Thor at the Labs: Come hear about “Feathers”
Posted January 22, 2012 at 8:13 pm by Ian Byington
When Thor Hanson released his new book last year, it was favorably reviewed on NPR, in The Atlantic Monthly & The New York Times and a few other places, and now he’s giving another presentation on-island to talk about it (his presentations at Griffin Bay Bookstore & the Library were packed). If you didn’t hear him before, here’s a chance…The San Juan Nature Institute’s Fiona sends us this:
On Thursday, January 26 at 7:00 pm, local conservation biologist, Thor Hanson, will present the first of the 2012 Arthur Whiteley Lecture Series offered by San Juan Nature Institute in collaboration with UW Friday Harbor Labs. Thor will be speaking on his book, Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle.
Feathers are an evolutionary marvel: aerodynamic, insulating, beguiling. They date back more than 100 million years. Yet their story has never been fully told. In Feathers, Thor details a sweeping natural history, as feathers have been used to fly, protect, attract, and adorn through time and place. Applying the research of paleontologists, ornithologists, biologists, engineers, and even art historians, Hanson asks: What are feathers? How did they evolve? What do they mean to us?
Copies of his book will be available at the lecture.
Engineers call feathers the most efficient insulating material ever discovered, and they are at the root of biology’s most enduring debate. They silence the flight of owls and keep penguins dry below the ice. They have decorated queens, jesters, and priests. And they have inked documents from the Constitution to the novels of Jane Austen. The award-winning Feathers has garnered critical praise from the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Science Weekly.
The lectures are free and open to the public and are held in The Commons at the UWFriday Harbor Marine Labs. For further information please visit the Institute’s website www.sjnature.org.
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