Probably twice as long as it needed to be. The basics of what he was trying to accomplish were interesting, as were the descriptions of the people he worked with and met. The life history of the owl was also fascinating. But there was an awful lot of repetition, and the story really didn't go anywhere. He tracked the owls and gathered the data and the book ended and ... It just wasn't nearly as fascinating as all the blurbs in the front of the book made it seem.