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4.45 AVERAGE
4.45 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Blood, Grief, Colonisation
A very enjoyable listen. I am of course inspired to revisit many of the series discussed and related to the remarkable collection of anecdotes this book represents. Much more of a behind the scenes of the 'Life' documentaries than an autobiography but this is after all a memoir.
I love David Attenborough and his stories are so interesting, but this book just felt really slow to me and I couldn’t get into it at this time.
slow-paced
adventurous
funny
informative
slow-paced
adventurous
funny
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
adventurous
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
It’s really interesting to read about Attenborough’s journey. To follow the lucky breaks, the hard work, the jobs that weren’t quite what he wanted, to hear that people thought his teeth were too big for interviews, and the attempt to have a good work-life balance. His quiet enthusiasm and excitement for the animal kingdom - and sharing his knowledge of such - is typical of the Attenborough we see on the screen. Writing about the technological advances and the difficulties of lugging huge pieces of equipment through jungles though, is both entertaining and fascinating. The jump from black and white film to colour, and the hurdles that often had to be jumped when getting visas in other countries. Perhaps the bit I was most surprised by was how many specimens they captured and brought back the the UK. That is a part I was unaware of. A fascinating read.
2.5/5
I loved watching [a:David Attenborough|106444|David Attenborough|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1318921669p2/106444.jpg]'s Planet Earth, The Blue Planet, and Frozen Planet series (I'm also slowly watching all the other BBC nature documentary series that are available on Netflix). So I was ready to love this audiobook, especially since it was narrated by David Attenborough himself!
But... I couldn't bring myself to love it. I felt like this book dragged on for too long… There were a lot of interesting information presented that I think would be fascinating to read in a book if it were accompanied by pictures (or better yet, a behind-the-scenes documentary series). Especially since there were a lot of detailed information and descriptions on various animal behaviors, places that Sir David Attenborough had visited, and the different cameras and tools that were used in his productions. If you’re really interested in the history of televised filming, evolution of BBC or behind the scenes of natural history/nature documentaries series then I think you would really enjoy this book.
While I did appreciate learning about the filming process and amount of work that was put into all of David Attenborough’s shows, it became a bit of a bore... His behind-the-scenes accounts were a bit too detailed - I felt like his book could have been divided into a series of shorter novels (instead of chapters) titled 'Behind the Scenes of Life on Earth', 'Behind the Scenes of The Living Planet', 'Behind the Scenes of The Life of Birds', etc. etc. for all of the natural history documentary series that he's done (which is more than a dozen).
Most of this book (like 95%) was focused on David Attenborough's work (which we can all watch and enjoy in our spare time). Reading this book made me learn a lot about nature documentaries but I feel like I still don't know much about the writer/narrator. He briefly mentioned his family in one or two chapters but gave the impression that he didn't spend much time with them because of his travels and expeditions. I suppose we can assume that he's a workaholic and filming these natural history documentaries is his greatest passion since this book is all about his work... but surely he had other passions and hobbies and memories that are not work-related? In hindsight though, I suppose the 'Life on Air' part of the title implies that this book will only focus on Attenborough's television life...
I loved watching [a:David Attenborough|106444|David Attenborough|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1318921669p2/106444.jpg]'s Planet Earth, The Blue Planet, and Frozen Planet series (I'm also slowly watching all the other BBC nature documentary series that are available on Netflix). So I was ready to love this audiobook, especially since it was narrated by David Attenborough himself!
But... I couldn't bring myself to love it. I felt like this book dragged on for too long… There were a lot of interesting information presented that I think would be fascinating to read in a book if it were accompanied by pictures (or better yet, a behind-the-scenes documentary series). Especially since there were a lot of detailed information and descriptions on various animal behaviors, places that Sir David Attenborough had visited, and the different cameras and tools that were used in his productions. If you’re really interested in the history of televised filming, evolution of BBC or behind the scenes of natural history/nature documentaries series then I think you would really enjoy this book.
While I did appreciate learning about the filming process and amount of work that was put into all of David Attenborough’s shows, it became a bit of a bore... His behind-the-scenes accounts were a bit too detailed - I felt like his book could have been divided into a series of shorter novels (instead of chapters) titled 'Behind the Scenes of Life on Earth', 'Behind the Scenes of The Living Planet', 'Behind the Scenes of The Life of Birds', etc. etc. for all of the natural history documentary series that he's done (which is more than a dozen).
Most of this book (like 95%) was focused on David Attenborough's work (which we can all watch and enjoy in our spare time). Reading this book made me learn a lot about nature documentaries but I feel like I still don't know much about the writer/narrator. He briefly mentioned his family in one or two chapters but gave the impression that he didn't spend much time with them because of his travels and expeditions. I suppose we can assume that he's a workaholic and filming these natural history documentaries is his greatest passion since this book is all about his work... but surely he had other passions and hobbies and memories that are not work-related? In hindsight though, I suppose the 'Life on Air' part of the title implies that this book will only focus on Attenborough's television life...
I loved this book. If you love nature and David Attenborough and are interested in his life then it is a must read.