This note does not contain major spoilers for the book.

I first discovered Gerald Durrell sometime around 1966, I think, when I ran across My Family And Other Animals in either the SS. France shipboard library, or maybe the English book collection of our landlady in Zurich. I see I haven't reread any of them since I started keeping this log, though.

Pamela gave me this "new" one that I haven't read before for Christmas.

This may be his last book; it's at least the latest I've found. His brother dies, far away, during it; and Gerald himself is dealing with having replaced hip joints.

It's perhaps a bit perfunctory; it's at least very short. The expedition is a big success, he loves the animals as much as ever, he meets the strangest people as always, so it's a nice book. Even if he does continue to be depressed about what we're doing to the planet. Primitive people make a lot of short-term decisions.