The Most Perfect Thing: Inside (and Outside) a Bird’s Egg

A bird's egg is a nearly perfect survival capsule--an external womb--and one of natural selection's most wonderful creations. Shortlisted for the Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize 2016.One of Forbes' Best Books About Birds and Birding in 2016. Renowned ornithologist Tim Birkhead opens this gripping story as a female guillemot chick hatches, already carrying her full quota of tiny eggs within her undeveloped ovary. As she grows into adulthood, only a few of her eggs mature, are released into the oviduct, and are fertilized by sperm stored from copulation that took place days or weeks earlier. Within a matter of hours, the fragile yolk is surrounded by albumen and the whole is gradually encased within a turquoise jewel of a shell. Soon the fully formed egg is expelled onto a rocky ledge, where it will be incubated for four weeks before a chick emerges and the life cycle begins again. THE MOST PERFECT THING is about how eggs in general are made, fertilized, developed, and hatched. Birkhead uses birds' eggs as wondrous portals into natural history, enlivened by the stories of naturalists and scientists, including Birkhead and his students, whose discoveries have advanced current scientific knowledge of reproduction.

About the Author :
Tim Birkhead teaches animal behavior and the history of science at the University of Sheffield. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of London and the author of several books, including Bird Sense; The Wisdom of Birds; The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Ornithology, which won the McColvin Medal; and The Red Canary, which won the Consul Cremer Prize. He lives in Sheffield, England.

Review :
I would never have read a book on bird eggs but when I picked up THE MOST PERFECT THING, I thought it was brilliant. It's so wonderful when you come across a book on a subject you're not naturally drawn to and you're completely engaged by it. Excellent book . . . [Birkhead's] intimacy with his avian subjects, and with everything he and centuries of others have observed about them, makes Mr. Birkhead's hypotheses--and his books--so compelling. [Birkhead] writes clearly, with accuracy and wit . . . Birkhead's historical acumen and sharp pen had me seeing eggs in a new light. He has convinced me that they are splendid, if not indeed most perfect. Entertaining and elegant…Birkhead's book is not to be missed. Crack it open and enjoy the riches it contains. Who could imagine that tiny bird eggs were such mind-blowing scientific marvels? As compelling and inherently fascinating as it is informative and 'reader friendly' in composition and presentation, THE MOST PERFECT THING is very highly recommended. With THE MOST PERFECT THING Tim Birkhead proves he's one of ornithology's greatest popularizers. Through the passion he has for his subject and the clarity of his writing, he'll have you wondering how you ever managed to take eggs for granted. A thrilling voyage through what most of us think of as an ordinary item sold at the supermarket . . . One doesn't have to be a bird enthusiast to relish this book, but it would be the most perfect gift for anyone who is. Birkhead's curiosity is contagious, and his deep respect for this most ubiquitous of nature's creations gives his words a degree of reverence that is both admirable and welcome . . . Absolutely delightful! Birkhead manages to contain what could have become an unwieldy topic, and readers with little familiarity in guillemot eggs specifically will still find the material fascinating. [A]n interesting, comprehensible exploration of eggs. It will help anyone understand this 'most perfect thing.' More than that, though, it gives a tantalizing taste of the exciting things just waiting to be discovered even about topics that we might, naïvely, consider mundane.