West with the Light: My Life in Nature

Brian Jackman, one of the world's most experienced naturalists, has written a new autobiography, West with the Light, which sweeps through his wartime evacuation, grammar school, Soho jazz clubs of the 50s, and the navy to a career in travel journalism. It provides a vivid portrayal of post-war travel and the rise of ecotourism, set against the background of the most turbulent decades the world has ever known. Jackman's recollections include lively first-hand encounters with pioneering wildlife conservationists, and travellers, wildlife enthusiasts, writers, and anyone with a love of adventure will adore this book.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 256 pages
Publication date: 05 August 2021
Publisher: Bradt Travel Guides

Don't send him to Torremolinos; it's not his kind of tundra. Such was the mantra of The Sunday Times when considering assignments for Brian Jackman, for whom deserts, rain forests, and mountain ranges have always been more enticing habitats. After decades spent traveling and writing about the places and wildlife that have inspired him, one of the world's most experienced naturalists has turned his focus onto the story of his inspirational life. This is no ordinary autobiography, he says.

West with the Light sweeps through Jackman's wartime evacuation, grammar school, Soho jazz clubs of the 50s, and the navy to a career in travel journalism to which his first marriage gave way before he found a new, true, and more lasting love that abides to this day in his beloved rural Dorset. Beginning with memories of Edwardian London and the growth of suburbia, it provides a vivid portrayal of post-war travel and the rise of a new sort of tourism - ecotourism - set against the background of the most turbulent decades the world has ever known. Through it all shines Jackman's lifelong love of nature, instilled by childhood holidays in the West Country and the stories that led to his passion for Africa and the big cats that that still walk through his life and dreams.

Rippling across continents with Jackman's natural charm and hallmark stylish prose, his recollections include lively first-hand encounters with pioneering wildlife conservationists like George and Joy Adamson, Iain and Saba Douglas-Hamilton, Richard Leakey, Gavin Maxwell, and Jonathan Scott. Travelers, wildlife enthusiasts, writers, and anyone with a love of adventure will adore this book.

Weight: 356g
Dimension: 130 x 198 x 21 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781784778361