For fifty years David Attenborough has entertained, educated, and
generally enchanted millions worldwide with his pursuit of the secrets
of life in its many guises. For such groundbreaking television series as
Life on Earth, The Private Life of Plants, and The Life of Birds,
he has traveled to the ends of the earth to give viewers their first
(and often only) close look at some of nature's wonders--from the great
wildebeest migration to the blooming of desert cacti. Now Attenborough
invites readers to travel with him once more, as he reflects on a life
at least as interesting as any he's managed to capture on camera.
Life on Air begins when, at twenty-four, Attenborough throws over what
looks to be a staid future as a "gentleman publisher" for an uncertain
position in the BBC's fledgling television service. An adventure in
itself (with primitive equipment and unpredictable personalities),
broadcasting work involves the Cambridge-educated naturalist in
hilarious attempts to improve the upstart Talks Department. Then the
discovery of a coelacanth fish off the Comoro Islands offers him his
first chance as a producer, and his career introducing wildlife to the
public takes off in earnest.
From his first expedition--a junket to Sierra Leone to find the elusive
Bald-headed Rock Crow--to his most recent, Attenborough conducts readers
on a life journey as instructive as it is enthralling. Rich with
insights into nature and behind-the-scenes glimpses into broadcasting
history, it is also filled with adventure and humor. Attenborough's
storytelling powers are legendary, and they don't fail him as he
recounts how he came to stand in rat-infested caves in Venezuela,
confront wrestling crocodiles, abseil down a rainforest tree in his late
sixties, and wake with the lioness Elsa sitting on his chest. His story
ranges from British Guinea to the Zambesi, from Borneo to Madagascar,
from the darkest depths of caves to the canopies of the loftiest trees.
With quiet erudition, searching curiosity, and generous wit, the world's
best-known and most beloved naturalist documents a life that reflects
his changing time and our natural world as well as his own irrepressible
character.
