Here is reportage by a first-rate reporter. Conversely, whoever enjoys witty English usage and a good yarn will like Watching. But seekers of celebrity smut will be disappointed. The book offers revealing anecdotes, some bordering on the naughty. He also mixed with his idol, the painter Joan Miró, Yoko Ono, Dylan Thomas, Marlon Brando, Stanley Kubrick, and Morris’s protégé, Congo, the painting chimpanzee, whose works were sold at high prices to the disgust of the art establishment. Let’s forgive him his coy name-dropping, like his youthful canoodling with 1950s sex bomb Diana Dors or moments with actress–animal activist Brigitte Bardot. watching.ĭesmond Morris is also a respected painter and an expert on ancient artifacts. His work has taken him to more than 90 countries in nearly six decades of passionate. He was a curator at the fabulous London Zoo.

He has produced a staggeringly huge variety of books and papers, plus decades of TV broadcasts, lectures, and documentaries. The central theme of his life is observation. As a compulsive student, writer, traveler, and explainer, he is to ethology-the study of animal behavior-what Carl Sagan was to astronomy. Watching may be a rehash, but Morris had very nifty hash to begin with. From page 320 onward, the new book follows The Naked Eye (2000), which described his subsequent life and adventures. Made rich and famous, Morris was able thereafter to travel the world, doing whatever he wanted.

Animal Days (1979) traced Morris’s life from childhood through the pivotal event of his life, the 1967 publication of The Naked Ape, the first widely read study of Homo sapiens from the viewpoint of a zoologist. Watching: Encounters With Humans and Other Animals (MAX, $35) is a revision of two earlier autobiographies, now out of print. Now Morris has written, or actually rewritten, the story of his remarkable career as a naturalist. Between 19, he hosted a weekly show called Zootime, presented on live TV with live animals. One of the greatest-as beloved as Steve Irwin, Jane Goodall, and David Attenborough-is Desmond Morris. We who cannot distinguish a womb from a wombat or a hedgehog from a hedge fund turn for guidance to naturalists with TV programs.

The Naked Ape by Desmond Morris