Showing results by author "Gerald Durrell" in All Categories

This memoir is soaked in the sunshine of Corfu, where Gerald Durrell lived as a boy, surrounded by his eccentric family - as well as puppies, toads, scorpions, geckoes, ladybugs, glowworms, octopuses, bats, and butterflies.

The enchanted island of Corfu was home to Gerald Durrell and his family for five years before the Second World War. For the passionate young zoologist, Corfu was a natural paradise, teeming with strange birds and beasts that he could collect watch and care for. But life was not without its problems - Gerald’s family often objected to his animal-collecting activities, especially when the beasts wound up in the family’s villa or even worse - the fridge.

The book is an autobiographical account of five years in the childhood of naturalist Gerald Durrell. The book is divided into three sections, marking the three villas in which the family lived on the island. Apart from Gerald (the youngest) and Larry, the family comprised their widowed mother, the gun-mad Leslie, and diet-obsessed sister Margo together with Roger the dog.

The Durrell family returns to the island of Corfu, continuing the story begun in My Family and Other Animals. Already an ardent naturalist at the age of 10, the young Gerald lives in an unconventional and disordered household with his mother, sister, and two brothers. Convivial and open, the family plays host to a constant stream of quirky guests. But for Gerald, the main attraction is the wildlife of Corfu.

Beasts in My Belfry is the wonderfully funny memoir about Gerald Durrell's time at Whipsnade Zoo and his experiences as a young zookeeper. Following the Second World War, Durrell joined Whipsnade Zoo as a junior keeper - an opportunity that fulfilled a lifelong dream. Thanks to Rupert Degas's brilliant voicing, which captures all of Durrell's charm and wit, the listener can enjoy being taken behind the scenes of one of the world's very first zoos. This is a delightful portrait of the animals who lived there and those who looked after them. 

A Zoo in My Luggage is the colorful, first-hand account of Gerald Durrell's six-month animal-collecting trip in British Cameroon, and his attempts to create his own zoo. Motivated by a passion for wildlife, and a desire to save endangered species from extinction, Durrell assembles a glorious panoply of exotic animals - including a female baboon called Georgina, who later runs amok in a department store; a black-eared squirrel, who tries to bury nuts in his ear; and a gentlemanly chimpanzee named Chumly, who greets him with an outstretched hand. 

These five stories, written and read by Gerald Durrell himself, are taken from his books Birds, Beasts and Relatives and Fillets of Plaice. They were recorded on Jersey in 1985 and are used by kind permission of the Estate of Gerald Durrell.

Gerald Durrell's last book, The Aye-Aye and I, records his final animal-collecting expedition, a trip to Madagascar in 1990, and his efforts to save the elusive and mythical lemuroid known as the Aye-Aye. Prompted by the country's radical deforestation and slash-and-burn agriculture, Durrell, his wife, and their team of zoologists embark on a mission to capture and conserve the species - distinguished by its "giant, chisel-like teeth", "round, hypnotic eyes", and large "spoon-like ears".  

Following on from the events in A Zoo in My Luggage, The Whispering Land sees Gerald Durrell and his wife Jacquie travel to Argentina to collect animals for their newly established zoo. With rare insight and unique charm, Durrell pulls the listener into the tropical landscape of Patagonia, where he witnesses magical moments with penguins, seals and ocelots, and encounters a hilarious cast of characters, including a swearing parrot and a belching guanaco. 

Gerald Durrell természettudományos ismeretekben gazdag, humoros történetei kedves és kedélyes világot ábrázolnak, amelyben az állatok legalább olyan fontos szerephez jutnak, mint az emberek. E két története is emberi és állati csudabogarak nem mindennapi kalandjairól szól.

Hangoskönyvünk címadó történetében a Családom és egyéb állatfajtákból és a többi korfui emlékből megismert kedvesen bolond Durrell család gyermekei ezúttal elhatározzák, hogy férjhez adják a mamát! Neki azonban igencsak határozott elképzelései vannak az életről, és amikor gyermekei előállnak tervükkel, ő sem marad az események tétlen szemlélője. Másik történetünkben a szerző egy amerikai előadókörútjának élményeit osztja meg velünk. Szállásadónője ötórai teájára invitálja, ahol azonban furcsamód sok kólásüveg kerül elő.

Emmának és ikeröccseinek az a szerencséjük, hogy Gerry nagybácsikájuk kísértetiesen hasonlít Gerald Durrellre. Elég az hozzá, hogy Gerry bácsi a kertjükben landol Belladonna nevű léghajójával, és magával viszi a három gyereket, hogy felkutassák Gerry bátyját, aki két éve indult el afrikai tanulmányútra, de azóta nem adott hírt magáról. A keresésből aztán világ körüli utazás lesz. Gerald Durrell, a biológus szépíró rengeteg érdekes tudnivalót lop az izgalmas és humoros történetbe.

Gerry bácsi különös időutazásra hívja gyerek-barátait, 66 - 245 millió évvel ezelőttre, amikor a Földön még a hatalmas - és néha félelmetes - dinoszauruszok éltek. Azért vezeti Emmát, Konrádot és Ivánt ebbe a korba, mert a dinoszauruszokat komoly veszély fenyegeti: a 20. századból megérkezett hozzájuk Lord Irtó Artúr, a vandál vadász, és fegyverhordozója, a rovott múltú Betonkéz. Hőseink a dinoszauruszok segítségével szeretnék megfékezni őket, hogy nyugodt lelkiismerettel térhessenek vissza a jelenbe.