Asked about his forthcoming book, Anthony replied, "Having worked myself up from The Observers Book of Birds and pawnshop opera glasses to Swarovski ELs (and abject poverty) it is has been a cathartic experience to survey a life directed by birdwatching. Looking back and writing about what happened has given me a chance to don rose-coloured binoculars and make sure that, with the passage of time and the onset of a failing memory, truth did not get in the way of a good story. Birding from the Hip is about the moments that punctuated days either in the company of birds or in the company of a class of humanity that both Darwin and Linnaeus overlooked – Homo orno, the birdwatcher. Somewhere in the middle of it all is a deeper meaning – expressed best by Mrs McGeehan who observed the process from the sidelines and has charted, in several pithy epistles, my descent into a Life of Birds."
Anthony McGeehan on his first title for The Sound Approach, Birding from the Hip, a collection of stories spanning seventeen years that details with humour a life spent in the field. Accompanied by two free CDs containing stories narrated by Anthony (in addition to Mrs McGeehan) and put to music by Grammy Award nominated producer, and founder of The Imagined Village, Simon Emmerson, Birding from the Hip is a must for anyone who wants to take a hilarious look at the joys of bird watching. There's more to bird watching than birds.
"This is not the sort of book that I would have expected to come from The Sound Approach, having relatively little to do with bird vocalizations, but I’m glad that it has. It was a true pleasure to read, even for someone who didn’t recognize the import of seeing a Ortolan Bunting in Ireland or understand any of the football (soccer) references. Birding from the Hip is easily recommended to anyone who enjoys well-written and humorous stories about birding."
- Grant McCreary (16-01-2010), read the full review at The Birder's Library