We Should All Be Birds

A Memoir

De: Brian Buckbee, Carol Ann Fitzgerald

Narrado por: Brian Buckbee

“A sparkling example of the best kind of first-person storytelling in that its specificity succeeds in revealing universal truths…An extraordinary story full of humanity and life lessons from a man whose disability has largely removed him from society.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

A charming and moving debut memoir about how a man with a mystery illness saves a pigeon, and how the pigeon saves the man.

On a spring evening in Montana, Brian Buckbee encounters an injured baby pigeon. Heartbroken after the loss of the love of his life and increasingly isolated by a mysterious illness that overtook him while trekking through Asia, Brian is unaware that this bird—who he names Two-Step—will change his life. Brian takes in Two-Step, and more injured birds, eventually transforming his home into a madcap bird rehabilitation and rescue center. As Brian and Two-Step grow closer, an unexpected kinship forms. But their paths won’t converge forever: as Two-Step heals and finds love, Brian’s condition worsens, and with his friend’s release back into the world looming closer, Brian must decide where this story leaves him.

We Should All Be Birds follows Brian, unable to read or write due to a never-ending headache, as he dictates the end of his old life—as an adventurer, an iconoclastic university instructor, and endurance athlete—through his relationship with a pigeon that comes to define his present. Limited to dictation, Brian teams up with Carol Ann Fitzgerald, an editor who channels the details of his personal history. Raw and perceptive, delirious and devastating, We Should All Be Birds is an unflinching exploration of chronic illness, grief, connection, and the spectacular beauty of the natural world—and the humble pigeon. The surprising, heartwarming relationship between man and bird provides insight into what it means to love, to suffer, and to “never forget, even for a second, how big it all is.”

©2025 Brian Buckbee (P)2025 Simon & Schuster Audio

the most literary fun I've had in a decade

this is a story with incredible heart and empathy for wild creatures, wonderfully insightful and well-told in first-person style. the audio presentation was excellent: extremely "listenable." I loved it and look forward to discovering Buckbee's other works.

snapshot of compassion

the adventures of a creative soul who deeply cares about all creatures weaving a story of rescue that offers deeper understanding as tale of character and struggle.

chronic illness revelations!

For the chronic illness people, for the families of the chronic illness, people, especially for the doctors and nurses of chronically ill people with fibromyalgia et.Cetera! please read this book! Thank you to the author, for bringing forward these things. things I haven't even described to people!
No, this book is not up to par, like Stephen King or anything. And it isn't super well written, but it is good, and it does explain what we go through. Inside and outside of our minds, inside and outside of our bodies. The world becomes a different place when you're chronically ill, especially if nobody can see it.
To the author: I see you. I hear you.
I hold you in my heart. I pray for you.

I pick Brian over Chad !

We Should All Be Birds is a rare and remarkable work — a book that speaks with tenderness and clarity about the brutal realities of living with a life-altering chronic illness. Brian invites us into his world with honesty and vulnerability, showing not only the physical and emotional toll of his condition, but also the resilience, grace, and love that can grow in its shadow.

For anyone who has lived with ME/CFS or another debilitating illness, the themes will feel achingly familiar: the isolation that seeps into daily life, the quiet grief of mourning your old self while still trying to live your current one, the disbelief and dismissal from some physicians, and — perhaps most painfully — from people closest to you. Brian writes about these experiences with a steadiness that is both devastating and deeply affirming.

The narrative takes a beautiful turn when Brian discovers an injured pigeon, whom he names Two Step. Through the act of rehabilitating this fragile creature, we witness not only the bird’s healing but Brian’s own quiet reclaiming of hope and connection. Two Step becomes a symbol — of perseverance, of care, of life that is still worth nurturing. Alongside V, Two Step's mate, and their offspring, Brian finds himself within an uncurated sanctuary - one of which keeps us wondering, whom has done the rescuing. All this while Brian navigates the uncertainties of chronic illness and the possibility of building something new after loss.

This book does something extraordinary: it speaks so beautifully about something so horrific. It is unflinching in its honesty yet infused with compassion, love, and moments of joy. For those who live with chronic illness, We Should All Be Birds is a mirror — reflecting back the pain, the struggle, and the hard-won moments of grace. For those who don’t, it is an open door into understanding.

Spectacular, moving, and necessary — this is a book that will stay with you long after you turn the last page.

I speak from someone new to this world of the chronically ill; Thank you Brian Buckbee for giving us a voice..., Thank you !

Together in our loneliness

this memoir, he beautifully captures the gains and losses, the quiet victories, and the search for meaning when the life you once imagined is no longer possible. His words speak for the millions who are missing — and for anyone who wants to understand what a loved one with ME/CFS or Long COVID might be going through.
Through his story (and one unforgettable pigeon), Brian has found a way to be immortal in words — and to help the rest of us feel less alone.

Wonderful story- though caught up on L

I really wanted to love this but the amount in which the author fixates on “a woman you once loved” draws away from the story I was fascinated by.

I loved this memoir, and I don't like memoirs

I’m pretty skeptical about memoirs, but when one came along that combined a chronic mystery illness, loneliness, and rescuing birds I had to check it out. And it turned out this memoir wasn’t self-aggrandizing, navel gazing, because Brian Buckbee didn’t write a book about himself or the frustration of having an invisible illness that no one understands except for the parts when he wrote about that. He didn’t write about mourning for the person he once was, though he mentioned that too. He didn’t write about the derp suffering and isolation of being in constant pain and alone during a global pandemic. Instead, he wrote about a bird who pulled him out from underneath the crushing weight of his circumstances. He wrote with honesty in a way that made me think, “Yeah, I’ve felt that way before.” Maybe it helps that I have an invisible, incurable illness that I hate or that I know the difference between the loneliness that can be savored and the loneliness that hurts or that I love and rescue birds who are “just birds" to other people. But, there is a deep truth in understanding that meaning is not something we find inside ourselves and purpose is out there waiting for us to make the connection. Brian Buckbee wrote a book about that.

I always finish books but I do not want to finish this one.

This might be the worst book I've ever read. The author just needs to listen to his therapist and leave the rest of us out of it. Obsession is not love; when you're obsessed with someone and making up stories about them in your mind, that's called limerence.