＊本书被德国Bild der Wissenschaft提名为2016年最佳科学图书
 
作者Bernd Brunner在这本书里收集了历史上许多为鸟痴狂的人的故事，包括罗马帝王Frederick II、达文西、达尔文等名人。这其中包括一些非常特别的人物，包括亿万富翁Phoebe Snetsinger，她被诊断有癌症之后下定决心观看所有在它们自然栖息地的鸟类；她去世的时候，持有最高纪录。另外还有犯罪学家透过鸟类的实力来破一些非常什么案子。有些爱鸟痴狂的人最后为了鸟骗取、谋杀或者甚至牺牲自己的性命。
 
这本书探讨了人们为什么这么喜爱鸟类，以及透过什么方式去观察它们。这本书提供了关于鸟类学的独特历史以及令人惊喜的小知识。
 
关于作者：
Bernd Brunner的书被翻译到许多语言。他在纽约的Bard Graduate Center、加州柏克莱大学的Bancroft Library以及旧金山的Goethe Institute举行过演讲。
 
好评：
 
 
"Instead of simply piling up facts for facts' sake, he prefers to focus on quirky stories. But unlike the many other books issued in recent years Bernd Brunner's colorful avian cosmos provides a real overview. It's told in a style reminiscent of theater: with entrances, exits, and subplots that illustrate, challenge, and mirror one another - and change how the reader thinks. An entertaining cultural history." 
Deutschlandfunk (German Public Radio)
 
"People with an extreme passion for birds are unusual individuals. And that's reason enough to devote a book to these ornithomaniacs and bird watchers. ... Drawing on a multitude of seekers' and researchers' life stories, Brunner uncovers "bird stalkers" in the most diverse circumstances: in prison, in sickbeds, in unhappy marriages, and on the prowl. They all have one thing in common - which they share with the author: the art of precise observation. " 
Die Zeit Wissen
 
"Brunner shows the full range of people and personalities in terms of how they deal with the objects of their desire, the birds. These include bird haters who gun down whatever they see, and crazed collectors like Frank Chapman, an American who, after painstakingly locating the last Carolina parakeets, nearly wiped them out in his furor. They include bird collectors, bird watchers, bird breeders, keepers of birds in homes or gardens, those who save the birds and those who stuff them. Brunner's book is a huge collection of stories featuring famous, unknown, and forgotten individuals: from Aristotle to Frederick the Second and from Leonardo da Vinci to Frank Zappa and Walt Disney, who both bred pigeons. The book also demonstrates how the discipline now taught as ornithology took shape over the course of centuries as so many diverse mosaic stones came together. Whoever has read this book understands why the movement to protect birds is one of the strongest of all conservation movements." 
Südwestrundfunk SWR, Southwest Broadcasting, science nonfiction book recommendation
 
"Darwin, Lorenz, Hitchcock, Zappa: Bernd Brunner's account of the history of men with a passion for birds - sometimes powerful enough to end in deceit or death - is full of anecdotes, informative, and highly entertaining." 
Badische Zeitung
 
"The reservoir of fascinating characters in Ornithomania could fill hundreds of novels. A book rich in facts, data, and fates that cleverly combines the tragedy and comedy inherent in the obsession with birds."
Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, Central German Broadcasting, nonfiction book of the week
 
"Bernd Brunner's book about birds subtly becomes a philosophical study of humanity itself. Along the way, the reader learns the most charming and fantastic accounts of birds and people, which make the experience an absolute pleasure."
Berliner Morgenpost
 
"What Brunner has uncovered is usually entertaining and sometimes almost unbelievably strange."
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
 
"Driven scientists and sensitive birdwatchers, manic collectors and unscrupulous wheeler-dealers. Bernd Brunner's Ornithomania is a book about bird fans of every stripe."
Bayerischer Rundfunk, Bavarian Broadcasting

"An entertaining excursion into the world of bird fans. But be careful – Ornithomania is contagious!"
Rundfunk Berlin Brandenburg, Berlin-Brandenburg Broadcasting

"If you want to pick up just one book about birds, ornithology, and birdwatching this year, make it Bernd Brunner's Ornithomania."
Zitty
"A fascinating look at the life of birds - from the human perspective." Arte (Franco-German TV network)

"Bernd Brunner's own fascination with birds infuses every page of this wonderfully quirky book."
New Books in German