The
Big Year, by Mark Obmascik; read by Oliver Wyman
AUDIO
CD
I must admit, I have a weakness for stories about
people who follow their dreams. One of my favorites
is Winterdance,
the tale of man ill-suited for extreme sports who decides
to run the Iditarod anyway. The Big Year is an
equally entrancing and inspiring audio book, something
I find particularly amazing because I began listening
knowing little about the protagonists' driving passion.
The three men are bird watchers, or "birders"
I should say, now that I've heard Mark Obmascik's riveting
account of how they spent a year in their lives.
It wasn't just any year. It was
1998, a year that each of them, quite independently,
decided would be a "Big Year," twelve months
dedicated to sighting as many different kinds of birds
as possible. The tradition of a "Big Year"
traces its roots all the way back to Audubon, the Frenchman
who evaded serving in Napoleon's army and made his way
to fame as a bird watcher in the New World.
The three men, while they are all
life-long birders, come from different backgrounds.
Sandy Komito and Al Levantin have acquired enough personal
wealth to finance a quest requiring pricey travel aboard
chartered boats, helicopters, and planes, if that's
what it takes to spot a yellow rail or a fork-tailed
flycatcher. Greg Miller, in contrast, is a software
engineer at a nuclear power plant in Maryland who decides
to go for a Big Year without really knowing how he'll
find the time or resources.
Author Mark Obmascik, a birder himself,
tells the story of the three men, their quest, and how
their paths cross before the year is out. It doesn't
matter whether you share their single-minded devotion
to seeing a snipe, a ptarmigan, or a ruby-throated hummingbird.
What grabs, enthralls, and ultimately satisfies is their
unflagging commitment to achieving their goals, even
when family loyalty wears thin, money runs out, and
health is threatened.
But don't get the idea that this is
Pilgrim's Progress. Obmascik finds the humor
in the birders' exploits wherever it lurks. Listening
to Oliver Wyman's performance of the book is an exercise
in laughing, crying, and exclaiming, "Oh, no!"
The Big Year is a perfect road
trip accompaniment. Following the three intrepid
birders on their quixotic year-long odyssey is an entertaining
and important reminder that time is all we really have
to spend, and experiences are the only thing truly worth
collecting.
