Myself and Other Animals

Pick it up: If you have read Gerald Durrell’s Corfu Trilogy, or any of his other works, this new collection that was published in 2024 (when Durrell would have been 100 years old), is a must-read. For readers who have not encountered Durrell before, may we earnestly recommend My Family and Other Animals first, after which we are sure you will want to get around to his other books including this one. 

Myself and Other Animals celebrates the centenary of the beloved conservationist and naturalist. Edited and introduced by Lee Durrell (his wife), this book draws on previously unpublished autobiographical pieces, and previously published extracts from Durrell's extensive archives. We read about his childhood in India, his family's move to England, their idyllic life in Corfu, his travels around the world collecting animals for his zoo, his clear views on conservation and the role that zoos can potentially play in helping save species from extinction; the exemplary work he did with his own zoo in Jersey and with the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust (they have helped save over a hundred species from the brink of extinction). Written with Durrell's characteristic dry wit and insightful observations of both humans and animals, this is an entertaining as well as an educating read. 

Was thrilled that the hilarious scorpion incident from My Family and Other Animals appears in this book, one can never get bored of this. And while his family were frequently shocked and bewildered by Gerry’s antics, they supported his passion. Larry was a father-figure and encouraged him to write; their mother Louisa was with him throughout, even helping settle the animals in when they set up the zoo in Jersey, she becomes a sort of temporary parent to an Emperor Tamarin; Margo said yes immediately when Gerry wanted to keep all of his animals in her backyard in Bournemouth until he could find a proper site for his zoo. This is a family you will always want to read more about.

Durrell’s extraordinary empathy for the natural world, especially animals, shaped his entire life. As a conservationist, he championed the cause of all animals - not just the big ticket ones but also the more obscure, unattractive species that he referred to as “the little brown jobs”. 

A remarkable life captured in his own remarkably lyrical prose.