See, the author is someone who loves filming animals. And sometimes, he just thinks that just because he films animals, then the rules that typically apply to us regular human beings don't apply to him. With every chapter, there's an episode of arrogance that just makes me want to shake my head. Whether it's about the rules of conduct while in a ship, or about bureaucracies in third-world countries, there are plenty of episodes in this book where the author thinks he's above and beyond these rules. But he's not. And it makes it seem like he's a travel noob, even though he's rather well-traveled given the profession he has.
Take for example the rules about how one must behave while in a ship, when one is cruising around Svalbard. The captain sets the rules. So even if there's a polar bear on a nearby iceberg, and even if you have plenty of experience dealing with polar bears, the captain still sets the rules. So no, you can't just jump off the ship to take your camera to film a polar bear up close and personal.
There's many more similar episodes in the book. I won't recount them all here. But overall, it points to the conclusion that as much as the author has traveled far and wide to film exotic animals, for the most part, he is still naive yet arrogant, not understanding how some parts of the world work. And when you write a book where you just bitch over and over again about how the world doesn't align with your expectations, then sorry, I have no sympathy for you. It doesn't help that you carry a second camera just in order to film you filming exotic animals. I can't eliminate the hypothesis that there's a wee bit of narcissism involved, since not only is filming exotic and sometimes dangerous animals not enough, but one also wants to record the fact that one is doing so.
Yeah, I did not like this book. I did learn a bit about some animals I previously didn't know. But the author was just so full of himself that it left a massively bad taste in the mouth. I give it 2 out of 5 stars.
See my other book reviews here.
