Nature Nonfiction Review: The Glitter in the Green

Summary: This was a beautifully written blend of travel and nature writing with a little bit of science and history.

I don’t read much travel or nature writing, but I have started to really enjoy reading about birds and a great review from Rebecca at Bookish Beck sold me on this one. Plus the cover is truly lovely! This is the story of the author’s travels through much of North and South America to see an incredible variety of hummingbirds. He sees hummingbirds everywhere from Alaska to the tropics. Some are common, while others exist in precariously tiny ranges – perhaps only the slopes of a single mountain. The author gives a history of primarily European study of these tiny birds, as well as info on their role in South American myths and descriptions of current conservation efforts.

The writing in this book, especially the nature descriptions, was beautiful. It felt a little slow to me at first, but as the book progressed, the balance of nature writing with memoir, history, and travelogue kept the story moving. I also thought the bird descriptions were particularly well done. I’m not someone who pictures what’s happening in a book as I read. I can struggle to imagine birds from written descriptions. These descriptions really worked for me though, with physical details and behavior described clearly enough that I could imagine most of the birds. I do wish that references had been included when the author mentioned birds that had pictures included though. Seeing the real thing in the included photos was better than even the author’s vivid descriptions!

My only other small complaint about this book is that I would have liked time stamps. The book was ordered geographically, North to South. In general, I thought that worked well. Species density mostly increased throughout the author’s travels. It was interesting to observe that change. I also enjoyed learning about each country, including conservation efforts and humming bird-related tourism. However, it was hard to tell when each story fell in time. That would have been helpful information to have, especially when talking about conservation efforts impacted by political change. Overall though, this was a beautiful book that really captured the wonder of the many species of hummingbird.

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