Owl by Desmond Morris

“Owl” by Desmond Morris is part of the “Animal” range of books published by Reaktion Books. I had previously read “Falcon” by Helen Macdonald and like that book, Owl deals in great measure with the mythical, sociological and iconographic history of Owls as well as the natural history of owls. In this book, however, the balance between the social history and the natural history is weighted too much to the former in my opinion.

It takes 140 pages before the natural history of owls is addressed and the book is only 216 pages long. With the index etc removed from the calculation only about one-third of the book is about the natural history of the owl. Whereas the percentages in Helen Macdonald’s book is probably not that much different, it feels much more balanced in her book on Falcons and too often in this book it seems like Morris is going through a list and ticking items off as he goes leaving the reader a bit uninvolved.

Owl (Animal) [Paperback], Desmond Morris. Paperback: 224 pages. Publisher: Reaktion Books (29 Sep 2009). ISBN-10: 9781861895257. ISBN-13: 978-1861895257. ASIN: 1861895259