Definitely best enjoyed as an audio book. David Attenborough narrates his own life. I learned a bit about the history of British television broadcasting and quite a bit about Attenborough, but what I enjoyed most about the book was that it was like an audio version of the BBC nature documentaries I like so much. Perfect to listen to while walking the dog or going for a run. ( )

A great review of a great life. It covers the change in television technologies, and a diverse number of species and habitats. David has a great sense of humor and has had some wonderful and funny adventures. I highly reccommend it! ( )

David Attenborough recounts his life working for the BBC making nature documentaries. While I love his programmes and thoughtful, eloquent and always engaging narration, I was surprised by how much I struggled with these memoirs. There are plenty of amusing anecdotes from trips abroad (and even from his time working behind a desk), recounted with a wry and gentle sense of humour, to entertain the reader, but somehow they all bleed into one another and after a while I couldn't remember where a particular incident occurred. The rather indifferent editing didn't help, and so I only had a feeling of relief when I realised that I'd left the book behind in the waiting room of a hospital, and I'd kept on reading long after I would have given up on any other book, persisting merely out of a sense of duty to the man. ( )

Fascinating insight into how David Attenborough first entered broadcasting and slowly developed his specialist nature documentaries. The stories of his earliest expeditions are pretty hair raising as he had minimal technology to support his expeditions was gone for weeks at a time in very remote, often hostile parts of the world. Highly recommended. ( )

If you’re looking for an autobiography this will inevitably be a disappointment; there are few details of Attenborough’s personal life not related to his lifelong fascination with nature (really just one, very late on). Instead these are his memoirs. We open with how he came to join the BBC and end over half a century later with him still working to share the joy and wonder he finds in nature with a mass audience. The stories cover all his major series, from the Zoo Quest series of the 1950s up to the then recent Life of Birds series and about to embark upon Life of Mammals. The tales recount the frustration and toil of attempting to capture natural wonders on film, and the joy when they succeed is palpable. It’s equally fascinating to watch how the equipment and ability to access hard to reach locations improves across half a century and how the improvements allow moments to be captured that were previously impossible. It’s the equivalent of a time lapse sequence of the development of TV down the decades.

The other important aspect is the role Attenborough played in TV administration in the 1960s. He makes it quite clear throughout that he always felt ill-suited to the work and much preferred actually making programmes to budget battles and scheduling, but despite his characteristic modesty he does appear to have been excellent at the roles. The chapters relating to his controllership of BBC2 are essential to any understanding of TV history.

Whilst these memoirs are told with an unfailingly dry wit and always entertaining and educational in revealing how much effort goes into each of the shows, there’s only one minor problem. Attenborough was a mere 77 when this edition was published, which would seem a pretty good age to get things set down. The only trouble is he’s kept working since then, his passion undimmed even at the age of 89. And even though it was apparently revised in 2009 that’s still a hell of a lot left to tell. And having reached the end of the book, one which is optimistic about his legacy and the future, I was left hoping that a man who’s done so much to turn the nation into one of intelligent animal lovers could go on forever. He may not, but the legacy of that national fascination with nature will endure for a long time. And for that mere thanks seem inadequate. ( )