How to Fly: Taking Wing with Birds, Bats, Insects and Humans
Simon Barnes
May 2026 · Bloomsbury GB Audio · Narrated by Simon Barnes
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12 hr 1 min
Unabridged
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About this audiobook
Bloomsbury presents How to Fly: Taking Wing with Birds, Bats, Insects and humans, written and read by Simon Barnes.
A unique and all-encompassing exploration of the wonders of flight and the way different species have evolved different solutions to the problem of defying gravity – including humans.
Flight fascinates us. We thrill to birds, we adore butterflies, we’re baffled by bats and we can hardly believe in pterodactyls. We worship angels and we compare love, religious ecstasy and artistic achievement to flight. We love the idea of flight so much we invented machines that at last allowed us to fly. Many died to make human flight possible.
In How to Fly, bestselling writer Simon Barnes brings together all aspects of aerial life – evolution, technology, mythology, religion, nature and imagination – in a celebration of the wonders of flight. Barnes looks at the physics of flying and how flight has evolved quite separately four times over (or five, if we count humans). He examines how these creatures do it: from the nocturnal agility of bats and the bees that beat their wings 230 times per second, to the extinct reptile quetzalcoatlus with its 10-metre wingspan and the Arctic terns that travel 75,000km every year. He also explores how the great poets, mystics, saints, musicians and athletes have all, in their different ways, succeeded in getting high and getting us high.
Sweeping in scope and packed with fresh insights, How to Fly is a book that sets free the eagle within us all.
PRAISE FOR SIMON BARNES:
'Barnes makes you look and listen with new eyes and ears' STEPHEN FRY
'Quite simply, a writer in a class of his own' CLARE BALDING
'Barnes describes the wonders of nature with infectious enthusiasm' GUARDIAN
'Barnes is a passionate writer on wildlife' DAILY MAIL
A unique and all-encompassing exploration of the wonders of flight and the way different species have evolved different solutions to the problem of defying gravity – including humans.
Flight fascinates us. We thrill to birds, we adore butterflies, we’re baffled by bats and we can hardly believe in pterodactyls. We worship angels and we compare love, religious ecstasy and artistic achievement to flight. We love the idea of flight so much we invented machines that at last allowed us to fly. Many died to make human flight possible.
In How to Fly, bestselling writer Simon Barnes brings together all aspects of aerial life – evolution, technology, mythology, religion, nature and imagination – in a celebration of the wonders of flight. Barnes looks at the physics of flying and how flight has evolved quite separately four times over (or five, if we count humans). He examines how these creatures do it: from the nocturnal agility of bats and the bees that beat their wings 230 times per second, to the extinct reptile quetzalcoatlus with its 10-metre wingspan and the Arctic terns that travel 75,000km every year. He also explores how the great poets, mystics, saints, musicians and athletes have all, in their different ways, succeeded in getting high and getting us high.
Sweeping in scope and packed with fresh insights, How to Fly is a book that sets free the eagle within us all.
PRAISE FOR SIMON BARNES:
'Barnes makes you look and listen with new eyes and ears' STEPHEN FRY
'Quite simply, a writer in a class of his own' CLARE BALDING
'Barnes describes the wonders of nature with infectious enthusiasm' GUARDIAN
'Barnes is a passionate writer on wildlife' DAILY MAIL
Bloomsbury presents How to Fly: Taking Wing with Birds, Bats, Insects and humans, written and read by Simon Barnes.
A unique and all-encompassing exploration of the wonders of flight and the way different species have evolved different solutions to the problem of defying gravity – including huma...
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About the author
Simon Barnes is a writer and journalist who was the chief sportswriter and wildlife columnist for The Times until 2014, having worked for the paper for 30 years. He is the author of many wild volumes, including the bestselling Bad Birdwatcher trilogy, Rewild Yourself and, most recently, Spring is the Only Season. He is a trustee of Conservation South Luangwa and patron of Save the Rhino. In 2014, he was awarded the Rothschild Medal for services to conservation. He lives in Norfolk with his family, where he manages several acres for wildlife.
Simon Barnes is a writer and journalist who was the chief sportswriter and wildlife columnist for The Times until 2014, having worked for the paper for 30 years. He is the author of many wild volumes, including the bestselling Bad Birdwatcher trilogy, Rewild Yourself and, most recently, Spring is...
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