The Early Years: "Zoo Quest for a Dragon", "Quest in Paradise", "Quest Under Capricorn": The Collection (BBC Radio Collection)

Zoo Quest For A Dragon
In the first book of the collection, Attenborough describes the beginnings of the series Zoo Quest and how he traveled to Indonesia to capture a Komodo dragon. His stories do not only focus on animals, though, but also on the locals, on a trip to Mount Bromo, the sea voyage to Komodo island and more. It is rather a humourous adventure story than a report about animals. It is a bit lengthy at times, but also has very interesting parts.

Quest in Paradise
The second book is about a trip to Papua New Guinea, which was fascinating to me because it is a country that still feels unknown and that I have not heard much about. Attenborough and his colleagues were looking for the elusive birds of paradise and trekked though the show more mountains to find it, meeting locals and eccentric expats. The descriptions of the local customs are intriguing and there is also quite a bit of humor in it.

Quest Under Capricorn
In the third book, the author tells us about this trip to Northern Australia, namely to Darwin and Arnhem Land. This was most interesting to me because while I have not visited this part of Australia myself, I know a bit about tourism in that area and it is astounding to see how it has changed in the past decades. I would have liked to know more about the animals and the natural world, but Attenborough includes a lot of details about the Aboriginal people, especially their art, and about white Australians living in the small town of Borroloola, and I enjoyed these parts of the story very much.

David Attenborough In His Own Words
This is a collection of excerpts from BBC interviews ranging from 1975 to 2012. Most interviews include anecdotes from the travels mentioned above, but they also touch on topics such as Attenborough's childhood and family, his personal beliefs, the development of the media and his life as a whole. I liked listening to this very much and it was a good way to round off the collection, as it showed just what an impressive and fascinating, yet humble person David Attenborough is. show less