Thor Hansen Brings Feathers to West Sound

Wednesday, April 4 at 6  p.m. at West Sound Community Hall

Thor Hanson comes to West Sound Community Hall to read from his book on April 4

Thor Hanson works as a conservation biologist and has studied Central American trees and songbirds, nest predation in Tanzania, and the grisly feeding habits of African vultures. He is a Switzer Environmental Fellow and a member of the Human Ecosystems Study Group. Hanson’s first book, The Impenetrable Forest: My Gorilla Years in Uganda, won the 2008 USA Book News Award for nature writing.

Thor’s most recent book is titled “Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle.” In Feathers, 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?

When asked what first sparked his interest in feathers, field biologist Hanson answers that “vultures made him do it.”. He has been pondering the marvelous qualities of feathers – and the birds they come from – ever since studying vulture feeding hierarchies in Kenya, where he plunged his arms into a pile of moldering zebra guts in the name of science. “It seems that no matter how long one works with them, or how much one learns, feathers still retain the power to amaze, to inspire wonder,” he says.

Did you know?

• The Aztec emperor Montezuma demanded feathers as tithes from vassal kingdoms and built a palatial aviary with thousands of live birds cared for by three hundred full-time servants?
• A mountain climber would have to wear eleven pairs of polypropylene long johns to achieve the same heat retention as one down-filled expedition jacket?
• The most valuable cargo on the Titanic was feathers. The ship contained more than 40 cases of fine plumes, worth more than $2.3 million in today’s currency?

These and other fascinating insights will be offered by Thor Hanson will when he reads from his book  Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle at  West Sound Community Hall  on Wednesday evening, April 4 at 6 p.m.followed by a Q & A Session and Book Signing.

This event is sponsored by The Orcas Island Public Library and The Friends of the Library.

Thanks to the Orcas Island Public Library and Barb Jensen