Scan barcode
drizzlybear's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
medium-paced
2.5
idk what i expected but i like his doccos more
mollyluckhurst's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.5
i LOVED this! i’d always assumed attenborough’s tv career had preceded and precipitated his animal expertise, but i stand corrected. it’s incredible to read about his hands-on work with animals across the world.
queenbee31's review against another edition
I don't think it was really what I was expecting and life is just too short to read stuff that I'm not interested in right now. I think it's probably a really good book but it's not the type I need right now
milanj8's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
noellefraser's review against another edition
4.0
"It's easy," I said to Daan that evening. "We fly to Macassar, connect with a plane to Maumere, discover our Chinese friend's brother-in-law, hire a lorry, drive two hundred miles to the other end of Flores, find a canoe or something, cross the five-mile strait to Komodo and then all we have to do is to catch our dragon."
I started reading this book around a month ago, knowing that I would not have a lot of time for reading in the foreseeable future. Now, nearly a month later, I have finally finished this book and can say that I could not have made a better choice. Talk about reading the perfect book at the perfect time...
While it is true that this book is a bit on the heavier and denser side, somehow it worked really well for me in this situation. I ended up reading around one or two chapters a day, in the evening before going to bed. This equaled to around 20 to 25 pages a day, which I personally feel like was a good pace to keep so that the amount of information isn't too overwhelming. Towards the end, I sped up a little bit as I had more time to read, but it still didn't feel too dense for me, simply because by this point I was so used to this writing style and the type of stories that were being told. It's almost weird now, to think that I am finished with the book and won't be reading more chapters every night.
The stories itself were amazing, it was a lot of fun to follow Attenborough's adventures around the world and hear about all the kinds of animals he came across. In the later chapters, his well-known humour started to come through as well, so it was incredibly entertaining.
If I'm being honest, I probably wouldn't recommend this book to people who struggle with longer books and/or dense writing styles. It is a little bit on the heavier side and it does take some time to get used to it. However, I myself don't really tend to go for the long books, rather preferring shorter and eventful stories, and I still really, really enjoyed this book. I think, in the end, if you are curious about nature, travel, and especially animals, and you are willing to invest a little patience in discovering far off lands and different cultures, then you will love this book.
Also, I would probably expect that if you are interested in this book, you also enjoy nature documentaries and I think that comes with a certain amount of patience for quiet moments in story telling, so you'll probably be fine.
Actual rating: 4.2 stars
I started reading this book around a month ago, knowing that I would not have a lot of time for reading in the foreseeable future. Now, nearly a month later, I have finally finished this book and can say that I could not have made a better choice. Talk about reading the perfect book at the perfect time...
While it is true that this book is a bit on the heavier and denser side, somehow it worked really well for me in this situation. I ended up reading around one or two chapters a day, in the evening before going to bed. This equaled to around 20 to 25 pages a day, which I personally feel like was a good pace to keep so that the amount of information isn't too overwhelming. Towards the end, I sped up a little bit as I had more time to read, but it still didn't feel too dense for me, simply because by this point I was so used to this writing style and the type of stories that were being told. It's almost weird now, to think that I am finished with the book and won't be reading more chapters every night.
The stories itself were amazing, it was a lot of fun to follow Attenborough's adventures around the world and hear about all the kinds of animals he came across. In the later chapters, his well-known humour started to come through as well, so it was incredibly entertaining.
If I'm being honest, I probably wouldn't recommend this book to people who struggle with longer books and/or dense writing styles. It is a little bit on the heavier side and it does take some time to get used to it. However, I myself don't really tend to go for the long books, rather preferring shorter and eventful stories, and I still really, really enjoyed this book. I think, in the end, if you are curious about nature, travel, and especially animals, and you are willing to invest a little patience in discovering far off lands and different cultures, then you will love this book.
Also, I would probably expect that if you are interested in this book, you also enjoy nature documentaries and I think that comes with a certain amount of patience for quiet moments in story telling, so you'll probably be fine.
Actual rating: 4.2 stars
ainereadsthings's review against another edition
5.0
It’s no secret that I’m a massive Attenborough fan, and although I’ve watched bits and pieces of some of the Zoo Quest programmes and was familiar with them, I didn’t know all the details of where he went and what they found. This is a fascinating book of his adventures in Guyana, Indonesia, and Paraguay and if you have any interest at all in the natural world, Attenborough, or natural history programming, you should pick this up.
sheltie15's review against another edition
5.0
It felt like I was there, part of the adventure. Lovely insights into the communities that were visited. Now I really want to go on holiday!!
celinec's review against another edition
3.75
An enjoyable read for fans of learning about nature and David Attenborough. Tells you some really interesting stories about animals and interactions. A lot of it was about the travel and logistics which was cool but towards the end I got a little bored of, compared to learning about his interactions and the animals.