Reading about the real James Bond, the ornithologist whose name Ian Fleming stole when he wrote his first spy novel to calm his nerves before getting married, is far more interesting than I might have imagined. I grab every book about writers I can find, and that was my reason for choosing this one. Luckilyy for Wright, Bond the ornithologist was a fascinating person, if not perhaps the kind of ornithologist we might cheer today. In Bond's time, for instance, a gun was more common than a camera and the specimens collected were shot dead and skinned for preservation. It is really shocking to read how early taxidermists ended up killing themselves through self-poisoning with arsenic. Wright seems to have heavily relied upon Bond's wife's book about her husband, but he makes up for it with all kinds of interesting trivia. The reader cannot help pausing over the list of similarities between Bond and Fleming. Both came from very wealthy families and had admirable educations, for starters. Bond, however, was disinherited by his father for no apparent reason other than that there was a second wife since Bond's mother died young from cancer. That certainly struck a nerve with me~! Where else, too, is one going to find a history of taxidermy and a history of the evolution of ornithology, not to mention the prominent names in the field, especially pertaining to the West Indies, a region of the world favored by both Bond and Fleming? The book gives insight into Fleming's ability to play double agent in the world of book reviews: he may have reviewed his own first Bond thriller according to Julia Blakely of the rare Book Department in the Smithsonian Institution, as she comments on his literary voice being the same in his letters as in one of the first reviews. After all, Fleming worked for the newspaper group that owned the Times. he was its Foreign Manager and therefore responsible for "its stable of correspondents from 1945 . . . until late in 1959." Most writers would like a position like that so they might all the more easily plug their own books! There is much to amuse in The Real James Bond, For instance, once the world found out where Fleming got the name for his secret agent, the Bonds began receiving phone calls from women at night. Mary Bond was a clever promoter of her husband's work and did not take offense, She would say, "Yes, James is here, but this is Pussy Galore and he is busy now."

Not what I expected but glad I read the book. If you are looking for a thrilling spy novel this is not it.
This book gave some insight in the writer "Ian Fleming" and the person whose name he stole to become the main character in his James Bond books.
The real Mrs. James Bond was an interesting character in her own way. I might have to read her book "To James Bond with Love" . If her husband had let her I think she would have used publicity to its max. The real Jim Bond rather stayed away from the public eye and lived for his discoveries and studies of birds.
A connection is made between the possibility of ornithologists who contributed to covert operations been able to easily go into a territory carrying a shotgun and field glasses and nobody would be given it a second thought.
I was a bit unsettling to learn how many birds where killed for the purpose of studying them and museum displays but I should have realized that was the way it was done.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book about the history behind the story. James Bond ornithologist has a rich and interesting life separate from any association with the fictional character James Bond. And this book is great insight into the drama and adventure of real life.

I received this book from Netgalley for review and all thoughts and opinions are my own.
To the uninformed, there is but one James Bond, a man of mystery and intrigue. In this well illustrated and uniquely written book we encounter the real James Bond. James and his wife Mary met Ian Fleming in the Caribbean. An orinthologist, James was becoming well known for his specimens of bird species from the area. Lifted to a different kind of fame was not his intent, as this book will outline. Was he a real spy? That is debatable and unlikely. However, this book is well researched and outlines the lives of many WWII era orinthologist experts who were. With photos, ephemera, book covers, stamps, the book is a fascinating account of an encounter between two men and the making of a legend.

This is a book about the Ornithologist Jim "James" Bond. Ian Fleming--author of the James Bond spy novels--used his name as the name of his fictional spy, mostly because while he was trying to come up with a name for his spy during the authoring of his first novel, he glanced at his bookshelf where he had Jim Bond's "Birds of the West Indies" and liked the sound of Jim's name. The book goes into great detail about Jim Bond, his one and only meeting with Ian Fleming, his history as a bird expert, his wife (who wrote several books about her husband and the effect that his connection with the 007 story had on their lives) and the strange coincidence between spies and birdwatchers. For anyone who is super-obsessed with the James Bond franchise, this is an extremely enjoyable adjunct to the spy novels and films.

It seems that the ‘real’ James Bond, an American ornithologist who wrote Birds of the West Indies, never really enjoyed having his name commandeered by Ian Fleming for his wildly popular spy novels. It’s easy to understand really. The jokes must have been relentless from friends and family as much as the wider media and even his wife seemed determined to capitalise with books of her own titled How 007 Got His Name and To James Bond With Love. For what amounts to a fairly tenuous connection it all seems like quite a lot of bother.

Wisely, given that, Jim Wright has kept his biography quite brief and as a result it makes for an entertaining read combining the story of the real life Bond and his notable career in that field with the crossover to Fleming’s fiction and the real secret services, which recruited surprisingly strongly from the ranks of ornithology. At times the author is a little too keen to pin a crime of theft to Fleming for appropriating a name he found on his bookshelf and adding it to his story that at that time he didn’t even know would be published, but once you look beyond that Bond’s work and that of his peers is an interesting insight into scientific discovery.

It is sad that so much of the progress of human knowledge appears to involve killing other creatures and cutting them open, but Bond himself, despite carrying a shotgun on his travels, happily preferred to analyse his subjects in situ. The skills of the bird collector, adaptable to circumstances, familiar with different languages, handy with a weapon and holding the perfect excuse for travelling with surveillance gear, led to many of his peers actually becoming spies, but disappointingly there is no evidence that Bond did the same.

That said, there are enough exotic adventures in Bond’s work, his meeting and interactions with Ian Fleming and the activities of his peers to sustain the book and it is an interesting insight into the development of the James Bond character and the field of ornithology at a time when the thirst for scientific knowledge was unquenchable.

I received this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I really enjoyed this true story about the real James Bond, ornithologist, from whom Ian Fleming stole his name. It was really interesting to hear about the real James Bond's adventures searching for birds. I loved the story where he "stole" his own gun into the wilds. I also liked the story about when Ian met James in the Caribbean.

For fans of James Bond, this book is an ideal gift — an exploration of the man behind the character. I appreciated the detail offered in this book.