. The subject of the crows was pretty astounding to me, just how intelligent these corvids are. I put the book on my Amazon to read list, and it sat there for a few years, getting pushed back by whatever else caught my fancy at the time. My wife recently picked it up for me at the library, since I have been put on book buying ban for awhile. I dove into it, expecting to see many more stories like had been told in the interview and some more insight into the life of the crow. I found many of them, such as the manners in which crows gather together in large groups to exchange information. Or that crows often play games by flying and dropping sticks to try and catch before they hit the ground. The book does a good ob of intermixing Lyanda's experiences with an injured crow she observed over time and how other crows helped care for the hurt bird.
But, to my disappointment, roughly half the book is on her thoughts of the Urban Wilderness and her thoughts on environmentalism. These long meanderings in her thoughts really distracted from the interesting stories of Crow intelligence and social behavior. There is a long list early in the book on her observation tools and why she chose the items she did. They are not specialist tools, simply note books, boots, and binoculars. She delves a bit into her personal life and a struggle with some mental break which was meant to tie in with the wounded crow, but failed to strike any chords.
Overall this book is a 3 out of 5 for me. If it had focused more on the Crows and other animals it mentions, or kept most of the commentary about her philosophical musings to one section it would have been a much smoother and enjoyable read.
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