Product Description

This is the complete "BBC Radio 4" series written and presented by Sir David Attenborough featuring all twenty episodes about some of the strangest plants and creatures from around the world. One of the nation's most popular presenters examines twenty marvels of the natural world from his extraordinary and pioneering experiences. What was Sir David's first pet? Which animal would he most like to be? What creature lays 'the biggest egg in the world'? How do you communicate with an ancient nomadic community in Fiji? And what did Sir David do when confronted by a ten-foot-long reptile? His enthusiasm is as infectious as ever, and conveys a unique fascination on topics as diverse as the Sloth, Monstrous Flowers, the Platypus, Giant Birds, Dragons, the Fire Salamander, Faking Fossils, the Coelacanth, the Dodo, Bird's-nest Soup and the Large Blue Butterfly. So listen to these stories to find out the real reason why animals sing, the story behind a 150-million-year-old feather and what it is about snakes that really unnerves Sir David.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #540 in Books
• Published on: 2009-10-22
• Format: Audiobook
• Binding: Audio CD

Customer Reviews

Three hours of a master at work
Things like these short talks make you realise just how lucky we are to have the BBC. For all its faults, the Beeb gave us David Attenborough and that alone is worth a lifetime's licence fee. These marvelous 10 minute nuggets began life on Radio 4, and were available as free podcast downloads for anyone organized enough to do downloads every week for the entire summer. I wasn't so I'm extremly pleased to be able to have the complete set - and without the annoying "This is a download from the BBC. For more informantion..." intro that appears at the start of the Beeb's podcasts.

Attenborough's voice has been part of my life almost as long as I can remember watching television. He could probably be reading the phone book and it would still have the effect of lowering my blood preasure. The fact that he isn't reading the phone book, but fascinating and engaging pieces on topics as diverse as celocanths and bower birds, just makes these three discs the perfect way to wind down on the journey home from work. I said pieces because they are part essay, part enclopeadia entry, part travelogue, and part autobiography all wrapped up in a delivery like a story told by a favourite and respected uncle.

What you get are three CDs with a total of 20 nine-and-a-half-minute talks: Sloth, Monstrous Flowers, Platypus, Giant Birds, Songsters, Bower Birds, Dragons, Archaeopteryx, Salamander, Birds of Paradise, The Serpent's Stare, Faking Fossils, Coelacanth, Dodo, Tracks, Bird's-nest Soup, Adam's Face, Amber, Large Blue, and Collecting. My personal favourites are "Bower Birds", "Archaeopteryx", and "Tracks" but they are all excellent. My daughter was particularly taken with "Salamander" to the extent that I am dreading her Christmas list.

Given that most information that is presented to children today seems to be big on whizz-bang interactive fun but very light on content, the fact that these CDs are, in effect, just an old man talking for ten minutes straight and yet my six year old asks to listen to them in the car, makes you realise how good they are. Truly wonderful.

Natural storyteller
You might think that audio is the wrong medium for Life Stories. We are so used to seeing plants and animals in vivid colour on DVD or in big, illustrated books that the idea of listening to someone talk about them without even the help of sound effects seems misguided. Unless, of course, that someone is David Attenborough.

As well as having avuncular charm and expertise on zoology and botany, Attenborough is also a skilled raconteur with a winning sense of humour and an infallible ear for anecdote. As such, it is only very rarely that the visual sense is missed. (I found it difficult to picture the giant Titum Arum, for example.)

For me, the real attraction of these diverse stories about some very odd and exceptional curiosities, is listening to Attenborough the biologist raising and then tackling some key questions: what are the evolutionary benefits of the sloth's slowness, or of the non-flying dinosaur's (therapod's) feathers? How did the bird of paradise evolve such an extravagant courtship display? And here the absence of visual images, if anything, focuses the mind more sharply on such considerations.

In comparison, wonderful though they are, the TV series and their coffee-table spin-offs, seem more like visual distractions. There is room, of course, for both. But expect the audio-only variety to be the more thought-provoking, forcing you to ponder the mysterious nature of early human communication by gesture or wonder at the ingenuity of native bushmen following animal tracks.

Utter brilliance and a joy to listen to
There are only 3 people that I can listen to all day, that no matter what the subject, the way they narrate make it sound interesting. These are Patrick Stewart, Tony Benn and Sir David Attenborough.

The 3 CD's contain 20 x 10 minute (approx.) stories narrated by the great Sir David. These were originally broadcast between 5th June and 18th October 2009 on BBC Radio 4. I missed the broadcast, but thank goodness the BBC had the foresight to release this excellent CD collection of the series.

From the time you start listening at the first episode whereby Sir David explains that when people ask what animal he would like to be, he replies a Sloth and talks about this choice, to Komodo dragons, Fire Salamander, Dodo, Large Blue Butterfly etc, you are mesmorised and drawn in to the excellent narration.

What more can be said that the other reviewers have not already said. This is a must buy for all, and will also make an excellent gift. Sheer brilliance.