Parrot

Highly illustrated, with images drawn from a wide range of cultures, historical periods and media, Paul Carter’s Parrot is a roller-coaster ride through parrots in literature, jokes, folklore, mythology, film, TV and children’s stories worldwide, as well as an examination of parrot conservation, talking bird experiments and parrot portraiture.Parrot is a fascinating natural and cultural history. The book covers three broad areas: ‘Parrotics’ - the historical, cultural and scientific classifications of parrots; ‘Parroternalia’ - the association of parrots with the different languages, ages, tastes and dreams of society; and ‘Parrotology' - the mimicry of parrots and what that can tell us about our own systems of communication.This book differs from previous histories, which have treated parrots as subjects of curiosity and a pretext for elegy. A new kind of animal history, Parrot is philosophical and poetic: it takes seriously the critical and ironic mirror that parrots hold up to human society. Humorously written and wide-ranging in scope, Parrot will have broad appeal, and will be of interest to parrot enthusiasts and specialists, as well as a general readership.