Myself and Other Animals
- Author Gerald Durrell
- Narrator Julian Wadham, Anne Dover
- Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
- Publish Date 5 December 2024
- Run Time 10 hours and 44 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Autobiography: writers, Biography and non-fiction prose, Conservation of the environment, Memoirs, The environment, Wildlife: general interest, Zoos and wildlife parks: general interest.
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What to expect
Brought to you by Penguin.
A final posthumous work from the beloved conservationist and naturalist Gerald Durrell, to celebrate the centenary of his birth, with a new foreword written by HRH Princess Anne.
Myself and Other Animals is a new book mosaicked from unpublished autobiographies, uncollected pieces and previously published extracts from Durrell’s work and archives. The result is an extraordinary journey through Durrell’s life in his own words, edited and introduced by his widow Lee Durrell.
Drawing on a memoir that Durrell started writing before he became too ill to continue it, and an unfinished book from a trip to Australia in 1969 to the Great Barrier Reef, Northern Territory and Queensland, here is the unvarnished story of Durrell’s life, from touching family tributes to golden bats and pink pigeons.
Moving from India to England and then to the always sun-lit Corfu, told with dry wit and insight into our fellow animals, here is the vivid finale of one of Britain’s most beloved conservationists and prose stylists.
‘Gerald Durrell was magic’ SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH
‘One of the finest and most lyrical nature writers in English’ OBSERVER
© Gerald Durrell 2024 (P) Penguin Audio 2024
Critics Review
Nature’s most rapt inspector, ally and celebrant . . . I could read about Durrell’s wildlife encounters all day . . . a wise, genial and world-encompassing book
Fills important gaps in the biographical narrative . . . Truly, there is magic here
A moving tribute to Gerald’s endeavours and achievements as a conservationist
Funny and readable and hugely charming . . . Durrell really can write like a dream . . . This book is a charming tribute to him: a reminder of his beliefs, and of his ability to make you laugh while making you think
Sparkling descriptions of animal behaviour are the beating heart of Durrell’s accounts of trips to Cameroon, Guyana, New Zealand, Mauritius, Madagascar and elsewhere . . . Durrell’s concern for species extinction thrums throughout Myself and Other Animals
Celebrates his extraordinary life in technicolour
Reading Myself & Other Animals makes you feel like an archaeologist uncovering an ancient mosaic. As you leaf through a section, you reveal the colourful sparkle of a new fragment. It isn’t a complete picture, but by the end, you can see enough to feel you know Gerald Durrell just that bit better . . . earns its place in the pantheon of Durrell’s books
Replete with characters of feathers, fur and fin, it offers an intimate picture of the naturalist and his travels
A generous and magnificent achievement – an autobiography, of sorts, composed of excerpts both well-known and rare, each carrying Durrell’s distinctive, engaging and entertaining voice. A century on from the beloved conservationist’s birth, when so many forms of life remain at risk of extinction, it also stands as an important call to action before it’s too late
| Author | Gerald Durrell |
|---|---|
| Narrator | Julian Wadham, Anne Dover |
| Duration | 10 hours and 44 minutes |
| Release Date | |
| ISBN | 9781405977852 |
| Format | Audiobook |
| Publisher | Penguin Books Ltd |
| Genre | Autobiography: writers, Biography and non-fiction prose, Conservation of the environment, Memoirs, The environment, Wildlife: general interest, Zoos and wildlife parks: general interest |
| Availability | AU, GB, IE, US |
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