Review: Birdseye by Mark Kurlansky

As many of you know, I'm a huge fan of Mark Kurlansky's work. I've read almost everything he's written. Thus it was a given that I wouldn't miss his biography of Clarence Birdseye.

Although most of us immediately associate the name Birdseye with frozen vegetables, we rarely think of light bulbs, gardening, whale hunting, and fox breeding. Clarence Birdseye, it turns out, had an eclectic curiosity and held patents for many inventions besides flash-freezing foods. We remember him for revolutionizing (really starting) the frozen food industry because his methods profoundly changed how the world eats.

In Birdseye: The Adventures of a Curious Man, Mark Kurlansky delves into the amazing life of a man who was part adventurer, part inventor, part naturalist, and part entrepreneur. Forced to leave Amherst because of financial issues, Birdseye, nonetheless never stopped learning. He pursued almost everything that caught his attention and was always looking for some way to put his ideas to use for the betterment of humankind or as a business venture.

As his fans have come to expect, Kurlansky has made even the most complicated of Birdseye's inventions accessible to the lay reader. Although the biography is organized chronologically, Kurlansky deftly reminds us of earlier events when they become important for understanding how Birdseye's interests developed into an important concept or new discovery. Just because Birdseye spent most of his life working on experiments doesn't mean he was incapable of connecting with others, and we also learn about his home life, hobbies, adventures, and marriage.

The best description of Birdseye came from his wife, who would tell her children: "Dad was born ahead of his time. There is so much going on in his head the world can't even catch up" (p. 146). Don't miss this gem of a biography.

I listened to the unabridged audio edition (Random House Audio; 5 hr, 57 min) read by Jon Van Ness. Van Ness is a new-to-me narrator, and as far as I can tell (correct me if I'm wrong), this is his debut audiobook. His inexperience is evident in some awkward pacing and emphasis issues. In addition I sometimes felt Van Ness was a little too enthusiastic in his performance, pulling me out of the book. I suggest you listen to a sample before deciding whether to read or listen to Birdseye.

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Published by Random House / Doubleday, 2012
ISBN-13: 9780385527057
Source: Review (see review policy)
Rating: B+
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