Parrot

Summary: "Paul Carter's Parrot is a natural and cultural history. The book covers three broad areas: 'Parrotics', the historical, cultural and scientific classification of parrots; 'Parroternalia', the association of parrots with different languages, ages, tastes and dreams of human society; and 'Parrotology', the mimicry of parrots and what that can tell us about our own systems of communication. Parrot is a ride through parrots in literature, art, jokes, folklore, mythology, film, TV and children's stories worldwide, as well as an examination of talking bird experiments and parrot conversation." "This book differs from previous studies, which have treated parrots as subjects of curiosity and a pretext for elegy. A new kind of animal history, Parrot is philosophical and poetic: it takes seriously the critical and ironic mirror that parrots hold up to human society. It will be of real interest to parrot enthusiasts and specialists, as well as to a more general readership."--BOOK JACKET.