11 EXPLORATIONS INTO LIFE ON EARTH: Christmas Lectures

The founder of the Christmas Lectures from the Royal Institution, the influential British scientist Michael Faraday might have been surprised not only by the topics covered, but to know that the Lectures he began continue today and reach so many people worldwide and online. The first book in the series covered the solar system. This volume sets off to explore the living wonders of our own planet and has an introduction by Richard Attenborough. A succession of eminent speakers has filled the Lecture Theatre with a teeming array of furry animals, luxuriant plants, squawking birds, crawling insects and many more besides as they unlock the greatest secrets of life on Earth. The book begins in the early 20th century when studies of the living world were gradually shifting away from a descriptive discipline preoccupied mainly with finding and naming species, towards the modern science of ecology, and how creatures interact with each other and their environment, forming an intricate web of life. Each Lecture consisted of between three and six hour long talks and the aim of the book is to give a flavour of the most exciting discoveries and ideas discussed. They include The Childhood of Animals by Sir Peter Chalmers Mitchell 1911, Concerning the Habits of Insects by Francis Balfour-Browne 1924, Rare Animals and the Disappearance of Wild Life by Sir Julian Huxley 1937, How Animals Move Sir James Grey 1951, Animal Behaviour Desmond Morris 1964, The Languages of Animals David Attenborough 1973, Growing Up In the Universe Richard Dawkins 1991, To the End of the Earth: Surviving Antarctic Extremes Lloyd Peck 2004 and The 300 Million Year War by Sue Hartley 2009. With many pictures such as Attenborough introducing to the audience Tammy, a ring-tailed lemur, and a cave drawing of a wild horse. A companion to 92050 10 Voyages Through the Human Mind. 214pp with gilt edged pages.