Deep Reads: The Peregrine by J.A. Baker

This month we will read The Peregrine by J.A. Baker

You can find a copy here: If you buy any of the versions after clicking on my link, I will get a few pennies to help support the cost of the meetup.

First published in 1967, J.A. Baker’s The Peregrine has become a cult classic of nature writing, renowned for its haunting, lyrical descriptions of a man’s obsessive quest to witness and inhabit the life of the peregrine falcon. Set in the flat landscapes of eastern England, the book is less a field guide than a poetic immersion in the fierce, cold, and ecstatic world of the bird. Baker’s prose dissolves the line between human and animal: “The hardest thing of all to see is what is really there.”
Filmmaker Werner Herzog calls it “the most important book about nature I have ever read,” and includes it on the reading list for his legendary Rogue Film School. Herzog explains that The Peregrine exemplifies “ecstatic truth,” the kind of visionary intensity that transcends fact to reach something more profound and elemental. He urges aspiring filmmakers to study Baker’s language because of its raw power to transform observation into a form of possession—into an experience so immersive it feels like flight itself.

The Peregrine is not only about birds, but also about perception, obsession, and the frailty of human presence in the natural world. As Baker writes, “The hunter must become the thing he hunts.”
Join us to discuss this extraordinary work—a book that has inspired not just naturalists but artists, filmmakers, and dreamers around the world.

(Thanks ChatGPT for help with this summary! haha)

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Note! Meetup recently doubled the cost of the meetup to about $352/year ($176 twice a year) Want to help support the group? A few of you generously offered. If you would like to contribute $5, $10, $20 or any amount, the easiest way is venmo: @JohnSeanDoyle or just reach out to me directly. Thanks for considering it!