Compared to most I have read, this book was plain and formatted in an unusually direct way, but I loved it for this simplicity. What it’s Like to be a Bird is a book on birds (no surprise), but with a lot of the normal dross removed, leaving only facts. Even favorite books of mine like Nature’s Nether Regions still contain a lot of information that add character, but I do not really find necessary, for instance personal anecdotes, that authorship and readers often require, but I generally do not. I love the science.

The odd formatting that I mentioned is likely due to the fact that David Allen Sibley is famous for his field guides, for instance, The Sibley Guide to Birds. The first section of this book is basically a series of facts in bullet points grouped into sections. Each fact directs the reader to the next section where the facts are lengthened into paragraphs. That section has each paragraph grouped into types of birds, e.g. terns, swallows, warblers, though sometimes individual species. The next section of the book is a paragraph about each species of bird mentioned, and the final sliver of a section is advice on what to do if you encounter a situation with birds, like a baby bird out of a nest (usually you should leave it alone).

In conclusion, for someone like me who is not very familiar with birds (I am more of a plant person), this book is very valuable to learn the breadth of behaviors, adaptations, shapes, and colors of birds across North America.