Dooley, Sean 1968-

PERSONAL:

Born 1968, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Education: Earned degree in law.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

CAREER:

Writer and performer. Worked a variety of jobs, including as a debt collector. Writer for comedians, including Max Gillies and Gerry Connolly, and for television programs, including Full Frontal, Comedy Inc., and as head writer for Mr. Kiasu, 2001—. Writer and performer of one-man shows Nick Seed and the Bad Caves and Confessions of a Birdwatcher. Creator of I'm Spartacus (production company), 2003. Worker on Chetham Wetlands Project.

WRITINGS:

The Big Twitch: One Man, One Continent, a Race against Time—A True Story about Birdwatching (memoir), Allen & Unwin (Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia), 2005.

Author of blog, Sean Dooley Web Log.

SIDELIGHTS:

Sean Dooley has worked as a comedy writer and a comedian, and his humor is in evidence in his memoir, The Big Twitch: One Man, One Continent, A Race against Time—A True Story about Birdwatching. The title refers to the British and Australian term for birding, "twitching." The book is his record of his attempt to set an Australian birdwatching record for seeing the most species in one year of birding. To give his effort the best possible chance for success, Dooley took a year off to devote to traveling around Australia in order to maximize his bird count. After traveling 150,000 kilometers, spending a great deal of his inheritance, and driving himself into total exhaustion, Dooley succeeded. His tally of 703 bird species in one year was significantly higher than the previous record.

Dooley's "lively, witty book well describes the satisfaction, happiness, sense of self-reliance, and peace" that come from reaching a difficult goal, stated Henry T. Armistead in Library Journal. The reviewer also noted that the book's style would make it accessible and appealing even to those readers who did not share the author's passion for birds, particularly because of its humor. A similar opinion was expressed by Booklist reviewer Nancy Bent, who mentioned the author's "hilarious commentary," which would amuse even those uninterested in birds. A reviewer for the Surfbirds Web site summed up: "Telling any story that keeps the reader hooked is hard enough but imagine how hard it is writing a story about chasing after birds. Sean, however, has admirably succeeded."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, September 1, 2006, Nancy Bent, review of The Big Twitch: One Man, One Continent, a Race against Time—A True Story about Birdwatching, p. 46.

Library Journal, August 1, 2006, Henry T. Armistead, review of The Big Twitch, p. 117.

Publishers Weekly, June 5, 2006, review of The Big Twitch, p. 52.

ONLINE

Blurb,http://www.theblurb.com/au/ (May 17, 2007), review of The Big Twitch.

Melbourne Age Online,http://www.theage.com.au/ (October 30, 2005), James Bradley, review of The Big Twitch.

Surfbirds,http://www.surfbirds.com/ (May 17, 2007), Michelle Dooley, review of The Big Twitch.