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"One hell of a ride." -- Nick Offerman, actor, woodworker, New York Times bestselling author"Candid and often moving reflections . . . make for absorbing reading. . . . [This is] a memoir of a journey that was more than just a chase after numbers." -- BOOKLIST (starred) At a personal and professional crossroads, a man resets his life and finds sobriety, love, and 618 bird species, cycling his way to a very Big Year.In Birding Under the Influence, Dorian Anderson, a neuroscience researcher on a pressure-filled life trajectory, walks away from the world of elite institutions, research labs, and academic publishing. In doing so, he falls in love and discovers he has freed himself to embrace his lifelong passion for birding.A North American Big Year -- a continent-spanning adventure in which a birder attempts to see as many species as possible in twelve months -- is a massive undertaking under any circumstances.