River Monsters

This is an enjoyable companion book to the “River Monsters” TV series that will be of interest to a wide range of people, not limited to anglers or fishermen. Biologist Jeremy Wade recounts various moments from the series, as well as giving a lot more general background- the research involved, the adventures and anecdotes.It is very coherently written, in rather straightforward style, which makes it fairly easy to get through. At times it is a little too much like a textbook however and lacks just a tiny part of the mystery and atmosphere that characterizes the on-screen presentation. Whilst in some places it merely retells some of the action filmed in that series, Mr Wade however also relates a lot of his personal life history and philosophy that led him to pursue the worlds most exciting and little-known freshwater fish. Thus it is complimented by several pages of photographs from his trips around the world. Jeremy is foremost a naturalist and adventurer, who has shunned the creature comforts of a predictable family life in order to chase his passion and explore the wilderness. This is what makes the whole book appealing- the contagious curiosity and enthusiasm that Mr Wade has for his subject.The TV series itself spawned several poor imitation fishing shows on other TV networks, but ultimately it is "River Monsters" and other productions involving Jeremy Wade that retain the right balance of mystery and adventure as well as scientific and conservation interest.

I am not a fisherman....but this show is fascinating to watch. It isn't a typical fishing show. It is culture, history, ecology and adventure. This book goes with the show but tells so much more than they show on tv. The life this man has experienced is amazing. This isn't a movie star book. It is a book written by a dedicated, educated, moral man who has lived and experienced like few ever get to. To read it is to travel the globe. This book will be loved by young, old, man, woman, fisherman and folks like me that don't really care to ever go fishing.

I am not an angler and have no interest in becoming one, but I have found the River Monsters TV series and its host Jeremy Wade to be interesting, which is why I decided to read this book.The book tells the stories surrounding several of the expeditions on the TV series, but with much more detail. We learn a lot more about Jeremy Wade's life and personality and get more of a sense of the time and effort taken to catch some of these fish - often counted in years or decades rather than the few days it seems on the episode. From these expanded stories I learned there is often a lot more danger and work involved in the quests than is represented in the TV series, and I also learned a few things about how to fish, should I ever become interested.Wade is a conscientious, low-key, yet intense personality. As in the series, he's not an in-your-face extrovert. In the book, you learn more about his credentials and how he came to be a professional angler and world traveler, and clues to the origins of his somewhat compulsive nature. The stories of his adventures range from freakish to disgusting to awe-inspiring.As for the book, sometimes the time transitions made by the author are poorly made - he goes backward and forward in time rather liberally and it sometimes takes a reader a moment to figure out how things fit together. Also, I wish the photos had been interspersed to the appropriate chapters and pages rather than grouped together in one bunch in the middle of the book. When I'm reading about the Araipaima I want to see its picture in that section and not have to flip to the middle of the book and try to track it down. I had a sense that the publication was perhaps a little rushed to try to catch the popularity wave of many successful books from hosts of similar TV series, and the publication quality suffered just a little.This book was exciting and fascinating reading, but it was also sad. I've read very few things that so poignantly and powerfully pointed out how man has been changing the environment with strong consequences. Jeremy Wade's observations repeatedly show how our manipulation of rivers, overfishing, pollution and so on have brought many of these creatures to the brink of extinction, or made them more dangerous to humans, or caused an ecosystem imbalance with horrific effects, and so on. Wade tries to project a bit of optimism that some of these issues can be corrected, but I was feeling less optimistic than he by book's end. I felt a great mourning for the wild, and some fear for our future. I did not expect this book to be like reading Rachel Carson or Thoreau, but there is a similar message that comes across rather clearly.I'd love to find the out of print earlier writing of Jeremy Wade after reading this. He is a fascinating person and has great and important stories to tell.

Jeremy Wade manages to excel as both an angler and a TV host, and now you can add writer. I love the show on Animal Planet and had been searching in vain for the first book he wrote without success so I was thrilled to see this. The book more than met my expectations. I could not put it down. It was fascinating to get more detail on the places he went to earlier, more fish biology, and of course his adventures from his TV program. Part of the reason I like him so much is his stance as a true conservationist and fish lover- the sport comes after he is sure he is doing everything as humanely as possible. I am still not sure if even catch and release fish enjoy the process, but if they are lucky, they will be caught by Jeremy Wade. I also enjoy that he adds details about fish psychology; it's interesting for me (as a non-angler) to read about how fish have different characters and reactions to different kinds of events.All in all, my only complaint about this book is that it was too short. Another couple hundred pages would have been ideal for me. I hope this book is widely popular and it leads to the reissue of his first book.

