Father Goose

One Man, a Gaggle of Geese, and Their Real-Life Incredible Journey South

By: William Lishman

Narrated by: Laura JE Hamilton

Featured on an enormously popular 20/20 segment and the real-life inspiration for the cinematic classic Fly Away Home, this heartwarming story tells of the late William Lishman, a reclusive sculptor, who adopted a gaggle of geese, flew with them in an ultralight glider, and actually taught them to migrate—earning himself the nickname "Father Goose".

©1996 Crown Publishers, Inc (P)2023 Paula Lishman

Great story

Great story good writing but the audio keeps jumping due to editing. I’d rank it 5/5 if the sound wasn’t so distracting.

Wonderful to read the true story and background of “Fly Away Home”

When I read a fiction book or see a film I love, I am delighted to find the non-fiction story behind it. Bill Lishman was an astonishingly creative sculptor, inventor, naturalist, and Canadian 20th century renaissance man who continually built the things that came out of his imagination.
He loved to fly, was one of the first to make small ultra-light planes in Canada—and dreamed of using his ultra light craft to help teach flights of endangered birds to migrate by imprinting newly hatched geese to himself and his planes—and flying them south. In working with scientists and friends toward that end, he recorded film and made documentaries that finally led to the production of the wonderful fictional movie “Fly Away Home,” for which he and his team were plane builders, goose wranglers, and stunt doubles.
This book is, I guess, a memoir about his life, and that life project in particular. It is sometimes rambling, with many details, and the one who reads it out loud is not a professional. But I’m sure glad to have it in audiobook form!