Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill

This is the true story of a Bohemian "St. Francis" and his remarkable relationship with a flock of wild green-and-red parrots. Mark Bittner, a dharma bum, a homeless street musician in San Francisco, falls in with the flock as he searches for meaning in his life -- unaware that the wild parrots will bring him everything he needs. Mark was born and raised in southwestern Washington State. His ambition as a teenager was to be a great novelist, but Mark was alarmed by the uniformly miserable fates of all the writers whom he loved. So he decided to pursue a career in music instead. After hitchhiking through Europe in search of experience, he moved to San Francisco determined to sink or swim as a poet-singer-songwriter. He sank. Completely bereft, he turned to spiritual seeking and ended up on the street where he spent the next 14 years. Ultimately his search led him to the wild parrot flock, which, in turn, led him back to writing, and his first book: 'The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill.' The hardcover edition, published by Random House, was a best seller. The paperback edition comes out in late January 2005.