Book Review: New Life Stories

To those of you that read my review of the book that preceeds this one; Life Stories, it will come as no surprise that I had to read this book. It may sound rather lame or cheesy to say it, but reading this book it like spending an afternoon listening to David Attenborough sitting across the living room.

Starting in Venezuela in canopy towers in the middle of the rainforest and ending with murder in Africa, it's very obvious to state that there's a huge variety of anecdotes in this book. The wonderful thing is that some of them are so familiar from the TV series or his autobiography, so it's no a book that requires full concentration, but a book in which you can allow yourself to enjoy without excessive labour. Some stories were totally new to me, such as the eccentric Waterton who effectively created the first nature reserve. And, to be honest, someone I should have know about as he resided in Walton Hall, Wakefield - which seems to have been converted into a hotel now. Sad in a way. But it's these stories that kept the book fresh and engaging. Of course along with the photographs that correspond with each story.

We hear about people that have studied animals in the right way, in the Chapter entitled 'Chimps' and the wrong way (in my opinion), in the entitled chapter 'Elsa'. But most of all we hear the stories from the point of view from a man that most of us delight in calling a National Treasure.

Go to your nearest bookseller or library and get reading!


 

Own or Loan:         Loan

Read Again:           Yes

Recommend:         Yes

Overall out of Five:3