Colin Tudge read zoology at Cambridge and then became a writer, first for magazines, including New Scientist, and then for the BBC. Since then he has focused increasingly on books, writing on agriculture and conservation and on genetics and evolution. His publications include The Variety of Life. Colin Tudge is a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London and visiting Research Fellow at the Centre of Philosophy at the London School of Economics.

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All animals are equal – but some, as George Orwell said, are more equal than others, and birds, most people would surely agree, are in the very first rank. They can do almost everything that mammals can do – and more besides. By mastering flight, they have a way of living that encompasses the whole world.

In Consider The Birds Colin Tudge explores the life of birds, all around the globe. From the secrets of migration to their complicated family lives, their differing habitats and survival techniques to the secrets of flight, this is a fascinating account of how birds live, why they matter, and whether they really are dinosaurs. Featuring birds who navigate using star-maps, tool-making crows and the great co-operation of the penguins, Colin Tudge shows how birds – who are like us in the general sense but very different in the particulars – live and think. For birds have minds: they feel, they are aware, they work things out. And so, by considering the birds, asking how and why it is possible for them to be so different, we gain insight into ourselves.

Birds are beautiful, lively, intriguing – and all around us. This rich and endlessly absorbing book opens up their lives to everyone.