Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)  The Snoring
Bird  tags: , , , , , ,  I remember that I felt very cold when I
read Bernd Heinrich’s book, Ravens in Winter, even though it was
a hot summer day. That was the first of Heinrich’s books that I
read, but it definitely wasn’t the last. I just finished reading
his most recent book, The Snoring Bird: My Family’s Journey
Through a Century of Biology (NYC: HarperCollins; 2007) and just
as I wore a sweater while I finished his Ravens in Winter, I
found that my normally routine daily subway rides to and from
the library were magically transformed into a century-long
series of breathtaking adventures, thanks to this book.  This
absorbing book tells the remarkable story of the author’s
father, Gerd; his life, his family’s past, and how the forces of
history and nature united to shape both his father’s life as
well as his own. Even though this book is primarily about
science and natural history, it tells about much more than
collecting and identifying new