The Trials of Life, a Natural History of Animal Behavior
Price: $250.00
Hard Cover. London: BBC Books, 1990. First Edition. About Fine / Dust Jacket Included.
First edition, first printing. Signed by Attenborough in blue ink on half-title page. Publisher's red cloth, with spine stamped in gilt; in its original pictorial dust jacket, with a photo of a killer whale stalking sea-lion cubs to front panel, lettered in red and white. About fine book, with a trace of white paint to bottom edges of boards; near fine unclipped dust jacket, with wear to head of spine, red lettering on spine faded to white, sunning to panel edges adjacent to spine, very light creasing to bottom edge of front panel, and lightly nicked corners. Overall, an attractive copy with clean, crisp pages. The Trials of Life is the third book in David Attenborough's foundational Life trilogy, published alongside his BBC nature documentary series of the same name. From the dust jacket flap, "In each [chapter], Sir David shows with dramatic and often moving examples how from birth to death all animals have to solve a particular set of problems if they are to survive and eventually pass their genes to the next generation." The book's twelve chapters are: "Arriving," "Growing Up," "Finding Food," "Hunting and Escaping," "Finding the Way," "Home-making," "Living Together," "Fighting," "Friends and Rivals," "Talking to Strangers," "Courting," and "Continuing the Line." Sir David Attenborough (1926- ) is a legendary English broadcaster who pioneered wildlife filming for television and whose professional association with the BBC spanned 70 years. His first foray into nature documenting was with Zoo Quest (1954-63), which he wrote and narrated. He went on to write and narrate the ambitious 9-part Life nature documentary series (1979-2008), and narrated other massively popular nature documentaries like The Blue Planet (2001) and Planet Earth (2006). As a senior manager at BBC Two, he introduced color programming to Britain in 1967, and brought some iconic programs to the BBC, including Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969-74). Later in life, Attenborough shifted his attention from documenting nature to shedding light on the existential dangers that face our planet. Universally beloved for his soothing voice and contagious curiosity, Attenborough is considered by many to be the UK's greatest living national treasure. Item #DAT002
