes amongst the flowers, and the flies hover around us every day. We see it all the time, and yet, it is a miracle of evolution.When you were a child and asked your friends: "what superhero power do you wish you had?", there was often the ability to fly returned as an answer. In our childlike wonder, it was a magical, make-believe fantasy that a human could fly. Yes, we have found alternative routes around it in the form of science and technology, but we have never been able to surpass one of nature's greatest feats.Coming from the "layman's" perspective is Lev Parikian in this almost conversational discussion about the wonders of flight. With enthusiasm so contagious that you find yourself swept away into hours of reading without even noticing, Parikian dives into his subject with undiluted passion.While this is a very accessible account of the animal kingdom's evolution into flight, Parikian retains rich scientific research and detail, covering important topics such as the structural mechanics of flight, migration within his featured species and the purposes of flight pattern just to name a few.As I particularly enjoy reading anything relating to dinosaurs, I especially enjoyed the section focused on the archaeopteryx, which highlighted the transition between dinosaurs to birds and was utterly fascinating.Witty, unique, and easy to digest, Taking Flight was an absolute pleasure to read from start to finish.

Delightful little book. He explains the science in an easily understood way, with humour. Shame there are no pictures in the Kindle version at least but that doesn't distract from an enjoyable read.

Lev's delightful blend of extravagant simile, well placed swearwords, obvious love of nature and self effacing British humour made it an absolute joy.A fascinating summary of an incredible natural phenomenon, narrated with the awed breathlessness of Palin and the wit of Pratchett.It flies. It. Flies.