Book Review: Life on Air

The most wonderful thing about this book is that it is not a collection of stories collated from David Attenborough's every day life. They are, as stated on the front cover, the memoirs of a broadcaster.

As such, this book isn't only riveting, but has a historical value due to Sir Attenborough being in the right place at the right time with most amazing frequency! So in this book we not only get to follow the BBC as it grew, we also get to understand how audio and visual equipment evolved to enrich the television experience. And if this is all you wanted, then it is a book worth reading. Best of all though, is the way that Attenborough describes the events and experiences that have unfolded during his years as a broadcaster.

Something I hadn't realised was the extent to which he had, not only travelled, but had gone to places rarely or never visited by the 'white' man and how he was the first to document the wonder of human and wild life before others in his field.

There are some wonderful anicdotes in the book, for instance, the April Fool's joke that he played out on radio. One which, incidentally, had me researching the story of the Sheba Islands and their singing volcanoes, before I'd reached the end of the telling of it - which had me finding out it was an April Fool's joke online and feeling rather silly! But in a way that I was happy to have been taken in and surprised by how much we all trust this great man. When he speaks, it seems, we all listen.

The edition I read was from 2002, as this is the copy that my library has, but there has been an update to bring the story up to present day. With the way Attenborough is going, I imagine that there may well be a few more editions before we have a complete set of memoirs from him!

A must read - for so many reasons.

 

Own or Loan:         Loan
Read Again:           Yes
Recommend:         Yes
Overall out of Five:4