Autobiographical Books in Order

Durrell recounts an expedition to Madagascar to find and help save the strange nocturnal aye-aye and other endangered lemurs. Travel difficulties, remote forests, and determined local partners fill this late-career conservation memoir.

Marking a milestone for his zoo, Durrell gathers essays and sketches about animals, staff, and conservation projects. The pieces mix celebration with candid notes on the challenges of running a modern "ark" for endangered species.

This travelogue follows Gerald and Lee Durrell on a visit to the Soviet Union, where they lecture, meet scientists, and explore local zoos and wild places. Cultural surprises and shared enthusiasm for animals run throughout the journey.

Here Durrell turns the camera around, explaining how the television series The Amateur Naturalist was filmed. He shares mishaps with weather, equipment, and uncooperative animals, giving a light, insider’s view of making wildlife programs.

Written for younger readers, Ark on the Move follows Durrell and his team as they travel to collect animals and move them safely to new homes. The focus stays on practical care, gentle humor, and the personalities of the creatures involved.

This collection of short stories, including the title tale about finding a new husband for Durrell’s mother, ranges from romantic misfires to travel mishaps. The tone is playful, with plenty of oddball characters and gentle satire.

Durrell recounts a conservation expedition to islands like Mauritius and Rodrigues, home to rare creatures such as fruit bats and pink pigeons. Field setbacks, difficult terrain, and determined local allies shape the fight to keep these species alive.

Durrell looks back on his first job as a student keeper at Whipsnade Zoo, learning the hard way how to care for bears, reptiles, and hoofed stock. Misunderstandings, escapes, and patient mentors shape these early-career stories.

This book collects several comic stories, from ill-fated picnics to family mishaps and animal escapades. Each piece stands alone, offering quick doses of Durrell’s eye for absurd detail and affection for both people and creatures.

Durrell describes journeys to Africa and other regions in search of rare animals, including the elusive colobus monkey. The adventures are funny and chaotic, but threaded with a growing concern about extinction and the ethics of collecting.

A collection of autobiographical pieces, this volume gathers stories from different stages of Durrell’s life—Corfu childhood, zoo work, and later travels. It works like a tasting menu of his humor, wildlife encounters, and family anecdotes.

Based on travels for a television series, Durrell roams across several continents visiting reserves, zoos, and wild habitats. Lighthearted field stories sit alongside reflections on conservation and the pressures facing animals around the world.

Here Durrell turns from collecting trips to daily life running his zoo on Jersey. Escapes, awkward visitors, and stubborn animals make for comic anecdotes, while behind the scenes he wrestles with money, staff, and breeding endangered species.

Durrell describes an expedition to West Africa that ends with a motley menagerie arriving back in England and, ultimately, Jersey. The book captures both the hunt for animals and the chaos of trying to house them.

Set in remote parts of Argentina, this memoir follows Durrell as he searches for penguins, parrots, and other animals to stock his future zoo. Harsh weather, long journeys, and spirited locals keep the trip anything but quiet.

A collection of short episodes from Durrell’s expeditions, each focused on a particular animal or group. Friendly, informal chapters introduce creatures from jaguars to parrots, along with the often comic efforts to capture or care for them.

Durrell and his wife travel through Argentina and Paraguay collecting animals while coping with unreliable transport, language gaps, and local customs. The result is a funny, affectionate portrait of South American landscapes and their wildlife.

Written for younger readers, this book retells Durrell's early collecting expeditions and the animals he brought back for zoos. Short chapters introduce exotic species, practical fieldwork, and his growing belief that zoos could help conservation.

This travel memoir follows Durrell and two companions to the rivers and forests of British Guiana in search of animals for zoos. Swamps, riverboats, and eccentric helpers feature in a string of comic and sometimes hair-raising episodes.

Returning to the Cameroons, Durrell teams up with the Fon of Bafut and a tireless pack of beagles to collect animals. The book blends hunting trips, cultural snapshots, and affectionate sketches of the creatures they are trying to catch.

Durrell recounts his first animal-collecting expedition to the rainforests of the Cameroons, chasing rare creatures for future zoos. Funny mishaps, vivid portraits of local people, and close-up encounters with wildlife shape this lively early memoir.