The Life List of Adrian Mandrick

With a birders eye for detail, White takes us on [Adrian Mandricks] painful, near death descent[her] life-affirming conclusion reminds us that endangered species arent the only ones that need to change and adapt in order to survive.The New York Times Book Review Adrian Mandrick seems to have his life in perfect order with an excellent job in a Colorado hospital, a wife and two young children he loves deeply, and a serious passion for birding. His life list comprises 863 species correctly identified and catalogedit is, in fact, the third longest list in the North American region. But Adrian holds dark secrets about his childhoodsecrets that threaten to consume him after hes contacted by his estranged mother, and subsequently relapses into an addiction to painkillers. In the midst of his downward spiral, the legendary birder with the regions second-longest life list dies suddenly, and Adrian receives an anonymous tip that could propel him to the very top: the extremely rare Ivory-billed Woodpecker, spotted deep in the swamplands of Floridas Panhandle. Combining sharp, elegant prose with environmental adventure, The Life List of Adrian Mandrick is a poignant, engaging story that heralds the arrival of a new literary talent.