Christian Cooper is a NY Times best-selling author, with his debut memoir, Better Living Through Birding. He is also the Host and a Consulting Producer for National Geographic’s hit series: Extraordinary Birder with Christian Cooper. Practically born with a pair of binoculars in his hands, he served as president of the Harvard Ornithological Club in his college days; currently as a vice president of New York City Audubon he advocates for greater, safer access to green spaces for all, with a focus on outreach to youth in underserved communities. A longtime activist on issues of racial justice and LGBTQ equality, Christian combined his passions in the BLM graphic short story “It’s a Bird” from DC Comics, and he continues to seek synergy at the intersections of storytelling, progressivism, and environmentalism. Cooper additionally has authored the critically acclaimed children’s picture book, The Urban Owls: How Flaco and Friends Made the City Their Home.
In Better Living Through Birding, Cooper tells the story of his extraordinary life leading up to the now-infamous incident in Central Park and shows how a life spent looking up at the birds prepared him, in the most uncanny of ways, to be a gay, Black man in America today. From sharpened senses that work just as well at a protest as in a park to what a bird like the Common Grackle can teach us about self-acceptance, Better Living Through Birding exults in the pleasures of a life lived in pursuit of the natural world and invites you to discover them yourself.
Equal parts memoir, travelogue, and primer on the art of birding, this is Cooper’s story of learning to claim and defend space for himself and others like him, from his days at Marvel Comics introducing the first gay storylines to vivid and life-changing birding expeditions through Africa, Australia, the Americas, and the Himalayas. Better Living Through Birding recounts Cooper’s journey through the wonderful world of birds and what they can teach us about life, if only we would look and listen.
Better Living Through Birding is the 2025 One Grand Read title selection.