Overview

Richard Fortey recounts how a restless childhood fascination with the living world became a career in science and writing. He recalls experiments in a garden shed, early interests in fungi and ammonites, and countless fossil hunts that shaped his curiosity.

From riverside afternoons to tents on Arctic expeditions, the narrative mixes practical fieldwork with warm, observational memory of post‑war Britain. Fortey also touches on personal loss and how nature offered both solace and inspiration.

Readable and richly detailed, the memoir reveals the habits of mind, luck and persistence behind a life in natural history.

• Origins of scientific curiosity
• Fossils, ammonites and Arctic fieldwork
• Natural history writing with wit and warmth

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