It's hard to imagine having seen so many changes as Sir David Attenborough has. It really is time we started listening to those who have seen and experienced those changes - before it's too late - and "A Life on Our Planet" is a very good place to start. It is a gentle warning of the decline of our planet, our only home, and offers glimmers of hope. It really puts our future into perspective. Do we have one? It's up to us.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

Having grown up with David Attenborough’s work, you know that he knows what he is talking about.and he writes how he speaks, direct and to the point. It’s frightening how Homo sapiens are destroying this wonderful world of ours, and doing it so quickly. I found this book fascinating, educational and thought provoking. It is a book that should be read by everyone. It’s a must read for all.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book

A thought provoking look at what we are doing to the world written by the legend, a man who over his decades has watched us affect the planet and watched us bring the planet to the brink, but there is still some time and some hope of we make big changes , it’s a beautifully written and well thought out book and should be read by everyone

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

This is a fascinating and thought provoking read. The decimation of our planet is horrific. This book tells of the decimation and what could happen if we keep going the way we are now. There are some ideas about how to help the earth. These need to be discussed and implemented in a global scale. People need to realise that change has to start now.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Thank you to Netgalley, Random House and Sir David Attenborough for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“We humans, alone on Earth, are powerful enough to create worlds, and then to destroy them.”
This is part memoir, part dire warning about the decline of our planet's wild places, its biodiversity and what we must do to help put it right. A relatively short book, but it is possibly the book we must all read especially world leaders and decision makers. Part one is a run through of what has gone wrong over the past 70 odd years. Part two was a short but depressing, almost dystopian, 'what-if' we don't change anything now. And part three discusses possible ways of reversing the decline. Some of the scientific solutions he proposes need further development, but a lot of the technology already exists. The main problem is convincing people that they need to change, and to change quickly.

I don’t think anyone other than Sir David Attenborough could have written this book and made it so powerful and enlightening. His voice, (yes you do hear him speaking as you read) makes everything interesting in this, a book full of statistics and scientifically described information. He manages to hold your attention and get his stark message in an easily understandable way, that very few others could manage.

A Life in our Planet is extremely well written and presented in a way that clearly outlines what is happening and why it is so catastrophic. To sum it up, it is a fascinating, emotive, rewarding, shocking, thought provoking and informative read, that is far more terrifying a read than any horror story I have read.

This feels like Sir David giving us all a final chance to listen and act.
What can I say, he is a national treasure and while reading I could hear his voice narrating.
This was an easy book to read in that it was well written and flowed as easily as listening to him directly. However the content is hard to read and I was genuinely moved by the plight of our planet.
It was written fairly, there is no direct blame to anyone - more an explanation that what has occurred has been as a result of general human culture which has evolved over centuries (although industrialisation has speeded up the problem considerably).
It ends positively in that it lays out what we can do to save ourselves as long as we act immediately and it is a global effort.
If you have watched the Netflix movie of the same name, this book is effectively the narration of that movie. I rated this 5⭐️ and I urge everyone to read this book (or watch the Netflix movie). It is imperative that this message gets through and we all make a personal effort to save humanity and the Earth - as Sir David points out the planet will recover once humans are extinct (which is where we are heading) but ideally we need to work with nature urgently to avoid that outcome.

Just fabulous. Attenborough has not lost his way with words - he writes like a dream. Part of the book is a love letter to the natural world but the other part is an obituary to what has been lost through man's dominance. The weaving of the author's personal story with that of mankind and the planet is amazing and wonderful.
It had the effect of taking my breath away both with the deceptively conversational style and the magnitude of the subject matter.

This should be a must read for everyone. It is a replica of the Netflix show from David Attenborough and captures the concerns of a man who knows what he’s talking about when it comes to the natural world.

I am hopeful of a version that younger children can absorb but wish this could be part of high school curriculum.

David Attenborough is a legend and this doesn’t disappoint, a scary, truthful and hopeful account of his time travelling the world and seeing the effects man has had on nature.

