This fascinating book is a firsthand account of the adventures of
an ornithological field team studying long-tailed finches in
outback Australia. In 1991, Nancy Burley, a noted behavioral
ecologist, and her husband, Richard Symanski, went to Australia
with their one-year-old son and four American students hired as
field assistants and babysitter. The social relationships and
problems that developed among these individuals in confined and
exotic settings and the scientific discoveries that did -- and did
not -- take place form the heart of the book.
Symanski begins by telling how he and his wife set up this
elaborate field expedition -- including the hiring of what seemed
to be qualified, compatible, and knowledgeable field assistants. He
then describes the harsh realities of their circumstances in
Australia: primitive living conditions on an outback cattle
station; field sites and subjects for study that were not as
expected; and students who were not prepared for the rigors of
field life and who became unenthusiastic about the work for which
they had been hired. And he tells how he and his wife strove to
overcome all the different challenges with which they were
confronted. The book provides insight into the demands of
professor-student-based fieldwork, particularly when generational
conflicts, differing expectations, and culture shock complicate the
"business" of doing science.
General
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