One of many books that I recently acquired for the purposes of sharing it with others. This came from an early morning excursion to The Book Thing of Baltimore for the upcoming book festivals.

This book is one of many being passed along to potential readers at the 2023 Kensington Day of the Book Festival by members of BookCrossing in Washington DC (BCinDC).

Any future reader or recipient of this book is encouraged to leave a journal entry here on the BookCrossing site to let prior readers know the fate of the book. You can make an anonymous entry without joining the BookCrossing movement, but if you are interested in joining, it is a free and spam-free community where your contact information is not shared with others. Best of all, members receive private messages via e-mail from books like this one when those books are journaled, allowing for long-term relationships between books and readers.

I picked this book from the BCinDC sponsored book table at the Kensington Md Book Festival this weekend. This Gerald Durrell book is about his experiences with the animals of South America. I chose this book for the 6 books from 6 continents/6 countries from each continent BC book challenge. This book is set in Argentina.

This book was 1st released in 1961, about Gerry Durrell's expedition to Patagonia and other regions of Argentina to film and collect animals from the region for documentation, research and preservation. Since 1961 collection techniques and laws domestic and international for transporting flora/fauna etc. have changed considerably but this is still a book worth reading for the sheer poetry of Durrell's writing.

Durrell's descriptions of the flora, fauna, are vivid, and gorgeous. His descriptions and observations of the human species and human folly on this zoological expedition are just as keen as re: flora & fauna and many times hilarious. It's clear that Durrell has a great capacity to enjoy beings both animal and human which he observes with the same scientific, compassionate and artistic eye.

His description of the landscape, sunrises and sunsets are sheer poetry. He paints clear pictures with words. Lovely pen & ink illustrations throughout the book are by Ralph Thompson.

Gerald Durrell is the brother of author Lawrence Durrell. The BBC Masterpiece TV series "The Durrell's of Corfu" is defintely worth watching giving a vivid portrayal of the boy Gerry who became the man.

Gerald Durrell was the founder of the Durrell Wildlife Preservation Trust. https://www.durrell.org/

Giving this book back to 6of8 the original journaler who is also doing the 666 Around the World Reading Challenge. This book is set in Argentina.

To the person who finds this book.....
Keep it or release it, read it or not, but please make a journal entry to let me know it's been found. Keep it, pass it on to a friend or release it into the wild.... let the journey continue.....

If you are new to BookCrossing, welcome! You can remain anonymous or join BookCrossing, it's free, spam free and advertisement free and loads of fun.

By joining BookCrossing you can keep track of where the book has been and where it's going.

Got this book back from Zippy today for my 666 reading and to pass along to meganh at the Uncon in New Zealand.

Gerald Durrell's tales of traveling the globe acquiring specimens for zoos and starting his own zoo in the Channel Islands are dated. But they are still fascinating. This was a man who deeply cared about and understood animals in a time where that was an unusual attitude. This book features some of his experiences in Argentina collecting for his zoo, working with people who did not speak his language and he didn't really speak theirs. For many of the poorer people in Argentina after the era of Peronism, knowledge of local native animals was limited and considered crazy. But he got the chance to go out into the literal wilderness, to study and film and even collect some species. And he became close friends with an incredible array of strangers.

Some of his views are outdated. I read this on a plane and had to shake my head at him smoking on his flight and helping remove horses grazing on the runways. I did not appreciate his attitude toward plus size people especially women. But I have to commend his ability and willingness to see the indigenous and poor people as being his equals and his deep reverence for their history. Not a bad read for an early morning flight.

Taking the opportunity to share this book while attending the Waiheke Island Uncon. Brought thus for Meganh and the 666 Challenge

Any future reader or recipient of this book is encouraged to leave a journal entry here on the BookCrossing site to let prior readers know the fate of the book. You can make an anonymous entry without joining the BookCrossing movement, but if you are interested in joining, it is a free and spam-free community where your contact information is not shared with others. Best of all, members receive private messages via e-mail from books like this one when those books are journaled, allowing for long-term relationships between books and readers.

Thank you for this 666 reading challenge book. So lovely to see you again, 5 years after Bordeaux!

Found this in my bag, unpacking after the NZ uncon. Will pass back to meganh at tomorrow's Melbourne CBD meetup. Thanks 6of8 for bringing all the way on your travels