It was started, as I recall, by "People" magazine, or was it MTV? It's spread throughout all media now, except for movies. I'm talking about the short bursts of information we get these days: sound bites, 10 seconds of video, 200 words on Hollywood relationship problems, the quick subject summaries that run down the right-hand side of the front page of the StarTribune, pages with lots of color and photos and small boxes of detail. And, of course, messages of no more than 140 characters.

I would not have recommended this scheme for books, but I have a new book beside me that makes excellent use of it. "The Atlas of Birds: Diversity, Behavior, and Conservation" covers birds of the world, an enormous subject for any one area of discussion. Pruning things to brisk information bites accented by excellent artwork, photos, maps, charts, and other visual aids, the author and designers have made this book interesting, compelling, and even fun. The book's title might now suggest that, but it's all here. There is so much information, presented so well.

Author Mike Unwin and a team of editors, designers, and artists have broken the subject into eight parts, each with several two-page chapters. We get Introduction to Birds, Where Birds Live, Birds in Order, How Birds Live, Birds and People, Birds Under Threat, Protecting Birds, and a chapter on sources with index. The book is published by Princeton University Press, and has been in stores since late July, a bargain at $22.95..

Short essays open each chapter. These are longer than 200 words, to be sure, but amazingly informative for their brevity. The writing is sharp, the author knowledgeable. I can't think of a better way to become acquainted with birds in general than Unwin's book.

Forms of life are divided into this descending list: domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species. Aves is the scientific name for the class in which we find birds. There are 28 orders of birds, which is where Unwin begins. Within orders are families, six game bird families, for instance. The largest of these families contains quails, partridges, and pheasants. Pheasants belong to the genus that includes our pheasant species, the Ring-necked Pheasant. You need not know or pay particular attention to such detail as you enjoy this book. I include it here to demonstrate the thoroughness with which birds are explored. Keep in mind we are working with what is essentially a high-end "People" magazine format. You will not be bored.

There are photos illustrating, for example, the various forms evolution has given to bird bills. (Your utensils depend upon what's on your plate.) Where in the world are parrots found? Maps well designed answer the question. Wing load? It's explained. Form and function of feet? Covered in about 150 words, just enough to help you understand what you see when you go out birding. Eggs, migration, flyways, Important Bird Areas (Minnesota has several), birds we eat, what birds eat, who watches birds and how much do they earn (generally speaking). All of that and more.

It's the bird book of the year in my opinion, an ultimate reference.