Simon Barnes

moozy · #1 (**permalink**) 05-09-2010, 09:03 AM

I know I will not be alone in being a great admirer of simon barnes writing especially his wild notebook in the times on saturday (the only reason I buy it really). He ended this weeks article with something that struck a cord with with me because I have been thinking about this and did'nt know how to word it in a new thread.

Simon Barnes Wild Notebook
We civilised humans tend to have two responses to predation: either a sqeamish horror or an excessive fascination. There seems to be no room for manoeuvre between these extremes.
We love the hawk for the same reason we hate the magpie: because they both kill and eat other birds. We praise the lion for his bravery and dispise the the hyena for his cowardice, even though they both feast on wilderbeest. As we do so, we learn nothing of nature, only of the contradictions in ourselfs.

Deb London · #2 (**permalink**) 05-09-2010, 09:26 AM

Interesting, moozy.

What do "we" look for in an "admirable" animal? Strength, bravery, magnificence, beauty, independence, rarity? A combination? It's hard to define.

JeffH · #3 (**permalink**) 05-09-2010, 10:12 AM

I'm a big fan of Simon Barnes' writing and have several of his books. He has a way of putting into words many of our (or at least my) innermost feelings about the natural world - the example quoted by Moozy being another good example - and I've used (with his consent of course) the following quote from a piece of his writing as an introduction to the Kingfishers section of my own website -

"The sight of a Kingfisher is a basic human right. You need to see one at least once if you wish to understand the planet we happen to live on. If you have not had the pleasure of seeing a ripping blue arrow skate the surface of the water, you have been deprived of something very important. It is not necessary to be a committed birdwatcher, you just need to be committed to such ideas as beauty and wonder and glory and a nice walk. And that impossible streak of iridescence brings all these things to a casual, chatting stroller in a fragment of a second. They are special birds....." - Simon Barnes - multi-award-winning chief sportswriter for the Times. He is also a novelist, nature writer and the author of a dozen books, including How to be a Bad Birdwatcher, A Bad Birdwatcher's Companion & How to be Wild"

I find his writing often helps me to clarify and understand some of my own thoughts about the natural world - long may he continue

Jeff
(Schedule 1 Licence holder for Kingfishers, Barn Owls and Avocets)

moozy · #4 (**permalink**) 05-09-2010, 10:22 AM

I find his writing often helps me to clarify and understand some of my own thoughts about the natural world - long may he continue

Jeff
(Schedule 1 Licence holder for Kingfishers, Barn Owls and Avocets)[/quote]

Well said jeff

totally agree 100%

hwange · #5 (**permalink**) 06-09-2010, 04:49 PM

yes the guys nature writing is superb , very eloquent and its obvious he has a deep understanding of nature and humans relationship with the natural world . Now this is completely irrelevant and nothing to do with nature but i cant understand how he despises boxing , seeing how he is chief sports editor of the Times . Boxing epitomises all that is grand about sport at the very highest level , which when all is said and done is merely a civilised form of play and war , we are not an arms length away ourselves from the savanah or jungle when we would have been evading lions or jaguars or fighting for our survival . Nature is truly red in tooth and claw . Sport is our extension from these emotive times ,a means to connect with our inner 'beast' , if only on the football field or track , or boxing ring . Its all nature .

Goatboy · #6 (**permalink**) 06-09-2010, 06:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hwange

Sport is our extension from these emotive times ,a means to connect with our inner 'beast' , if only on the football field or track , or boxing ring . Its all nature .

I'm sure there's a Wayne Rooney joke there somewhere.

Agreed on Barnes. A very good writer.

jeremiah · #7 (**permalink**) 06-09-2010, 10:32 PM

"We love the hawk for the same reason we hate the magpie: because they both kill and eat other birds."

Maybe we think the hawk is "OK" because it actively hunts individual birds, whereas magpies go for the vulnerable eggs or chicks, and we see and hear the parent birds trying desperately to defend their nest. We don't see the consequences of a hawk kill.