What can I say? For the first half, so horrifying, but by the end so inspirational. David Attenborough writes in an accessible, straightforward style, not too long and not too heavy, pulling no punches about what mankind has done to the planet, yet acknowledging that we are only doing what comes naturally to us - dominating other species and our surroundings. What we must do is overcome our greed and arrogance, and by saving the world around us, save ourselves. We don’t have to go back to the Stone Age to do this, but should use our intelligence and expertise to find solutions to fulfilling our needs equitably and the will to put them into practice. Much of the research already being done with this end in mind was news to me and I’m so happy there are people out there doing it. I found the information on demographics especially interesting. Required reading for all.

A Life on Our Planet by David Attenborough should be required reading for every person on the planet. David Attenborough, at 94 and with 7 decades of practical experience of the natural world, is the perfect person to encourage the entire world to join together to rethink our stewardship of the earth and preserve it's resources for future generations.

His book outlines how the world has changed each decade since his birth. It gives a clear overview of what mankind had done which has negatively affected the planet. He gives hard hitting facts and includes many anecdotes about what countries, groups and individuals are doing to reverse these problems. There are many inspiring stories including how New Zealand is the first nation to formally drop gross domestic product (GDP) as its main measure of economic success. It is now including other factors such as the wellbeing of the people and the land as their measure of success.

There are many specialist terms but they are very clearly explained in the text. There is also a very helpful and comprehensive glossary at the back of these terms. The notes section could become a series of topics to study and discuss in their own right as they address the many facts in the book and have links to where you can learn more.

I started to make notes of paragraphs and sections that were especially meaningful and of interest to me but soon it felt like I was highlighting the entire book. Everyone should read this book. I shall be reading it again for sure.

With thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK, Ebury Publishing for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

There is no denying it, Sir David Attenborough is a multi-talented national treasure.

A Life on Our Planet is part memoir part dire warning about the cliff edge we stand on as humanity in the way we interact with and change the natural world.

Attenborough’s voice, so recognisable, is clear as you read. He delivers the stark message in an easily understandable way and delivers a manifesto of how we can work together and support the natural world so it begins to flourish again.

A must read.

Sir David Attenborough is one of the most widely known natural historian’s in the world so who better to deliver this dire warning about the impact we are having on this planet and the creatures living on it.
A Life on our Planet: My Witness Statement and Vision for the Future is far more terrifying a read than any horror. Attenborough is well into his 90’s and by his own admission has seen some wonderful sights but he has also lived to see natural habitats destroyed and an alarming number of species become extinct.
“We humans, alone on Earth, are powerful enough to create worlds, and then to destroy them.”
The thing that impressed me most about A Life on our Planet is that Attenborough manages to walk the fine line between shocking us into realising the damaging consequences of our behaviour whilst also offering suggestions for how we can try to undo some of the damage we have caused.
“Many have called Chernobyl the most costly environmental catastrophe in history.
Sadly, this isn’t true. Something else has been unfolding, everywhere, across the globe, barely noticeable from day to day for much of the last century. This too is happening as a result of bad planning and human error. Not one hapless accident, but a damaging lack of care and understanding that affects everything we do…it could ultimately lead to the destabilisation and collapse of everything we rely upon.
This is the true tragedy of our time: the spiralling decline of our planet’s biodiversity.”
A Life in our Planet is well written and presented in a way that clearly outlines what is happening and why it is so catastrophic. It is set into clearly outlined sections and each one adds up to a fascinating and informative read.

I thought that the first half of this book was an excellent run through of what has gone wrong over the past 70 years. The next part was a quick but depressing, almost dystopian, 'what-if' we don't change anything now. And the final part was Part One reversals. And only 67% was actual book - the rest was glossary, notes and index. So not much real reading in a 270 page book. I agree that David Attenborough has lived an extraordinary life and this book should be on every school curriculum as compulsory reading. With thans to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review and ARC of this title.

Legendary naturalist presenter, David Attenborough, looks back on his 93 years on this planet. In his lifetime, the loss of biodiversity, the effects of climate change and pollution, and the exponential rise in the human population, have brought us to a precipice.

Attenborough’s voice is so familiar, so comfortable, it is easy to imagine him speaking as we read his words. Skilled in putting across complex ideas in an engaging, accessible style, his message is clear: we can do better. Despite his warnings, he leaves us with a message of hope in his vision for the future.

