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A review by thomasrintoul
A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future by David Attenborough
challenging
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
As always, David Attenborough fails to disappoint. A Life on Our Planet is a really thoughtful look back on his life and his experience of the natural world, coupled with a pragmatic if somewhat overly hopeful vision for the future.
I listened to this as an audiobook, rather than reading the physical version - the audiobook is narrated by David himself - a true treat and something that I think really helps the experience of a deeply personal book like this one. The only issue I had with the audiobook (from Audible) was that the book was split into multi hour long parts, despite those parts having a chapter like structure - this meant it was possible and a little to easy to hit the wrong button and be sent back to the start of the "part" which may have been 3 hours ago - leading to having to hunt through the book again.
As for the content, David's "Witness Statement" really paints a harrowing view of what we've done to our planet in the past 70 years or so. Laying bare the biodiversity we've already lost. This section, while interspersed with anecdotes from David's life, was challenging as someone who cares for the natural world - and it is clear that David hurts for it deeply.
The "Vision for the Future" was wide ranging, covering almost every aspect of what will hopefully make up our journey away from disaster and complete ecological collapse. However, I don't think the way this is presented is perfect. While there is a lot of discussion on reduction of carbon emissions through decarbonising transport, energy and reducing consumption of meat - Sir David also spends a lot of time talking about technological solutions such as Carbon Capture and Storage - a largely unproven method that many of the most polluting corporations are likely to try and use in place of true decarbonisation.
All in all, I really enjoyed this book. Hearing about some of the action already being taken in the fight against climate change has lifted me from where I was a few weeks ago - in a state of near complete climate apathy. This book is challenging but ultimately hopeful and well worth a read.
I listened to this as an audiobook, rather than reading the physical version - the audiobook is narrated by David himself - a true treat and something that I think really helps the experience of a deeply personal book like this one. The only issue I had with the audiobook (from Audible) was that the book was split into multi hour long parts, despite those parts having a chapter like structure - this meant it was possible and a little to easy to hit the wrong button and be sent back to the start of the "part" which may have been 3 hours ago - leading to having to hunt through the book again.
As for the content, David's "Witness Statement" really paints a harrowing view of what we've done to our planet in the past 70 years or so. Laying bare the biodiversity we've already lost. This section, while interspersed with anecdotes from David's life, was challenging as someone who cares for the natural world - and it is clear that David hurts for it deeply.
The "Vision for the Future" was wide ranging, covering almost every aspect of what will hopefully make up our journey away from disaster and complete ecological collapse. However, I don't think the way this is presented is perfect. While there is a lot of discussion on reduction of carbon emissions through decarbonising transport, energy and reducing consumption of meat - Sir David also spends a lot of time talking about technological solutions such as Carbon Capture and Storage - a largely unproven method that many of the most polluting corporations are likely to try and use in place of true decarbonisation.
All in all, I really enjoyed this book. Hearing about some of the action already being taken in the fight against climate change has lifted me from where I was a few weeks ago - in a state of near complete climate apathy. This book is challenging but ultimately hopeful and well worth a read.