In Better Living Through Birding, Christian Cooper uses his platform from the infamous “Central Park birdwatching incident” to shift focus on the joys of living life outside of stereotypes. 

In May 2020, Christian Cooper recorded a confrontation between himself and a white woman in New York’s Central Park where he asked her to leash her dog and she made a false police report saying he threatened her. The video went viral, partly because it happened around the same time George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis. “The Incident” became part of a larger conversation about institutional racism. Details are covered in one chapter of this memoir. Cooper acknowledges a handful of times that “The Incident” is probably the reason you are reading the book, but Cooper uses the notoriety of “The Incident” to invite you into a much larger and more fulfilling part of his life: birdwatching.

It was no accident that Cooper was in Central Park that day. This wasn’t a “I need to get out of the house” Covid walk. This day was one among a string a days that Cooper had spent enjoying peak bird migration through the area. Cooper is a dedicated birdwatcher who has traveled the world for his hobby but calls New York home. He has built a community of friends with others who can identify sparrows, warblers, and finches by their song.

There are some other things you should know about Cooper. He has been a nerd since childhood, with Star Trek and Marvel comics being two of his obsessions. He attended Harvard and in the book describes how he came out to his dormmates and then became a gay activist. Protesting and being arrested are part of his activist journey. His relationship with his parents, especially his father, is complicated. He worked for Marvel and wrote the first lesbian character.

Through it all, even in his childhood, has been birding. He wants the readers of his book to be just as excited about being outdoors as he is. In spaces where he has been an outsider, he invites you to be part of the community, to find joy in spotting a bird under the cover of foliage or being able to identify it by its call.

While I listened to this audiobook, and there were a few bird calls between chapters that were a nice touch, I don’t think the audiobook experience is a must. As of the publication of this blog post, Better Living Through Birding by Chrisitan Cooper is available in regular print, large print and eAudiobook on Bridges through the Libby app.

And if Christian Cooper’s memoir inspires you to take up birding, remember the Davenport Public Library has many resources to get you started, including field guides and birding backpacks with all the tools you need.