Bird eggs are an important component of our culture, a symbol of fertility, an integral attribute of religious beliefs and mythological ideas. Since ancient times, collectors have hunted for eggs and often risked their lives by climbing rocky slopes in search of unique specimens. It would seem that the egg has a very simple structure, but this simplicity is only apparent. One of the leading ornithologists of our time, a famous British popularizer of science, winner of numerous awards for research in the field of behavioral ecology and ornithology, Tim Birkhead shares his unique knowledge and reveals many secrets of this true miracle of nature. “I have spent the best years of my life—a full four decades—studying a wide variety of birds and their eggs, and my goal is to take you on a journey like no other. This is a journey into the secret world of a bird's egg; this is territory where few have gone before, and none have taken the route I had planned. We will travel from the surface of the egg to its genetic center, and along the way we will witness three major events in avian reproduction. We will see the bird's egg for what it really is — an independent and self-sufficient system of embryonic development.” (Tim Burkhead)