自然科學外文書的部落格

　　如果你這一生有一年的時間可以隨心所欲去做某件事，
　　而且只能做那件事，你會選擇什麼？

　　每年一月一日，有一群古怪的人為了名為「觀鳥大年」的高度競爭性賽事， 展開橫越北美的衝刺－－這是一場盛大、所費不眥，偶爾兇狠激烈的三百六十五天馬拉松式賞鳥競賽。

　　對於三位男人來說，一九九八年觀鳥大年更是刷新北美觀鳥紀錄的艱苦戰鬥。

　　為了千載難逢的稀有鳥種，他們在美國東西岸之間馬不停蹄往返奔波，在這些狂熱的朝聖之旅，他們敢於履足烈日炙烤的沙漠，深入蚊蟲出沒的沼澤，在汽車旅館體驗人類所知最凹陷不平的床墊。

　　在這個與時間賽跑的空前一年，其中一人最終締造後人難以超越的輝煌紀錄……

　　獲獎記者馬克．歐布馬西克以動人有趣的敘述手法，呈現三名狂熱男人的二十七萬五千哩長征，他們汲汲求勝，奮力爭奪北美史上最偉大－－或許也是最糟糕－－的一場賞鳥比賽勝利。

　　Every January 1, a quirky crowd storms out across North America for a spectacularly competitive event called a Big Year—a grand, expensive, and occasionally vicious 365-day marathon of birdwatching. For three men in particular, 1998 would become a grueling battle for a new North American birding record. Bouncing from coast to coast on frenetic pilgrimages for once-in-a-lifetime rarities, they brave broiling deserts, bug-infested swamps, and some of the lumpiest motel mattresses known to man. This unprecedented year of beat-the-clock adventures ultimately leads one man to a record so gigantic that it is unlikely ever to be bested. Here, prizewinning journalist Mark Obmascik creates a dazzling, fun narrative of the 275,000-mile odyssey of these three obsessives as they fight to win the greatest— or maybe worst—birding contest of all time.

　　★本書中譯版《觀鳥大年》由麥田出版。

作者簡介

馬克．歐柏馬西克（Mark Obmascik）

　　擔任記者已逾二十年，目前任職於《丹佛郵報》（Denver Post）。他是該報於二○○年榮獲普立茲新聞獎的主筆。二○○三年，獲得全國新聞俱樂部的最佳環境新聞獎，報導作品亦散見於《戶外》和其他雜誌。本人是個癡狂的鳥迷，與妻子和三個兒子定居在丹佛。另一部暢銷作《半道天堂》（Halfway to Heaven）曾獲二○○九年美國國家戶外圖書獎戶外文學獎。

　　Mark Obmascik has been a journalist for two decades, most recently at the Denver Post, where he was lead writer for the newspaper’s Pulitzer Prize in 2000 and winner of the 2003 National Press Club Award for environmental journalism. His freelance stories have been published in Outside and other magazines, and he has aired numerous political stories on public affairs and television news programs. An obsessed birder himself, he lives in Denver with his wife and sons.