iii. About the Cover

In a far-reaching swath of boreal forests across North America and Europe lives the Northern Hawk Owl, featured here on the cover of our book.

While not particularly large — its body being 14-16 inches long, weighing around 11 oz — it is a formidable and capable hunter. Most interesting is that this bird looks like an owl but behaves like a hawk.

It is one of the only owls that are active during the day, but it still boasts the impressive hearing and sight of its nocturnal cousins: It can spot prey up to half a mile away and hear an animal stirring even under a foot of snow.

It is also a search-oriented species, meaning it will live in a place only as long as there is prey there to find.

In short: This species has adapted the best of its capabilities to thrive and compete, living in some of the most remote places on earth and bravely hunting during the day.

Sadly, the Northern Hawk Owl is not well understood or studied due to its sporadic, adaptable lifestyle, limited numbers and remote locations. Even so, owls have always been seen as a symbol of wisdom and endurance, which is what we hope this practical approach to building applications for Android will bring to you.

Our book is for the far-sighted, adaptable Android developer who wants to learn to thrive in their environment, who is constantly on the search for the best practices in Android, and who knows the skills they need are just there, out of sight, ready to be found.