"Wondrous... captivating." -ED YONG, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of An Immense World Better Living Through Birding NOTES FROM A BLACK MAN IN THE NATURAL WORLD Christian Cooper Better Living Through Birding Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World Christian Cooper RANDOM HOUSE NEW YORK Better Living Through Birding is a work of nonfiction. Some names and identifying details have been changed. Copyright © 2023 by Christian Cooper All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York. RANDOM HOUSE and the HOUSE Colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Cooper, Christian, author. Title: Better living through birding: notes from a Black man in the natural world / by Christian Cooper. Other titles: Notes from a Black man in the natural world Description: First edition. | New York: Random House, [2022] Identifiers: LCCN 2022050405 (print) | LCCN 2022050406 (ebook) | ISBN 9780593242384 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780593242391 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Cooper, Christian. | Cooper, Christian—Travel. | Bird watchers—New York (State) ―Biography. | Writers—New York (State)-Biography. | Long Island (N.Y.)—Biography. Classification: LCC QL684.N7 C66 2022 (print) | LCC QL684.N7 (ebook)| DDC 598.072/347471 [B]—dc23/eng/20221129 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022050405 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022050406 Ebook ISBN 9780593242391 randomhousebooks.com Design by Ralph Fowler, adapted for ebook Cover design: Alison Forner Cover images: Brittainy Newman/The New York Times/Redux (Christian Cooper), Getty Images (bird and sky) Frontispiece by Penelope Krebs Bird illustrations by Miki/Adobe Stock ep_prh_6.1_143790370_c0_r0 I believe the best way to begin reconnecting humanity's heart, mind, and soul to nature is for us to share our individual stories. -J. Drew Lanham, The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man's Love Affair with Nature/n