Author of Heinrich family story to sign books, speak Friday

FARMINGTON – The story of a family’s “journey through a century of biology” is the topic of Bernd Heinrich’s new memoir, “The Snoring Bird.”

Heinrich will read from and sign his book at 7 p.m. Friday at Devaney Doak and Garrett Booksellers on Broadway.

Through the pages of “The Snoring Bird” Heinrich shares his relationship with his father, the eventful experiences of his childhood and how they defined the man and scientist that he has become. At the same time, Heinrich gives the reader an interesting look at the science his familiar family in the Wilton and Weld area has studied over the years from several countries.

He plans to talk about the process of writing and how he developed the book, he said.

“It was really unique and took a long time, 10 to 15 years,” he said. “I needed to get the information and although the process stalled a few times, it would get going again. This time I could see where the story would lead rather than starting the story and following where it led to.”

A professor of biology at the University of Vermont who has received honors for his scientific work, Heinrich is also an accomplished author of several other books, including “Winter World,” “Mind of the Raven,” “The Geese of Beaver Bog,” “The Trees in My Forest” and “Why We Run.”

In the memoir, he shares how the Heinrich family moved to a Maine farm, just outside Wilton, after they escaped from the Red Army in 1945. Heinrich was 11 when he moved to Maine, where he still has a camp in Weld. His mother still lives on the farm outside Wilton, he said.

His father, a soldier in both World Wars, was also a devoted naturalist who specialized in ichneumon wasps, according to the memoir. The snoring bird for which the book is named is a rare and reclusive creature, named for its voice, and was a prized catch from one of his father’s Indonesian expeditions.

“It took him two years to get it,” Heinrich said of the bird. “The find opened the doors for him,” Heinrich said. His father made collecting expeditions through several countries to discover, record and name as many of the ichneumon wasps as possible, Heinrich notes in the memoir.

The book interweaves the lives of the family members and the science that has been such a part of their lives. Photos of the family, as well as several drawings of insects, are interspersed within the narrative in Henrich’s book.

For more information about Friday’s reading, call the bookstore at 778-3454.

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