Reviews

• An amazing story! No Island Too Far is an astonishing catalogue. I cannot imagine anyone could match it. It is the story of a lifelong global adventure among 'the avian throng’ of some of the world's wildest and remotest specks of land, full of the excitement of arriving at and then relishing the remote places in which life seems more florid, more present and more enlivening than anything at home. No wonder Michael Brooke is an islophiliac for whom no latitude is too high and no ocean too wide for him to have surged into yet another magical seabird realm.
  —Adam Nicolson author of Sea Room and The Seabird’s Cry
• Can anyone have seen such a vast scattering of wild lives, have lived on such an array of remote rocks? Driven by his fascination with and love for seabirds, biologist Michael Brooke has devoted his life to and understanding and protecting their lives, and been propelled to some of the least known and most astonishing islands on earth. This magical, enthralling and charming book draws on his diaries from over a half-century of exploration. You feel like you’re beside him all the way, unzipping tent flaps, opening bothy doors and tossing on the decks of vessels steaming into the dark on monster seas in search of insights into some of the least known of all animal lives.
  —Tom Mustill, film-maker and author of How to Speak Whale
• Michael Brooke’s journeys are as awe inspiring as those of the seabirds themselves. His brave adventures on the remotest islands on Earth reveal the rich rewards from scientific curiosity combined with passion for the natural world.
  —Nick Davies FRS, ornithologist and author of Cuckoo: Cheating by Nature
• An informative and entertaining insight into the life of a remarkable seabird biologist. It is packed with exquisitely detailed accounts of what it takes to travel to tiny oceanic specks, of the people and places encountered on the way, and of the birds met at journey’s end. Refreshingly honest, beautifully written and scientifically accurate, No Island Too Far ventures to islands that, realistically, I shall never visit. I closed the book truly wishing it were otherwise.
  —Juliet Vickery, Chief Executive, British Trust for Ornithology
• No Island Too Far is witty, touching, funny and really, genuinely interesting. Part-diary, part natural history guide, the book will make you chortle, sigh with delight, do a double take, and perhaps become a bit nostalgic. A wonderfully quirky and more-ish book.
  —Joanna Bagniewska, author of The Modern Bestiary: A Curated Collection of Wondrous Creatures
• No Island Too Far is the wonderful story of a lifetime's enthusiasm and an adventure that has never ended. It is simultaneously informative, exciting and funny, full of modesty, wisdom and enterprise, summed up, maybe, by the wry observation that 'staying safe was never a primary aim'. In a world of idiots, this is a marvellous deep dive into common sense and a love for nature.
  —Roger Morgan-Grenville, former soldier and author of Shearwater: A Bird, an Ocean, and a Long Way Home
• No Island Too Far is an illuminating and entertaining account of a lifetime engaged with seabirds on mostly remote and (for humans) inhospitable islands. It places Michael Brooke securely within the rich tradition of intrepid naturalists and travellers of earlier centuries.
  —Peter Raby, author of Alfred Russel Wallace: A Life
• Everyone likes islands but Michael Brooke loves them – with a passion – along with the charismatic seabirds and often rare endemic species that inhabit them. In this entertaining travelogue he gives us a vivid account of the excitements, privations, risks and satisfactions he has experienced in these wildlife encounters under often extreme conditions.
  —Jeremy Mynott, former head of Cambridge University Press
• Studies on islands have given us the theories of evolution and biogeography and shown the fragility of their ecosystems. Island biologists continue to show how important islands are, demonstrating the dynamics of the natural world. Michael Brooke follows along this path in his quest for elusive species, helping to unravel their secrets.
  —Carl Jones MBE, conservationist instrumental in saving several Mauritian bird species from extinction
• Birders are renowned for their tenacity and dedication, but there can be few people on earth who have gone to such great lengths in the name of ornithology as Michael Brooke. Driven by scientific curiosity and a burning desire to pursue his beloved birds to the wildest places on earth, No Island Too Far is a highly entertaining account of an extraordinary life, and a must-read for anyone with an interest in adventure, wildlife, and the life-changing nature of remote field work.
  —Dr Niall McCann, explorer and biologist
• A heady mix of travel, history and natural history about near and far flung islands, that many us would love to visit! Michael Brooke immerses us in bustling sea bird cities, humming bird havens and lands of lemurs. This is a brilliant book!
  —Nigel Marven, wildlife film presenter and producer