Living Planet: The Web of Life on Earth

The Web of Life on Earth

By: David Attenborough

The Sunday Times Bestseller

A new, fully updated narrative edition of David Attenborough’s seminal biography of our world, The Living Planet.

Nowhere on our planet is devoid of life. Plants and animals thrive or survive within every extreme of climate and habitat that it offers. Single species, and often whole communities adapt to make the most of ice cap and tundra, forest and plain, desert, ocean and volcano. These adaptations can be truly extraordinary: fish that walk or lay eggs on leaves in mid-air; snakes that fly; flightless birds that graze like deer; and bears that grow hair on the soles of their feet.
In The Living Planet, David Attenborough’s searching eye, unfailing curiosity and infectious enthusiasm explain and illuminate the intricate lives of the these colonies, from the lonely heights of the Himalayas to the wild creatures that have established themselves in the most recent of environments, the city. By the end of this book it is difficult to say which is the more astonishing – the ingenuity with which individual species contrive a living, or the complexity of their interdependence on each other and on the habitations provided by our planet.
In this new edition, the author, with the help of zoologist Matthew Cobb, has added all the most up-to-date discoveries of ecology and biology, as well as a full-colour 64-page photography section. He also addresses the urgent issues facing our living planet: climate change, pollution and mass extinction of species.

Critic reviews

Praise for the New Edition of Life on Earth:

‘It does not disappoint. The new Life on Earth is as glorious as the first’ Guardian

‘A beautiful and wide ranging work. The breadth of natural history covered is extraordinary and mesmerising. Life on Earth is still breathtakingly rich, and we would know far less about it were it not for Attenborough’s wonderful skills of communication over the years: our cultural and scientific lives would be poorer without him’ New Scientist

‘This natural history masterpiece offers a spectacular snapshot of a once-wild planet’ New Scientist

Praise for David Attenborough:

‘A marvellous book … unputdownable … utterly engaging’ Telegraph

‘An elegant and gently funny writer’ The Times

‘His writing is as impressive and as enjoyable as his TV programmes and there can be no higher praise’ Daily Express

‘A great educator as well as a great naturalist’ Barack Obama

‘Sir David is a wizard of television, and, like Gandalf or Dumbledore, he has a near-magical gift for combining warmth and gravitas . . . the man who, for me, exemplifies the best in British broadcasting’ Louis Theroux

‘When I was a young boy I used to love turning on the television and watching David's programmes and really feeling like I was either back out in Africa or I was learning about something magical and almost out of this planet’ HRH Prince William

David Attenborough is one of our most valuable natural resources

I’ve admired David Attenborough my entire life as have generations ahead of me. I hope that his legacy is one of conservation and protection. He paints a picture of how profoundly we can influence or surroundings for good or ill. This book is an ominous and pointed reminder of our responsibilities and our capacity for destruction. It is particularly well timed given current political climate.

The story is classic Attenborough

It sounded like he was on a speakerphone in a large room. It was hard to understand. He is elderly and I think it would have been better if he was on a mic close to his mouth. However, the story is classic David Attenborough So, I gave him all stars.

wonderfully written and beautifully read

Attenborough does such an amazing job. the scope of the book is vast, but he makes it not only palatable, but wonderfully interesting without loosing the sense of the huge all encompassing richness of his subject.

The way he tells his story

David Attenbough has the most remarkable voice, presentation and knowledge. I have listened to this at least twice maybe three times!

Easy to follow even without video

I love how Attenborough connects you to the natural world and teases the imagination of the natural world