A Curious Boy

A Curious Boy
Richard Fortey
Our Price:
NZ$ 55.00
Hardback
h240 x 159mm - 320pg
31 May 2021 UK
International import eta 7-19 days
9780008323967
Out Of Stock
Currently no stock in-store, stock is sourced to your order
What makes a scientist? In a charming memoir, beloved and brilliant scientist Richard Fortey offers a tour of the natural world in all its joys, puzzles and curiosities. In this memoir, Richard Fortey - a palaeontologist and natural historian - tells the story of how as a young boy he became fascinated with the natural world, leading to a long life exploring its secrets. He leads a journey through botany and birds, fossils and fungi, using a different object to lead each chapter. A great brown trout caught by his father opens up the world of fish, streams and rivers. A blue thrush' s egg takes us out tramping through water meadows and into the social world of birds and trees. Richard takes us back to his past as a small boy who was allowed a little shed at the bottom of the garden in which to play chemist, and where, with the guidance of the encyclopaedia, he made the likes of potassium cyanide from horse hoof clippings, and then the ' smelliest substance' - a chemical that when taken outside the shed' s confines brought mayhem to his school, and the Central Line. Educational and inspiring, this is a charming memoir of a life in the thrall of science and the wonders of the natural world.
Praise for Richard Fortey' Marvellous . . . Fortey' s prose is a joy . . . his sharp eye and ceaselessly inquiring mind are an inspiration' Daily Mail' His remarkable scientific knowledge, intense curiosity and love of nature mean entries erupt with the same richness and variety as the woods they describe . . . Fortey' s enthusiasm for his new wonderland is infectious and illuminating . . . . deep and interesting' Guardian' Fortey' s forte is that he gets down and dirty in this diary of his beech wood. If you go down to the woods today, take Fortey with you' John Lewis-Stempel, Books of the Year, The Times' Read this book because it is, indeed, the best natural history of the first four billion years of life on earth. ' John Gribbin, Sunday Times' Richard Fortey is a scientist. . . but his big, rich history of four billion years of evolution is written with an artist' s zest for life and language. Anyone who wants to understand how we came to be here on earth, 4,000,000,000 years after life began, should read this sparkling book. ' Maggie Gee, Daily TelegraphThe tale of life needs constantly retelling. Thank some happy accident of history that we have Fortey to tell it to us anew. ' Ted Nield, New Scientist
Richard Fortey retired from his position as senior palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum in 2006. He is a well known TV presenter of nature series and the author of several bestselling books, including Fossils: A Key to the Past, The Hidden Landscape which won The Natural World Book of the Year in 1993, Life: An Unauthorised Biography, Trilobite!, The Earth: An Intimate History, Survivors and The Wood for the Trees. He has been elected to be President of the Geological Society of London for its bicentennial year of 2007, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society.
Status: Active
ISBN-13: 9780008323967
Published: 31 May 2021
Published In: United Kingdom
Imprint: William Collins
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Format: Hardback
Height: 240mm
Width: 159mm
Weight: 270g
Pages: 320

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