I'll let all the other 5 star reviews speak for themselves as far as the contents are concerned. This is an extremely insightful book offering interesting information not available on the video episodes. However, I had to dock two stars just to make notification that the pages were printed out of sequence. If you read and suddenly find yourself saying "Huh?" then it's because you've read through the wrong pages. Specifically, page 15 should continue to page 21 (not page 16)... page 21 continues to page 16... and page 20 to page 22 (not page 21). Hope they correct the next edition. This is in reference to the "Copyright 2011...First De Capo Press paperback edition 2012."

If, like me, you're a life long angler and yearn for more than repeat captures of synthetic fish then Jeremy Wade should be your inspiration. He has apparently forgone conventional comforts and endured injury and disease to fulfil a deeper need to satisfy his soul. Something all true anglers understand albeit for most of us at a lesser level. He writes in clear, concise and absorbing sentences that invisibly stitch together elegant prose and scientific precision and weave compelling chapters. His objectives are pitched higher than all other anglers I have known or read yet he gently places his incomparable angling achievements into wider context and perspective. He appears neither arrogant nor condescending, just plain matter of fact. I've always thought it would be impossible for any angler to change much about the way people generally disrespect the environment but perhaps I am wrong because by the clever use of slight, forgiveable sensationalism, and uncorrupted by commercial sponsors, he has connected with a larger audience than all other famous fisherman. Wade has created much more than a fishing show and so this book is truthfully about much more than catching monsters. Read into it and you will see that it's more about trying to control only one. I hope he Wade goes on to even higher things, he is uniquely placed amongst anglers to do so.

I am female, have never fished in my life and have no intention of ever fishing but I am seriously addicted to the TV show and am enjoying this book. I like the series for the scenery, which you don't get to see in other documentaries, JW's interactions with the local environment and people and his total knowledge and passion for what he does. The book is similarly engaging but gives more depth, background information and reflection than is possible through TV, lots of detail but not too much to detract from the book's enjoyment for a complete fishing ignoramus like me. An excellent read but I am not totally sure I would want to go wild swimming now!

We've all heard a fisherman's tale before - those far-fetched stories concerning `the ones that got away' shared in the corner of dimly lit pubs by liquor-soaked men with missing teeth. Well, oddly enough, it turns out some of them were true.Of course, zoologist and extreme angler Jeremy Wade has known this for a long time and, for the past twenty-five years, he's been travelling the world collecting the stories of ferocious freshwater attacks previously written off as folklore by the masses. From tales of sharks attacking horses at river crossings (yes, sharks in rivers!), to spiked fish lodging themselves inside gentlemen's nether regions, it really is incredible how many of the myths Wade investigates in River Monsters turn out to be fact.From the opening sentence, it's clear Wade can write (he's previously been employed as a copywriter and reporter) and he works intrigue and imagery into his prose with a skilled hand. It's a good job he's able to, as well, because River Monsters is far, far more than just a transcript of Animal Planet's primetime television series of the same name. It's the story of Wade himself, of a man who wandered through his early adult life lost, until his passion for adventure and the natural world was reignited, and, with it, his sense of direction and purpose.And what a passion he has. You can feel it coursing through every sentence, and when he's stalking creatures with names like the goliath tigerfish, the alligator garr or the Illiamna lake monster, it's easy to get caught up in Wade's enthusiasm. His knowledge of the creatures he's hunting and the history of locations he hunts them is brilliant, too; one particular highlight is Wade's recurring comparison of his exploits to those of past explorers, including none other than Theodore `Teddy' Roosevelt (after an election defeat in 1912, Roosevelt left America in order to explore a perilous tributary of the Amazon River).Naturally, the question that comes to mind with a book like this is; what's here for non-anglers. Well, the emphasis is on the fauna and exotic locations, not on bait rigs or tackle selection, and those solely interested in the natural world will much prefer it that way. But the passages on local peoples - tribal and otherwise - and the personal accounts of Wade's experiences with them are the book's surprise strength - they're arguably more fascinating than the river monsters themselves.

Brilliant. Exciting, informative and well worth watching. I am not an angler, or indeed interested in fishing at all. But Jeremy Wade makes his river monsters both scary and puts his life in danger most of the time. If like me you think that this would be boring, then you are misled. this is really a good programme for anyone to watch. I would recommend it to anyone. Perhaps not very young children though. Would also recommend the seller.

Don’t get me wrong it’s a good book. It’s highly readable and Jeremy as always is fascinating in the story he tells.My one big gripe with it is that it’s too similar to the TV show and often tells the same stories. If you’re a fan of the show like me and want to know more it’s great but I was wanting slightly different. Still I enjoyed reading it.