How to Shoot an Amateur Naturalist [Paperback]

Gerald Durrell (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A BBC television series based on Durrell's book The Amateur Naturalist features the author and his wife, Lee, as narrators. After a year's work on that program, covering 49,000 miles, the film crew had learned a lot of natural history, and Durrell had a new appreciation of filmmaking. This story of the journeys is vintage Durrell: breezy and entertaining as he recounts misadventures and the problems of filming wild animals, serious in his plea for conservation. The Durrells' travels took them from the English countryside to New York City, from the Shetland Islands to South Africa, to the rain forest of Panama and Arizona's Sonoran desert, to the Canadian Rockies and the island of Corfu. The author's fans will be delighted with this one. Illustrations. Foreign rights: Curtis Brown. January
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers (November 28, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0006370101
• ISBN-13: 978-0006370109
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,221,629 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If you've read most of his other books, August 18, 2003

By 

anybody else or "amanuet" (Orbis Tertius) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Shoot an Amateur Naturalist (Hardcover)

Durrell seems incapable of writing a bad book - his ever-so-lively wittiness and ability to describe different people and animals in a funny way are truly amazing!

So, this is a good book - not quite as breathtaking as his masterpieces ("My Family And Other Animals", "The Garden Of The Gods", "A Zoo In My Luggage" and others), but certainly amusing. Durrell describes, to quote him, "how to shoot an amateur naturalist" - in other words, how nature likes to treat people that try to film it (throw in some human nature and you should have a clear picture). This is one of his books written later than the most popular ones, so he is accompanied by his second wife, Lee, instead of Jackie (whom I'd grown quite fond of).

There's not much more I can tell you if you're familiar with Durrell - because, if you are, you'll probably read this book and all the others as soon as you get your hands on them. That's what a sensible person would do... If you aren't familiar with his works - well, I doubt I'll be able to convince you to read him anyway, but you should - oh! - you should. Just start with his other works, perhaps (the ones I menioned earlier, for example).

A good book. Not excellent, but reasonably good.