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atelierofbooks's review against another edition
4.0
4.5
This is truly an account of a world that no longer exists. These are David Attenborough's memoirs of the three Zoo Quest expeditions to Guyana, Indonesia, and Paraguay that he filmed for the BBC back when nature documentaries were a brand new genre. His second purpose was to capture animals for the London Zoo (with the permission of the countries in question), something that just isn't done now but used to be a legitimate job.
This is the 1950s, a time when Bali wasn't a tourist resort and some Europeans doubted the existence of armadillos. Also a time where, apparently, you could do things like waltz around any country via unrestricted air and water travel, unknowingly commission arms dealers to sail you to unheard of islands, and not get murdered or kidnapped while relying on the hospitality of strangers.
Sure, David, lets just follow this barefoot Paraguayan drifter with five wild dogs around the desert for a week because he too shares your interest in tracking giant armadillos. Of course, we should fly to an unknown town in southern Indonesia because this random shop keeper's cousin knows a guy with a boat who might know how to get to Komodo Island.
In all seriousness, this is a gently funny and compelling account of some wild adventures. I most admire how Attenborough is able to convey grief and moral wrongness without outrage or defaulting to a sense of cultural superiority. That makes stories like the Balinese cockfights even more poignant in a way. His quiet anger and compassion for these animals being brutally exploited by humans is like a slow, furious heartbeat underneath his restrained prose.
This is a balance so rarely achieved in the precarious genre of travelogue and memoir, where our cultural judgements can so easily seep through. He is honest without being judgmental, conscious of his foreignness but not obsequiously so, and never forgets his purpose. He is not in these rarely traveled places for people, but for nature. Animals are given personality and identity similar to the people he meets. They are never treated like dumb creatures one rung lower than humans, but instead like fellow occupants and right holders to our natural world. They can communicate and feel, no matter if they are a tree porcupine or a komodo dragon. It's definitely an attitude that has carried through Attenborough's life and work.
On a personal note, I felt jealous as a woman reading about what men could do so fearlessly in the 1950s. Because it's over 60 years later and I still can't do many of the things they did. I.e. just me and a female friend with our super expensive camera equipment trekking through patriarchal communities in parts unknown, dining and sleeping alongside strange men without a worry.
This is truly an account of a world that no longer exists. These are David Attenborough's memoirs of the three Zoo Quest expeditions to Guyana, Indonesia, and Paraguay that he filmed for the BBC back when nature documentaries were a brand new genre. His second purpose was to capture animals for the London Zoo (with the permission of the countries in question), something that just isn't done now but used to be a legitimate job.
This is the 1950s, a time when Bali wasn't a tourist resort and some Europeans doubted the existence of armadillos. Also a time where, apparently, you could do things like waltz around any country via unrestricted air and water travel, unknowingly commission arms dealers to sail you to unheard of islands, and not get murdered or kidnapped while relying on the hospitality of strangers.
Sure, David, lets just follow this barefoot Paraguayan drifter with five wild dogs around the desert for a week because he too shares your interest in tracking giant armadillos. Of course, we should fly to an unknown town in southern Indonesia because this random shop keeper's cousin knows a guy with a boat who might know how to get to Komodo Island.
In all seriousness, this is a gently funny and compelling account of some wild adventures. I most admire how Attenborough is able to convey grief and moral wrongness without outrage or defaulting to a sense of cultural superiority. That makes stories like the Balinese cockfights even more poignant in a way. His quiet anger and compassion for these animals being brutally exploited by humans is like a slow, furious heartbeat underneath his restrained prose.
This is a balance so rarely achieved in the precarious genre of travelogue and memoir, where our cultural judgements can so easily seep through. He is honest without being judgmental, conscious of his foreignness but not obsequiously so, and never forgets his purpose. He is not in these rarely traveled places for people, but for nature. Animals are given personality and identity similar to the people he meets. They are never treated like dumb creatures one rung lower than humans, but instead like fellow occupants and right holders to our natural world. They can communicate and feel, no matter if they are a tree porcupine or a komodo dragon. It's definitely an attitude that has carried through Attenborough's life and work.
On a personal note, I felt jealous as a woman reading about what men could do so fearlessly in the 1950s. Because it's over 60 years later and I still can't do many of the things they did. I.e. just me and a female friend with our super expensive camera equipment trekking through patriarchal communities in parts unknown, dining and sleeping alongside strange men without a worry.
ellaabella's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
informative
relaxing
medium-paced
3.75
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.