Magpie
A defining entry in the Top 100 Books. Sitting at number 30, Magpie earned its place through a combination of craft, context, and consensus among the twenty-four editors who maintain this list. The companions immediately above and below it on this ranking are worth reading in the same sitting.
Position in the list
About this entry
A defining entry in the Top 100 Books. Sitting at number 30, Magpie earned its place through a combination of craft, context, and consensus among the twenty-four editors who maintain this list. The companions immediately above and below it on this ranking are worth reading in the same sitting. The editors’ note placed it here on the basis of three criteria: durability across re-reads (or re-watches, or re-plays), influence on the entries that came after it, and the degree to which it could only have been made by the person — or team — who made it.
In the comparative table maintained by the Books desk, Magpie sits within a band of 27 – 33 that contains some of the most contested swaps of the year. Editors vote with arguments; a swap requires three editors and one written defense.
From Wikipedia
The magpie goose is the sole living representative species of the family Anseranatidae. This waterbird is found in northern Australia and southern New Guinea. The species is not truly migratory but it sometimes travels large distances to find food and water, especially when not breeding, and is sometimes recorded outside its core range. The species was once also widespread in southern Australia but disappeared from there largely due to the drainage of the wetlands where the birds once bred. Due to their importance to Aboriginal people as a seasonal food source, as subjects of recreational hunting, and as a tourist attraction, their expansive and stable presence in northern Australia has been "ensured [by] protective management".
