A Curious Boy
- Author Richard Fortey
- Narrator Mike Grady
- Publisher HarperCollins Publishers
- Publish Date 18 February 2021
- Run Time 10 hours and 27 minutes
- Format x-book®
- Genre Biography: science, technology and medicine, Memoirs.
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What to expect
'Truth and courage are what memoirs need and this one has them both in spades … The unforgotten boy: that is what makes this a book a revelation'
ADAM NICOLSON
‘Wonderful, absolutely beguiling … I learnt a lot and really loved it’
RICHARD HOLMES
‘Gloriously evocative’
DAILY MAIL
What makes a scientist?
Charming, funny and wise, in this memoir Richard Fortey shows how restless curiosity about the natural world led him to become a leading scientist and writer, with adventures and misadventures along the way.
From a garden shed laboratory where he manufactured the greatest stink in the world to a tent high in the Arctic in pursuit of fossils, this is a story of obsession and love of nature, flavoured with the peculiarities and restrictions of post-war Britain. Fortey tells the story of following his father down riverbanks to fish for trout, and also of his father's shocking death. He unfolds his early passions – fungi, ammonite hunting and eyeing up bird's eggs. He evokes with warmth and wit how the natural world started out as his playground and refuge, then became his life's work.
Much more than a story about science alone, this memoir gives an unforgettable portrait of a young, curious mind, and shows how luck and enthusiasm can create a special life.
Critics Review
'Truth and courage are what memoirs need and this one has them both in spades u2026 He never forgets that the small boy, watching his fatheru2019s effortless casting on the waters of the Itchen, somehow remains permanently present inside the great, famous and lauded scientist. The unforgotten boy: that is what makes this a book a revelation'
Adam Nicolson, winner of the 2018 Wainwright Prize
u2018A wonderful, absolutely beguiling glimpse into the formative life of a great scientist. I learnt a lot and really loved itu2019
Richard Holmes
u2018Wonderfully lyrical u2026 funny and entertaining u2026 I would also suggest that the real revelation is something other than the way these multiple childhood paths converge u2026 [but rather] his ability to see and interpret the complexities of the living world, as if from a great height, and then to compress all the technical material into a scientifically accurate form that is also full of poetry and music u2026 The most compelling insight of the book: the way in which its author has striven to fuse and harmonise, often against career typecasting, professional constraint and simple circumstances, to become the whole person he wished to be u2026 Both the book and the life it recounts amount to a singular triumphu2019
Mark Cocker, Guardian
u2018A gloriously evocative account of the childhood that created the scientistu2019
Daily Mail
u2018[A] wonderful, wry memoiru2019
BBC Wildlife
u2018[Forteyu2019s] booku2019s punning title distils both its irresistible charm and a deep truth about scienceu2019
Nature
u2018Disarming and enjoyable u2026there is depth and beauty to his writing and its cadence is bewitching; I read A Curious Boy in a single dayu2026and enjoyed it so much that I immediately went ahead and bought five of his previous books after finishing itu2019
The Inquisitive Biologist
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