Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Book Review: Life on Air by David Attenborough


Life on Air is Sir David Attenborough's autobiography covering the period of his life from his first days at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and focusing upon his work in making wildlife documentaries but also dealing with his time in the senior administration of the BBC.

As one would expect from Sir David Attenborough, this is an extremely skillfully written book using language that draws the reader in as though they become part of each anecdote. Of course, with such a long career in pioneering wildlife documentaries, there is no lack of interesting, insightful and often, amusing anecdotes to read. In fact by the time the reader gets to the end they might feel that there are far more interesting and amusing stories the author has yet to tell. Essentially this book is a celebration of the public life of one of Britain's most well-loved personalities.

While the chapters surrounding David's time creating wildlife documentaries is probably the most anticipated reading by his fans, these are also the periods of his life that are best documented and so fewer of them come as surprises. A part of his life that is less well-known are dealt with in several chapters too, dealing with his time in the highest echelons of the BBC, and these are also very interesting to read too and slightly surprising even to those most familiar with David Attenborough's on-screen work.

Naturally, with so much travel experience behind him and such a distinguished career, there are many revealing photographs to accompany the text; if only there had been more room for more photos, perhaps in another book to come?

This is one of the most interesting and enjoyable books I have ever read and it is to be highly recommended to fans of Sir David and anyone who has enjoyed many of his wildlife documentaries with the BBC over the years.

Oh yes, my copy has a dedication to me from Sir David Attenborough in the front cover. Thanks mum for queuing!

Score: 10/10

2 comments:

Nikki - Notes of Life said...

I think this is definitely one I'd enjoy :) Thanks for the review.

Bruce said...

Sir David is such a fascinating presenter, I look forward to reading his autobiography!

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