David Attenborough

David Attenborough’s A Life on Our Planet is a lucid, insightful memoir that documents the author’s experience as a writer and broadcaster who helped establish natural history as a matter of public interest. He notes the declines in biodiversity that have marked each of his nine decades and argues that increasing biodiversity is the key to solving the climate crisis. Despite evidence to the contrary, Attenborough is optimistic about our ability to prevent a sixth mass extinction. The show more steps he recommends are all achievable if we have the political will. Unfortunately, none of them is politically easy. Can we limit fishing in a third of the ocean fisheries? Can we cut our meat consumption by a significant percentage? Can we stop deforestation and convert farmland to wilderness? If we can, we may ensure that the Anthropocene is not the shortest of ecological eras. show less

LIFE ON EARTH by David Attenborough (and read by him as well) was a good pick to listen to during finals week - not so engaging that I keep listening to find out what happens next at the expense of getting my grading done, but engaging enough to take my mind off my grading and other responsibilities when I needed a break, or was cooking, etc. I will say that I found it more relaxing to listen to in the chapters when he's describing things that I'm somewhat familiar with, but don't know well show more (i.e. the chapters on plants and invertebrates.) The chapters on vertebrates, however, were somewhat less relaxing to listen to, as I spent the whole time listening very carefully for any mistakes.

One thing Attenborough does very well in this book is connect the evolution of traits together, helping explain why certain traits evolved when they did. For example, as vascular plants evolved, there was a selective advantage for getting taller in order to better compete for light. But then, once plants started getting taller, there was a selective advantage to herbivores that could reach the tasty parts of the plants, which led to the evolution of flying insects, which in turn contributed to the evolution of the flowering plants to use those insects as targeted pollinators vs. relying on wind pollination. Some of it is almost certainly adaptationism / just-so-story-ism, but he does an excellent job of connecting various pieces together into a coherent whole.

He does get some stuff wrong -- some factual details that may have just gotten missed in the 40th anniversary update of the text, but also other places where the way he frames evolutionary history is... antiquated at best. The most egregious (in my opinion) is that he repeatedly refers to various living organisms as "primitive", and refers to non-mammalian synapsids (everything that is more closely related to mammals than any other living organism, but is not technically a true mammal -- includes things like Dimetrodon, the sail-back "dinosaur") as "reptiles". Which: No. Absolutely not. Synapsids split from the branch that would become reptiles over 200 million years ago. (He also calls early tetrapods like Tiktaalik "amphibians", which: they were almost certainly amphibious, but they were absolutely not the same as modern amphibians.)

But overall: Enjoyable to listen to Attenborough's narration even without the amazing visuals of a nature documentary. show less

Sir David Attenborough is well-known to fans of the BBC in the United Kingdom for his interesting explorations on various topics, especially ones relating to natural history. In this book, he further dives into natural history about how the world has changed during his lifetime. His picture is quite bleak, with much of our wilderness becoming subsumed by humanity’s growth. Still, he manages to propose several hopeful strategies out of this crisis if we begin immediately to act.

Attenborough show more has the reputation of being able to make journalistic explorations supremely interesting, and this book is no exception. He voyages down the decades of his life, beginning before World War II. He charts how natural biodiversity has been steadily lost and how humans have begun to manage the balance of the planet. To no one’s surprise, human management (started in the 1950s) has not gone well. Oceans have been depleted of fish, and the fraction of uninhibited wilderness has greatly decreased.

As depressing as the early stages of this work are, the end offers specific remedies for our position. He leaves us not with just a dystopia. He identifies strategic ways to increase fish stores while restoring economies of fishing. He shows us how we all can adjust our meat-heavy diets to soy-based and plant-based foods. In particular, we can cut down the percentage of beef in our diets because a pound of beef takes more agriculture to develop than other forms of meat. Energy must be transitioned from fossil fuels to other forms of energy.

Human survival must become our common currency even more than making money. Many of these solutions are cost-neutral – they cost about as much as our current solutions – but they are green-positive by helping to reduce costs to the environment. Some economists are theorizing how to create a financial cost to offset the environmental impacts of harmful technologies. Unfortunately, reliance on old ways of classical economics will lead to destructive outcomes to humanity.

The general public needs to hear this argument. It’s perhaps the most eloquent piece about contemporary climate change that I’ve read to date. Unfortunately, many (in America, at least) will reject even listening to this jeremiad because they revel in ignorance. Once again, contemporary social problems limit scientific progress in humans. Will the recurring modern story repeat itself? We know where we need to get to and how we need to get there; we just lack the collective determination to see the course. Or will Attenborough’s eloquent plea, amongst others’ informative pleas, light our way? show less

In A Life on Our Planet David Attenborough takes us through the changes that have occurred to the natural environment in the 94 years he's spent on this world.

He starts the "Witness Statement" part of the book when he was 11 years old and exploring nature around his home in Leicester, England. At that time the number of humans on the planet was 2.3 billion, and 66% of the planet was considered wilderness.

Today there are 7.9 billion people on the planet and it's estimated that only 23% of show more the earth's landmass can still be considered wild. As someone who has dedicated a large part of his 94 years to helping humans understand the natural world, Attenborough has been a direct witness to many of the changes behind those numbers. He lays out many of those changes as he takes us through his own story. Most have not been good for the planet.

While this book is pretty stark about the seriousness of the issues we as humans have created, and the potential for climate disaster that faces us, Attenborough himself remains hopeful. In the second part of the book he lays out his "Vision for the Future", which includes some steps that are already underway. There is a lot of ground covered in this section, with a lot to think about, and a lot of concepts and buzzwords to understand - there is a helpful glossary at the end. Yet it's written in a straightforward and easily digestible way. And of course, if you listen to the audiobook, it's conveyed in Attenborough's famously soothing voice.

After reading this book I can see why it was Goodreads Choice Award Winner for Best Science & Technology Book of the Year. I rate A Life On Our Planet 4 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐ - I really liked this book and was glad I read it. I learned a lot from it. I recommend it. show less