There and back? A celebration of bird migration

All royalties from the sale of this book will be given to BirdLife Malta to help them continue their work on the island. The book is the latest in a series of wildlife/art fusion books produced by Langford Press and consists of a collection of short essays by nearly 40 authors and a lot of pictures accompanying them by nearly 40 artists. The essays are broadly on the theme of migration and migrants, primarily their conservation and with an emphasis on Malta and the problems there, and are arranged into nine rather loose sections (1 to 11 essays in each). The writing is in an eclectic mix of styles and approaches which may appeal to some.

As a coffee table book with some nice pictures it is fine, with most pictures being watercolour paintings or sketches - they are not the ‘feather perfect portrait’ variety. But, in my opinion, you can forget the text! There is no attempt at coherence or to cover all aspects. Sadly, for a book reliant on its visual appeal, it is full of errors and typos (one or two per page on average) and could have done with a proper edit and proof-read.

Book reviewed by Peter Lack