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Gavin Maxwell

Born

in Port William, Wigtownshire, Scotland

July 15, 1914

Died

September 07, 1969

Genre

Biographies & Memoirs, Travel, Nature

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Gavin Maxwell was a Scottish naturalist and author, best known for his work with otters. He was born in Scotland in 1914 to Lieutenant-Colonel Aymer Maxwell and Lady Mary Percy, whose father was the seventh Duke of Northumberland. He was raised in the small village of Elrig, near Port William, which he later described in his autobiography The House of Elrig (1965).

After serving in the Second World War as an instructor with the Special Operations Executive, he purchased the Isle of Soay in the Inner Hebrides, where he attempted to establish a shark fishery. In 1956 he travelled to the Tigris Basin in Southern Iraq with the explorer Wilfred Thesiger to explore the area's vast unspoiled marshes; Maxwell's account of their travels was published ...more

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Gavin Maxwell’s books

Average rating: 4.06 · 5,301 ratings · 494 reviews · 42 distinct works • Similar authors

	Ring of Bright Water (Ring of Bright Water, #1) 4.12 avg rating — 3,506 ratings — published 1960 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Ring of Bright Water Trilogy (Ring of Bright Water, #1-3) by Gavin Maxwell, Austin Chinn (Editor) 4.20 avg rating — 517 ratings — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Lords of the Atlas: The Rise and Fall of the House of Glaoua, 1893-1956 3.71 avg rating — 309 ratings — published 1966 — 25 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Reed Shaken by the Wind: Travels among the Marsh Arabs of Iraq 4.16 avg rating — 177 ratings — published 1957 — 21 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Rocks Remain (Ring of Bright Water #2) 3.75 avg rating — 195 ratings — published 1963 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Raven, Seek Thy Brother (Ring of Bright Water, #3) 3.93 avg rating — 162 ratings — published 1968 — 22 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The House of Elrig 3.85 avg rating — 109 ratings — published 1965 — 23 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Harpoon Venture 3.95 avg rating — 76 ratings — published 1952 — 30 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Otters' Tale 4.18 avg rating — 62 ratings — published 1962 — 19 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	God protect me from my friends 3.76 avg rating — 21 ratings — published 1972 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Gavin Maxwell…

Series by Gavin Maxwell

Ring of Bright Water (3 books)
by

Gavin Maxwell

4.10 avg rating — 3,862 ratings

Quotes by Gavin Maxwell (?)

“There is something deeply awe-inspiring about the sight of any living creatures in incomputable numbers; it stirs, perhaps, some atavistic chord whose note belongs more properly to the distant days when we were a true part of the animal ecology; when the sight of another species in unthinkable hosts brought fears or hopes no longer applicable.”
― Gavin Maxwell, Ring of Bright Water

tags: animals, ecology, humanity, nature, nature-of-man

7 likes

“We have long laboured under an obtuse presupposition that the senses by which other living creatures perceive their world must to a great extent resemble our own; but in fact we are, by scientific invention, only now beginning to approach methods of perception that the whales have always owned as their birthright.”
― Gavin Maxwell, Ring of Bright Water

tags: animals, humanity, nature, perception, science

5 likes

“At dusk a broken wheel appeared, Held by a hand I could not see, And I knew that someone I feared, Had discovered an empty room in me" ~ 1951”
― Gavin Maxwell

5 likes

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Polls

Which nonfiction book would you like to read with us during June and July? Please vote here.

The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson

40 votes, 32.0%

Over the Top: A Raw Journey to Self-Love by Jonathan Van Ness

19 votes, 15.2%

Sounds and Sweet Airs: The Forgotten Women of Classical Music by Anna Beer

17 votes, 13.6%

No Friend but the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison by Behrouz Boochani

16 votes, 12.8%

The Story of Earth: The First 4.5 Billion Years, from Stardust to Living Planet by Robert M. Hazen

13 votes, 10.4%

Ring of Bright Water by Gavin Maxwell

11 votes, 8.8%

Without Precedent: Chief Justice John Marshall and His Times by Joel Richard Paul

9 votes, 7.2%

125 total votes

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Gavin Maxwell’s Followers (54)

Gavin Maxwell

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Gavin Maxwell’s books