Central Park birder Christian Cooper takes us beyond the viral video that shocked a nation and into a world of avian adventures, global excursions, and the unexpected lessons you can learn from a life spent looking up at the birds.

In Better Living Through Birding, Cooper tells the story of his extraordinary life leading up to the now-infamous encounter in Central Park and shows how a life spent looking up at the birds prepared him, in the most uncanny of ways, to be a gay, Black man in American today. From sharpened senses that work just as well in a protest as in a park, to what a bird like the Common Grackle can teach us about self-acceptance, Better Living Through Birding exults in the pleasures of a life spent in pursuit of the natural world and beckons you to discover these joys for yourself.
Equal parts memoir, travelogue, and primer on the art of birding, this is Cooper’s story of learning to claim and defend space for himself and others like him, from his days as a writer for Marvel Comics, where Cooper introduced the first gay storyline, to vivid and life-changing birding expeditions through Africa, Australia, the Americas, and the Himalayas. Better Living Through Birding is Cooper’s invitation into the wonderful world of birds, and what they can teach us about life, if only we would stop and listen.

Hardcover, 304 pages, 5-1/2 x 8-1/4

PRAISE
“Christian Cooper’s book is every bit as wondrous and captivating as the birds he so adores—a joyous tour across subcultures and continents, and a masterful account of a life full of song, full of heart, and fully lived.”—Ed Yong, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of An Immense World
“An uplifting and inspiring read. Christian Cooper is a national treasure.”—Van Jones, New York Times bestselling author and host of The Van Jones Show
“Utterly captivating, a marvel of storytelling . . . Christian Cooper’s memoir is tender, honest, funny, wise, poignant, piercing, and infused with brilliant observations on the nature of birds, humans, and his own extraordinary personal journey.”—Jennifer Ackerman, New York Times bestselling author of The Genius of Birds
“I cannot think of a better guide to teach us all to slow down, look, listen, and grab our binoculars than Cooper, a self-described Black queer nerd, who delivers the best nature bath ever, in lyrical, lush, relatable prose.”—Brittney Cooper, PhD, New York Times bestselling author of Eloquent Rage

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Christian Cooper is a science and comics writer and editor and the host and consulting producer of Extraordinary Birder on National Geographic. One of Marvel’s first openly gay writers and editors, Cooper introduced the first gay male character in Star Trek, in the Starfleet Academy series, which was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award. He also introduced the first openly lesbian character for Marvel and created and authored Queer Nation: The Online Gay Comic. Based in New York City, he is on the board of directors for NYC Audubon.