Be More Bird by Candida Meyrick review less soaring avian self-help than a parroting of tired cliches

"Meyrick's starting point in this puzzling book is that Bird has a rich interior life that we flightless clod-hoppers would do well to emulate. What follows are 20 brief life lessons inspired by the hawk's assumed musings. So, for instance, the fact that Bird prefers to hunt her own dinner rather than accept substitute snacks from Meyrick is used to urge the reader to stay true to your higher self."

"Bird's physical life is as tightly calibrated as any elite athlete's. Her ideal hunting weight is 2lb 4.2oz. If she creeps up to 2lb 6.5oz, then she is apt to become fed up and may take off for the wild, convinced that she can manage on her own (and, strictly speaking, she could, although she probably wouldn't last the 25 years of a captive hawk)."

Bird is a Harris hawk living on the edge of the New Forest who hunts rabbits and prefers cock pheasants, and has recently eyed estate peacocks. Twenty brief life lessons are drawn from imagined hawk musings, using behaviors—such as hunting her own dinner and keeping calm under threat—as moral maxims like staying true to your higher self and holding your ground. The anthropomorphic advice ranges from sensible mottos to head-scratching truisms. Bird's physical reality is richly described: female Harris hawks are a third larger than males, can be powerfully predatory, and require tightly calibrated weights for optimal performance.

Read at www.theguardian.com