If this book convinces just one doubter of the importance of conservation and of the existence of anthropogenic climate change, then it will have done a good job. I suspect it will reach rather more than just the one.

Comes with a glossary and references.

My thanks to Netgalley and Random House, Ebury Publishing for the ARC.

“Our blind assault on the planet has finally come to alter the very fundamentals of the living world,”

This is a thought provoking book written by David Attenborough at the grand age of 94 and looks back at the decline of our planet's wild places, its biodiversity and what we can do to help put it right.

I think this book should be on every school curriculum and a must read for everyone who cares about the world that we live in.

Everybody should read this book, especially world leaders and decision makers. David Attenborough presents a reasoned discussion of the problems affecting our planet, with suggestions on how to fix things for future generations. Some of the scientific solutions need further development but a lot of the technology alrady exists. The main factor missing is the will-power of people.

This is only a short book but it is very powerful and must be read.

This illuminating book gives us some perspective of when and how we humans began to destroy our planet, an account of the changes during David Attenborough's lifetime, and some detail about where we are now, where we are going if radical change does not happen, and what we must do to reverse the damage.

I've read a lot about environmental issues and thought I was quite well-informed, but I learned so much in this concise, beautifully-written, easy-to-understand book. At the same time it is uplifting and deeply troubling. It was encouraging to read that there are so many projects around the world that are making a real difference, but it's the fact that all governments, and indeed all individuals, must act and act right now that is worrying.

David Attenborough is the most eloquent spokesperson for our planet and this book was a joy to read. It should be required reading for everybody, especially parents and teachers whose responsibility is to educate their children/students to enable them to insist on a clean, healthy and fair world.

A Life on Our Planet sets out David Attenborough's witness statement for the world as it is and a vision for the future. Who better to give this vision than a man who has travelled the world and brought the biodiversity of our amazing planet into our homes.

As a species we have taken far more from the planet than we have given back, and this way of living is unsustainable. We have ripped down rainforests, polluted the seas, overfished and overfarmed. We consume fossil fuels that have raised carbon emissions and all of this combined is having a devastating effect planet wide. But there is hope. Collectively we can call on our leaders to direct humankind in a different direction. One where we rewild the land, let the oceans rest to replenish marine life, and move away from dirty fuel to clean renewables. Recycling waste, encouraging innovation to remove plastics from the seas and living in a gentler, fairer way is the only way to halt the damage we have inflicted.

Written in an easily understood and accessible way, this is a wonderful read that whilst cautious, is certainly hopeful that together we can change for the better.

I honestly believe this book should be added to school curriculum.

The start of the book shows how the world changed throughout David's life. It also ties in a mini autobiography style read, not greatly detailed, but it tells tales of how who became who he is now, and it littered with his great sense of humour along side showing how much the world had changed, and why it had changed. (hint its because of mankind).

Next it covers what could happen if we don’t make changes - which is horrifying, and follows with what changes he thinks we can make.

It has certainly encouraged me to look at my lifestyle and see hat changes I can make.

This is a book that should be mandatory to read. Everyone on the planet should take a look at it. Attenborough is such a loved character worldwide that I hope people would notice, stop what they are doing, take in the information, and let it sink in. This short book is not preachy, but to the point.

Sir David goes back to the days when he was a boy, before the Second World War, and tells short stories from those days, followed by other decades up to 2020, telling the reader how our planet has changed due to human impact. There are many interesting examples of what has happened, how we’ve had a negative impact on the planet, but also several inspiring stories, like the mountain Gorillas and the Maasai conservancies in Kenya.

To be honest, I have lost hope in humans a long time ago, but David and his book gives me some hope. The good thing is that people actually listen to him. I’m not sure the right people listen though, but I hope world leaders and industry hot shots will listen and learn. I hugely admire the steps New Zealand has taken, and I’m happy to see David has pointed it out.

For once it’s extremely hard to pinpoint my favourite things about this book. There are too many to mention. This compact and wonderful book will hopefully have a long shelf life, and function as an educational read and reference book. Highly recommended!