Ebook: My Natural History The Animal Kingdom and How It Shaped Me

Cover; Title Page; Dedication; Table of Contents; 1. Greater horseshoe bat : Rhinolophus ferrumequinum; 2. Indri : Indri indri; 3. Beadlet anemone : Actinia equina; 4. Great northern diver : Gavia immer; 5. Adder : Vipera berus; 6. Blackcap : Sylvia atricapilla; 7. Red deer : Cervus elephus; 8. Water vole : Arvicola terrestris; 9. Himalayan pied kingfisher : Ceryle lugubris; 10. Huntsman spider : Heteropoda venatoria; 11. Little cormorant : Palacrocorax niger; 12. Marsh harrier : Circus aeruginosus; 13. Grey whale : Eschrichtius robustus; 14. Garden warbler : Sylvia borin.;“The animal kingdom came to my rescue. It always has done. I suspect it always will. It rescued me at Sunnyhill Primary School, it rescued me in my adolescence, it has rescued me over and over again throughout my adult life." In My Natural History Simon Barnes, like a modern-day Gerald Durrell, weaves together the story of his life via the animals and the natural encounters that have shaped it. From the greater horseshoe bat that transported Barnes from the dull classrooms of his youth, to the great whale which marked the moment he knew he was going to be a writer, from Himalayan Kingfishers in India, to majestic lions in the Luangwa valley, each animal represents a piece in the puzzle of Barnes's life.With its humour and poetry, every page fizzing with Barnes's infectious enthusiasm, My Natural History cannot fail to delight and enthral any lover of the wild world.