Critical Learning Period
/How humans learn to speak, and birds acquire song
Photo by Evonics
“I know so little about the conversations that I heard first. I worry often about the things I learned to say in my father’s voice.”
— Chelsea Biondolillo, The Skinned Bird
How do we learn to communicate with one another?
On this episode, Oregon-based writer Chelsea Biondolillo shares an essay from her new book, The Skinned Bird. It’s about songbirds learning to sing, and humans learning to speak, and the complicated web of causality that shapes the way we interact with others.
In addition to sharing Chelsea’s story, we talk with her about her book as a whole, discussing everything from her fascination with vultures, to her job preparing bird specimens for a museum, to her quest for human connection and understanding.
