Bibliograph

Homing, on pigeons, dwellings and why we return, Jon Day

Type

Label

Homing, on pigeons, dwellings and why we return, Jon Day

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references (pages 237-245) and index (pages 249-255)

resource.biographical

contains biographical information

Illustrations

illustrations

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

Homing

Nature of contents

bibliography

Oclc number

1153440600

Responsibility statement

Jon Day

Sub title

on pigeons, dwellings and why we return

Summary

As a boy, Jon Day was fascinated by pigeons, which he used to rescue from the streets of London. Twenty years later he moved away from the city centre to the suburbs to start a family. But in moving house, he began to lose a sense of what it meant to feel at home. Returning to his childhood obsession with the birds, he built a coop in his garden and joined a local pigeon racing club. Over the next few years, as he made a home with his young family in Leyton, he learned to train and race his pigeons, hoping that they might teach him to feel homed. Having lived closely with humans for tens of thousands of years, pigeons have become powerful symbols of peace and domesticity. But they are also much-maligned, and nowadays most people think of these birds, if they do so at all, as vermin. A book about the overlooked beauty of this species, and about what it means to dwell, Homing delves into the curious world of pigeon fancying, explores the scientific mysteries of animal homing, and traces the cultural, political and philosophical meanings of home. It is a book about the making of home and making for home: a book about why we return

Target audience

adult

Classification