Life in the Undergrowth: Amazon.co.uk: David Attenborough: Books

Review

With its superb synthesis of the majority of living species, Life in the Undergrowth is a high point in David Attenborough's career, but it is also an elegant restatement of something he has spent a lifetime trying to teach: we are simply one species among a multitude, all of which are worthy of our interest and respect. -- Tim Flannery, New York Review of Books

A companion to a new television program on Animal Planet, this wonderful exploration of invertebrates exceeds the requirements for a great nature book through the strength of its photographs and the quality of its prose. -- "Publisher's Weekly

Attenborough is at it again, exploring the natural world with his team of cinematographers and clearly explaining what they've found to a lay audience. . . The text is always lively. -- "-Booklist

The stories told in this book are astonishing, and Attenborough knows just what wonder buttons to push. . . . This is a beautifully written book--a worthwhile addition to any family library and a fitting companion for anyone's lap while watching Life in the the Undergrowth. -- "Biology Digest

Well-known naturalist Attenborough has written this book in a most engaging manner. Illustrated with stunning photographs, it serves both to inspire and inform. -- "Choice

David Attenborough is one of those beloved Brits equally at home on the small screen or on the page, and Life in the Undergrowth is a companion volume to a television series of the same name. On the cover, a damselfly with the biggest, bluest eyes you ever saw peers out, inviting the reader in for one of Attenborough's trademark forays into the lives--social, sexual and gustatory, if not psychological--of creatures that comprise some 80 percent, says Stephen Marshall [author of Insects: Their Natural History and Diversity] of all identified animal species, with doubtless many more to come. -- Martin Levin, Globe and Mail

[A] beautifully produced study of fossil invertebrates. -- John Wilson, First Things

Product Description

An insect disguises itself as a flower or leaf. A spider lassoes its prey. A beetle persuades a bee to care for its young. This beautifully illustrated book by veteran naturalist Sir David Attenborough offers a rare glimpse into the secret life of invertebrates, the world's tiniest--and most fascinating--creatures.

Small by virtue of their lack of backbones, this group of living things plays a surprisingly large role in the evolutionary cycle. These diverse creatures (more than one million species are believed to exist) roamed the earth before us and will still be here when we have gone. They are the pollinators, cleaners, and recyclers of life on earth. Without them, we would not last long.

Attenborough has studied and enjoyed these diminutive beings since he was a schoolboy in the Leicestershire countryside of England. Life in the Undergrowth, part of his innovative series on natural history topics, looks at invertebrates the world over: their arrival on land and mastery of every habitat, and their fantastic variety of hunting, mating, and highly organized social behaviors.

Adults are prejudiced against insects--handicapped by their ignorance and fears and limited by their size and vision. Children, who are closer to insects in size, notice and enjoy the tiny creatures.

In this companion book to the Animal Planet television program, Attenborough shares his childlike curiosity for invertebrates, taking us down wormholes and into insect homes for an up-close-and-personal look at their habitats. As the biblical book of Proverbs implores: "Go to the ant, thou sluggard: consider her ways and be wise." David Attenborough does go. It is worth going with him.

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35 of 37 people found the following review helpful

Excellent, beautifully illustrated 2 Dec 2005

By Budge Burgess TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

The book to accompany Attenborough's exploration of the tiny world of the insects. An excellent, well packaged, highly informative and profusely illustrated little tome, this is great value and an exciting and stimulating introduction to the subject. The material presented is accessible - you will not be baffled by academic or scientific jargon - and, far from being simply a reference book, this is a very readable volume. It will stimulate your interest in the subject.

However, this is not the television series - the photographs are excellent, the writing clear, but the book cannot capture the excitement and wonder which the moving image achieves. BBC television has an extraordinary record in presenting wildlife programmes, and the filming of this series is of the highest quality. The book, therefore, is a little disappointing purely and simply because it cannot offer the momentum and dynamic of the moving image and 'live' sound.

I comment on the difference between book and programme not as a criticism, but as a warning - I have often heard people complain that a book didn't live up to the series. They're different animals. If you don't get the same sense of immediacy and presence from the book, what you do get is a lasting sense of wonder. Books like this inspire people to look further into the subject. You will find yourself reading this and stopping to watch insects differently. Beware - there are pictures of spiders; while these are misunderstood little creatures, they do scare the …. out of many people, so be wary who you sit next to when reading it. Of course, if you have a malicious sense of humour, I recommend leaving the book open at page … .

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

Life as you have never seen it before 16 Oct 2006

By Sailingslipelick

I thought this book was very good, since it gave a very general aspect of many insects, in their own habitat. The pictures are of very high quality and there is some material in the book which is not available in the DVD. Of course there are some things which are only shown in the DVD, such as the area where it shows the development of a bumblebee nest.

I do think that it is probably his best book so far out of all his nature books. I would recommend this book to everyone who is starting to study nature.

15 of 20 people found the following review helpful

Could and should have been so much more 8 Dec 2005

By M. Wilkinson

I cant help thinking cynically after reading the book that its a bit of a con, making you buy the book as the series is so good but the book is not closely related enough to the series, the chapters are the same and it features many of the same anecdotes of invertebrate behaviour but the pictures were not taken as part of the filming of the show, if only they were! They are stock photos and while some are of a very high standard (one page showing 4 photos of a dragonfly emerging from his chrysalis) some are not so impressive which is not something you really expect from a book accompanying a david attenborough series.

The dvd is worth owning but the book is not.