You've just boarded a plane. You've loaded your phone with your favorite podcasts, but before you can pop in your earbuds, disaster strikes: The guy in the next seat starts telling you all about something crazy that happened to him--in great detail. This is the unwelcome storyteller, trying to convince a reluctant audience to care about his story.We all hate that guy, right? But when you tell a story (any kind of story: a novel, a memoir, a screenplay, a stage play, a comic, or eve...

An insightful and actionable guide to creating a hero that readers will fall in love with, from the author of The Secrets of StoryThe hardest yet most essential element of writing great fiction is character – specifically, creating a central hero who is relatable, compelling, and worth the reader’s precious time. In this entertaining and practical guide, popular blogger, writing coach and screenwriter Matt Bird breaks down what makes characters embraceable...

The Secrets of Story is a revolutionary and comprehensive writing guide for the 21st Century, focused on clever ways to get an audience to fully identify with an all-too-human hero. Authors will learn to how to cut through pop culture noise and win over a jaded modern audience by rediscovering the heart of writing: shaping stories that ring true to our shared understanding of human nature. Providing conversational advice that spans multiple disciplines—from fiction to film to crea...

An insightful and actionable guide to creating a hero that readers will fall in love with, from the author of The Secrets of StoryThe hardest yet most essential element of writing great fiction is character – specifically, creating a central hero who is relatable, compelling, and worth the reader’s precious time. In this entertaining and practical guide, popular blogger, writing coach and screenwriter Matt Bird breaks down what makes characters embraceable...

Professional birding amateur and national bestselling author Matt Kracht has had it with these goddamn birds. His new book is a warning, a field guide to help you identify and stay away from the absolute worst birds ever to plague planet Earth. Featuring an all-new scientific scale devised by the author that proves how awful birds really are.We can all agree—birds are terrible. They're stupid and won't shut up.Featuring fifty of the absolute worst birds to ...

達爾文把小美洲鴕吃下肚，然後才發現那是新物種（笑死）「除了作者的第一本書之外，這是我讀過最好笑的書……我已經買了超多本來送給親朋好友。馬特這次欠我欠大了。」──安東尼獎得主、《紐約時報》暢銷冠軍小說作家C. J. Box「不要懷疑，就是有這麼ㄎㄧㄤ的鳥！身兼鳥導的我已經等不及要開團去找這些鳥了，你還不趕緊買書記下牠們的ㄎㄧㄤ樣？」──本書作者吳建龍【邊笑邊推】（依姓名首字筆畫排列）林大利︱特有生物研究保育中心助理研究員、澳洲昆士蘭大學生物科學系博士生阿鏘的動物日常︱野生動物圖文創作者姚正得︱行政院農業委員會特有生物研究保育中心高海拔試驗站主任洪貫捷︱英語賞鳥導遊、正面鳥貼圖區版主張東君︱科普作家蠢羊與奇怪生物︱漫畫家不管這些小鳥嗑了什麼，全都給你來一點！「我的使命就是要把真相帶給全世界：鳥兒是如此迷人、美妙，外加愚蠢，牠們就是一群混帳東西！」──本書作者可愛迷人的鳥兒，有著令人髮指的惡...

"[An] intriguing philosophical journey into a critical issue within evolutionary theory that for too long has remained unresolved." —Wall Street JournalMatt Ridley is one of our finest science writers. This book is a treat for bird lovers and evolutionary biologists alike.” —Richard Dawkins, author of The Genetic Book of The Dead and The God DelusionThe New York Times bestselling ...

National bestseller and fan favorite! This humorous look at 50 common North American dumb birds is a perfect gift for the birder and anti-birder alike.For those who have a disdain for birds, or for bird lovers with a sense of humor, this snarky illustrated handbook is equal parts profane, funny, and—let's face it—true. Featuring common North American birds such as the White-Breasted Butt Nugget and the Goddamned Canada Goose (or White-Breasted Nuthatch and Canada G...

Let's face it—all birds are fascinating, wonderful, idiotic jerks—no matter where in the world they reside.Following in the footsteps of the bestselling book The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America, this hilarious sequel ventures beyond to identify the stupidest birds around the world. Featuring birds from North and South America, Africa, Asia, Europe, and Oceania, author Matt Kracht identifies the dumb birds that manage to live all over the freakin...

Britain has some of the most beautiful woodland in the world, with some of the most beautiful inhabitants. All year round, the trees in forests, copses and wastelands offer our feathered friends food, shelter and a place to congregate and show-off.Now, in this beautiful follow-up to Our Garden Birds and Our Songbirds, street artist Matt Sewell captures Britain’s unique woodland life with his charming and distinctive illustrations. Featuring an array of enchanting ...

We can all agree—birds are terrible. They're stupid and won't shut up.Featuring fifty of the absolute worst birds to fly the earth, Kracht identifies each of their most terrible qualities, details exactly why they suck, and shows you why. Including all-new, all-worst fowl, such as: the absolute waste of feathers Cruddy Turdstone (Ruddy Turnstone), the utter a-hole Blank Staring-Eyes Flycrapper (Black Paradise Flycatcher), the outright loser Dowdy Woodfucker (Downy Woodpecker), and ...

52 beautiful and quirky watercolour drawings and a linguistic curio for every week of the yearAre you a culture vulture?Where do you stand in the pecking order?Author of the bestselling Our Garden Birds Matt Sewell brings his signature whimsical artistry to the world of language in A Little Bird Told Me.This delightful collection combines Sewell’s evocative, humorous illustrations with an e...