What the Chicken Knows
A New Appreciation of the World's Most Familiar Bird

As we get ready to celebrate a national holiday around a dead bird, nature writer Sy Montgomery has released a charming little book called “What the Chicken Knows.” This “appreciation of the world’s most familiar bird” — No. 7 on our nonfiction bestseller list — was previously published as a chapter......more

At times like these, I like to remind myself how extraordinary it all is: chickens, like all birds, are really feathered dinosaurs. Unlike we mammals, their bones are hollow, their bodies are filled with air sacs; they are creatures made less of flesh than of air. And yet we share a fundamental tale......more

Somewhere between 3 and 4 stars. My whole readerly life is synced up this Thanksgiving Day. We are in Key West where the chickens are a protected class and roam free on Duval Street with all the tourists and all the cafe patios (but don’t let the owners see you feed them pizza crust because you will......more

3.5⭐ 🐣 A quick and quirky foray into the strange and wonderful world of domesticated birds. Of the poultry variety. "𝙲𝚑𝚒𝚌𝚔𝚎𝚗𝚜 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚛𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚌𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚋𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚗 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚌𝚞𝚕𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚐𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚟𝚎. 𝙵𝚘𝚕𝚔𝚜 𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚜 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 '𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚗𝚒𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐' 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚌𝚛𝚒𝚋𝚎 𝚜𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚙𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚙𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚝𝚛𝚢." I in......more

More an essay than a book and anchored at best with perhaps a dozen facts. But the feel good ending helped. The ultimate chicken book remains to be written.......more