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Nathanael Johnson Biography

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“Many of the people who regularly feed and cultivate relationships with pigeons are themselves on the fringes of society. They are disconnected from other people due to poverty, limited language skills, or mental illness, but they form deep emotional connections with the birds.”

PovertyMental IllnessConnection To NatureFringe Of Society
Book:Unseen City: The Majesty of Pigeons, the Discreet Charm of Snails & Other Wonders of the Urban Wilderness
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“Each animal fit into its own track, where it wouldn't overlap with and be muddied by the sounds of another. In a very real way, the animals were an orchestra: Each instrument made itself heard by producing a different set of frequencies. The elephants were the bass cellos, the hyenas the oboes, the hyraxes the clarinets, the insects the violins, and the bats the piccolos over the top.”

NatureOrchestraFrequency
Book:Unseen City: The Majesty of Pigeons, the Discreet Charm of Snails & Other Wonders of the Urban Wilderness
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“Sometimes my mind snaps under all this stimulation and I enter a sort of fugue state in which I manically click from one window to another without accomplishing anything. It's hard to break out of this; the feeling is remarkably similar to the sense of being powerless to stop eating spoonful after spoonful of ice cream.”

MindfulnessPowerlessnessManic
Book:Unseen City: The Majesty of Pigeons, the Discreet Charm of Snails & Other Wonders of the Urban Wilderness
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“If we started listening to birds, perhaps we'd get a little quieter (it's hard to listen while making noise) in ways that would benefit both birds and humans. We'd probably be both happier and healthier. But even more interesting, in my view, is that we'd begin to perceive an unseen world of gossip and warfare and love all around us. And if we understood this language, I think we'd make different choices: not to stop building and living, but just to be a little more thoughtful in the way that we live.”

NatureUnseen WorldBird LanguageStopping To Listen
Book:Unseen City: The Majesty of Pigeons, the Discreet Charm of Snails & Other Wonders of the Urban Wilderness
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“What's true of other people is also true of places: to know deeply is to love more. To know the secrets of a place, to read it on many levels, and to sense the vastness of the unknown is, I think, the key to love.”

Know ThyselfLove DeeplySecrets Of Place
Book:Unseen City: The Majesty of Pigeons, the Discreet Charm of Snails & Other Wonders of the Urban Wilderness
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