Wesley the Owl

Customer Reviews

• Beautiful memoir  Aug 27, 2008 (121 of 122 found this helpful)

  Working as a student researcher at CalTech, Stacey O'Brien brought a four-day-old owlet home from the lab and named him Wesley. For the next nineteen years, he would be her constant companion and beloved friend. This is a beautiful memoir about the relationship that O'Brien and Wesley developed. O'Brien writes not only as Wesley's besotted owner, but also from the perspective of a biologist, which gives the book a depth and authority that a lot of "my beloved pet" stories lack. This book was fascinating, filled to the brim with exciting facts about owls, but also some very funny anecdotes - such as when Wesley decided that he wanted to learn to swim. It was a really moving, lovely book, and everyone I recommended it to has loved it.

• A tear jerker ... and much, much more  Aug 28, 2008 (47 of 48 found this helpful)

  Biologist Stacey O'Brien was working at an owl lab at CalTech in 1985 when a four-day-old baby barn owl with a permanently nerve damaged wing arrived at the lab. O'Brien promised to take care of the owlet, and this book is a journal of the 19 years (and 28,000 live mice) they spent together.
  
  O'Brien is a scientist and a humanist, and her book is a wonderful account of the relationship as seen from both points of view. For example, this extract is from the first chapter as it appears on the Simon and Schuster website:
  
  "Another attribute that makes owls unique is their brain structure, which is completely different from that of most vertebrates. The barn owl's cortex is mostly dedicated to processing sound rather than visual images. I wondered how that would affect the way the owl interacted with me and my visually oriented domestic world. He must have a very different viewpoint, foreign to us.... [It] would be challenging to learn to live with this nonsocial animal. Owls don't stay in flocks, but individuals are devoted to their mates, living a mostly solitary life together.
  
  "Not only are owls interesting creatures historically and physiologically, but their temperament is also unique. Owls are playful and inquisitive. A friend of mine knew someone who had rescued a little screech owl and she described it as acting like a kitten with wings. She said the owl would fly up, then pounce on all kinds of objects exactly as a kitten does. Owls could also be creative. Sometimes I'd be walking by an office in the Caltech Owl Lab and see an owl making up his own game -- throwing a pencil off a desk just to watch it fall and roll on the floor, then flying off the desk himself, twisting in the air to get a good angle, then pouncing on the pencil."
  
  O'Brien has promised to maintain a blog devoted to the book, to Wesley and his memory, and the growth in our understanding of animal intelligence: "The owl's brain is very complex and scientists are starting to realize that many species of birds are so highly intelligent that they rival the intelligence of apes and small children. The most famous of these birds is, of course, Alex the African Gray, may he rest in peace. Ravens and crows have been found to be toolmakers and problem solvers who do not even need trial and error to figure out solutions to problems. And, dare I say it, Wesley showed a similar level of intelligence. I'm looking forward to discussing these matters and many others in this blog."
  
  I'm looking forward to following along; her analysis of Bernd Heinrich's Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds is particularly fine.
  
  And she's not forgetting Wesley, of course. Neither will I.
  
  
  Robert C. Ross 2008
  

• An eye opening and tender read.  Sep 12, 2008 (24 of 24 found this helpful)

  I can't add much to what the other reviewers have already said. If you're an animal lover of any stripe then Wesley the Owl is a book you'll want to spend some time with. Stacey O'Brien's love and affection for her friend Wesley comes out on every page. Animal friends have much to offer their human companions though I've never thought much about birds as pets that can actually offer companionship. That was my ignorance operating and Ms O'Brien has set me straight. Thank you Stacey.
  
  If you have children read Wesley to them and experience the book as a family. You won't regret it.
  
  Peace always

• unusual woman bonds with abandoned owlet  Aug 29, 2008 (29 of 32 found this helpful)

  Many (to me) little known facts and observations are contained in this first-person narrative of a biologist's loving care of a 4-day-old barn owl, Wesley, who became her main companion for the 19 years of his life. Detailed descriptions of Wesley's behavior and vocalizations are fascinating, even to the lay person. This relatively short and engaging read includes photos of Wesley, a very cute bird.

• Everyone who shares life with a bird must read this  Oct 2, 2008 (16 of 17 found this helpful)

  Stacey O'Brien does a commendable job describing the fascinating and lovable Wesley's actions in human terms, but not being anthropomorphic. As a scientist, I was fascinated by the richness of detail from this woman's 19 year saga. As one who shares life with two brilliant parrots, I cannot agree more about the depth of experience looking into a wild bird's eyes and bonding such that only death will separate you.
  
  The Way of the Owl is the Way of the Macaw as well.
  
  Readers of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy and Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle will note more similarities in the human-'animal' relationship set forth here in chapter after fascinating chapter. They teach us more than they learn from us. They wait, sometimes impatiently, for us to catch up with them.
  
  The author's recounting Wesley's ongoing narratives of their life is spot-on. Birds whose life you share do this, for the sheer joy of it, for creativity and self expression. For reasons we can never know. They are the most giving, sharing creatures. And as for welcomes home...your dog will show she's glad to see you, but your bird will tell you how glad, and all that she's been thinking and feeling and doing while you were apart.
  
  Read Wesley the Owl, and know that all creatures are conscious. All creatures. You will cry at the end, and afterward just thinking about it. Then you will run to every precious animal that blesses your life and, through tears, tell them how wonderful they are. And they will understand.