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Children's reading lists

Christmas gifts for 2024: Books for 6 to 9-year-olds

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Recommendations

The best books about climate change – and how to fight it

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Reading lists

Audiobooks everyone should listen to, as chosen by our readers

Life on Air

The iconic broadcasting memoirs of David Attenborough, the world's leading Natural History programme-maker - fully revised and updated

There isn’t a single false note....Attenborough’s familiar voice comes through in every line.

It’s almost impossible to believe that all these things happened to one man… But David Attenborough wears his achievements lightly and there as many laughs here as there are animals.

An enthralling autobiography from one of the linchpins of television… Attenborough is a master story-teller, and his book is crammed with anecdotes.

Sir David Attenborough is Britain's best-known natural history film-maker. His career as a naturalist and broadcaster has spanned nearly seven decades. 
 
His first job - after Cambridge University and two years in the Royal Navy - was at a London publishing house. Then in 1952 he joined the BBC as a trainee producer, and it was while working on the Zoo Quest series (1954-64) that he had his first opportunity to undertake expeditions to remote parts of the globe, to capture intimate footage of rare wildlife in its natural habitat. 
 
He was Controller of BBC 2 (1965-68), during which time he introduced colour television to Britain, then Director of Programmes for BBC Television (1969-1972). In 1973 he abandoned administration altogether to return to documentary-making and writing, and has established himself as the world's leading Natural History programme maker with several 
landmark BBC series, includingLife on Earth (1979), The Living Planet (1984), The Trials 
of Life (1990), The Private Life of Plants (1995), Life of Birds (1998),The Blue Planet (2001),Life of Mammals (2002),Planet Earth (2006) and Life in Cold Blood (2008). 
 
Sir David was knighted in 1985 and received the Order of Merit in 2005. He is a fellow of the Royal Society, and stands at the forefront of issues concerning the planet's declining species and conservation.

David Attenborough is one of the most influential and admired figures in English television. When 26, he applied for a job in the BBC – which then meant radio – and was promptly turned down. But someone saw his rejected application and asked, would he like to try television? He would, and sixty years later, he is still at it. Elegantly told, often very funny, here is his story. 
 
At home there is his rise to controlling BBC2, introducing colour television to Britain, encounters with Montgomery, Anthony Eden, singers, athletes, explorers, the Queen, Benjamin Britten. Abroad there are people just as remarkable, journeys up tropical rivers, to the interior of New Guinea or the Australian outback, dragons, birds of paradise, flying snakes and walls of cockroaches. 
 
Now updated to cover his work since 2009, Life on Air is a remarkable account of David Attenborough’s passion for the natural world and his lifelong quest to understand it. .

David Attenborough

My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future

With a new afterword, Why You Are Here: A speech on the opening of the COP26 climate summit 
 
As a young man, I felt I was out there in the wild, experiencing the untouched natural world - but it was an illusion. The tragedy of our time has been happening all around us, barely noticeable from day to day - the loss of our planet's wild places, its biodiversity. 
 
I have been witness to this decline. A Life on Our Planet contains my witness statement, and my vision for the future - the story of how we came to make this, our greatest mistake, and how, if we act now, we can yet put it right. 
 
We have the opportunity to create the perfect home for ourselves and restore the wonderful world we inherited. 
 
All we need is the will do so.

David Attenborough

Private: David Attenborough explains what we can learn from the Chernobyl disaster

Private: David Attenborough: The future of all life depends on our willingness to take action now

Private: Tomorrow’s voices for change answer David Attenborough’s biggest environmental question

Books by David Attenborough

A Life on Our Planet by David Attenborough | Penguin Audiobooks