Living Planet: A new, fully updated edition of David Attenborough’s seminal portrait of life on Earth

Product Information

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. 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 The main focus of the book is to closely inspect the changes that are happening on our planet on a constant basis - the physical changes like mountains getting worn down by rivers and glaciers, rivers altering their courses, Lakes getting filled up with sediments converting them to marsh lands and even plain lands, continental drifts etc – and study how the animal and plant life respond to these changes. This is a series that will change the way we see our home. We will witness time and again how the lives of animals are driven and enabled by our planet’s great natural forces. The Living Planet: A Portrait of the Earth is a BBC nature documentary series written and presented by David Attenborough, first transmitted in the UK from 19 January 1984.

A new, fully updated narrative edition of David Attenborough's seminal biography of our world, The Living Planet. Planet Earth II was about connecting the viewer intimately with the animals, to be alongside them, experiencing their triumphs and their struggles.

Like much of Attenborough/BBC's other work, each episode doesn't feel like an episodic stringing of scenes, but instead like the best nature documentaries each feels like their own story and journey, with real, complex emotions and conflicts.

He was Controller of BBC2 (1965-68), during which time he introduced colour television to Britain, then Director of Programmes for the BBC (1969-1972). However, in 1973 he abandoned administration altogether to return to documentary-making and writing, and has established himself as the world's leading Natural History programme maker with several landmark BBC series, including Life on Earth (1979), The Living Planet (1984), The Trials of Life (1990), The Private Life of Plants (1995), The Life of Birds (1998), The Blue Planet (2001), The Life of Mammals (2002), Planet Earth (2006) and Life in Cold Blood (2008). We’re also focussed on protecting the natural world around us. Currently, we’re aligning to a framework set out by the Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) which guides organisations in reporting on the risks from biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation. As part of the project, the BBC is investigating its own operational impact on the environment and we have conducted an initial biodiversity footprint study, in conjunction with a specialist team from the University of Oxford. In an interview on the making of the series, Attenborough was self-effacing concerning his own contribution: With this urgent and ambitious global action in both conservation and the food and agriculture system, it may still be possible to put nature on a path to recovery by 2030. Bob Fosse: Steam Heat ( Great Performances) / Broadway's Dreamers: The Legacy of the Group Theatre ( American Masters) (1990)This is a revised and updated edition of the book published in 1984 which was a companion piece to a documentary Attenborough did of the same name. Despite the fact that January is “Attenborough month” on Australia’s subscription cable/satellite TV and the fact that various other documentaries from Attenborough appear on various other platforms, I can’t find this one to watch which is a bit disappointing! I would’ve been really nice to watch it and absorb this information in a visual way, because there is a lot of information in this book. Written by ‘ David Attenborough’, ‘ The Living Planet: A Portrait of the Earth’, is the companion volume to his incredibly successful BBC nature documentary series from 1984, which portrays the diverse history of life on our planet in staggering detail. This documentary series and the book is a follow up to his own much acclaimed series ‘ Life on Earth’ from 1979 - which investigated the story of evolution - and carries on with his in-depth study in to the intricate and amazing ways in which animal life – and often human beings - adapts to their surroundings. This is a great way to get acquainted with the various habitats and the life that surround them on our planet. Broadcast 26 January 1984, this programme describes the inhospitable habitats of snow and ice. Mount Rainier in America is an example of such a place: there is no vegetation, therefore no herbivores and thus no carnivores. However, beneath its frosty surface, algae grow and some insects, such as ladybirds visit the slopes. Africa's mountains are permanently snow-covered, and beneath peaks such as Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya, there are unique communities of plants and animals. However, they endure extremes of temperature within 24 hours like no other. At night they are in danger of freezing solid, and during the day they may be robbed of moisture. Giant Senecioss and Lobelias combat this by (among other adaptations) insulating their growing points or stems with an dense layers of leaves or producing pectin-filled water reservoirs. The Andes run the length of South America and are surrounded by the altiplano. On these high plains there is a large and varied population of animals. Antarctica is bigger than the whole of Europe and is for the most part devoid of life. However, its shores and waters are fertile and are home to fur seals, their main food ( krill), and several species of penguin. By contrast, because of its connection to more temperate regions, the Arctic has been colonised by a large variety of species. They include Arctic foxes, polar bears, lemmings, snowy owls, and the region's most powerful hunter, the Inuit. It is also a temporary home to migratory animals, such as the caribou and snow goose. It’s just so interesting. I really enjoy stuff like geography and the natural world so learning about stuff like this is fascinating to me. I really liked the way the sections were broken down as well, focusing on each “type” of environment as a whole – not even region specific, there are areas with the same or very similar environmental parameters and factors that stretch across the globe and many of those different locations have species that are very similar, sometimes the only real difference being the name they’re known by. In other places, plants and animals have evolved very specifically to suit their exact location, this seems especially true when that location is isolated, such as islands in the middle of the Indian or Pacific Oceans. An example is species of birds on some of these islands who, because of their remoteness, face no predators and so over the years, have lost their ability to fly simply because they do not need to anymore. The island provides everything they need to thrive and they have no need to leave it, nor any threats to fly away from. An LP of Elizabeth Parker's score for the series, entitled The Living Planet - Music from the BBC TV Series was released in 1984. It was reissued by Silva Screen on 12 August 2016. [3] Miles Kington [ edit ]

This has always been something we have had to grapple with - to connect the viewer to the places and the animals we film in a way that cannot fail to create affinity and empathy, while at the same time exploring the harder truths in a way that does not make people want to turn away, or leave them feeling helpless. I think audiences now, more than ever, want to know the truth, they want to understand it, and they look to us for answers. We hold a great responsibility as filmmakers to create that spark of deep passion for our natural world, and to bear witness to the challenges that it now faces. The natural world has changed more over the past few decades than ever previously observed in our human history. This change has been felt across every ecosystem and by the countless creatures that we share this planet with [Source: Natural History Museum] 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. Nearly two decades since the original series of Planet Earth aired on BBC One, we see how science and technology has advanced, but also how our planet has changed. We’ve reached a critical point in our planet’s history and the natural world has changed more over the past few decades than ever previously observed in our human history. These changes have been felt across every ecosystem and by the countless creatures that we share this planet with.*This natural history masterpiece offers a spectacular snapshot of a once-wild planet’ New Scientist