An Inconvenience of Penguins: Epic voyages in pursuit of the world's most beloved bird

by Jamie Lafferty

The problem started, as problems often do, with a penguin.

From Kings and Emperors to Macaronis and Rockhoppers, penguins are one of the most immediately recognisable animals Earth. Yet for all that familiarity, what do we really know about them? An Inconvenience of Penguins follows award-winning travel writer Jamie Lafferty as he visits all 18 species in a bid to understand the birds and their extraordinarily varied habitats a little better. On voyages to some of the world's most inaccessible and challenging landscapes, he recounts the history of our unique relationship with the world's most popular bird, telling stories of the penguins, but also the people and places around them.

From getting stranded in the Galapagos to marching through African guano fields, and leading photography groups in the Antarctic to taking psychedelics on the Falklands, this is a birding quest like no other. Along the way Lafferty relives the experiences of early polar explorers, for who penguins were perplexing mysteries, welcome companions and even occasional meals, and meets the modern penguin lovers trying to save their fragile environments.

Featuring cameos from a wide cast of characters including Ernest Shackleton, Charles Darwin, and Sir Francis Drake, as well as beautiful photographs of each penguin species, An Inconvenience of Penguins is part-love letter to and part-biography of these remarkable creatures.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, Audiobook, Animals, Nature, Birds, Natural History

336 pages, Hardcover

First published September 25, 2025

Reviews

[S V B · Rating 5 out of 5]

I ADMIT IT. I knew I was going to love this. Partly because anything involving Antarctica and South Georgia is very much my bag, and partly because I know Jamie's writing is brilliant. I also owe him a couple of pints but that's not relevant is it. Is it? NO!

I really liked the references to heroic age explorers (especially Mawson who doesn't get enough love), the contrast between Cherry-Garrard's 'Worst Journey' with modern polar travel was quite shocking in some ways. There is SO much more to this book but I'm very aware of giving spoilers so I'm going to keep shtum.

One of my absolute favourite parts was the ongoing snark towards fellow passengers (who stares at their phone when they could be looking at icebergs or bird life? idiots!).

100% recommend! 🍺🍺🍺

[Hayden Reid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do you love birds, travelling and a great sense of adventure? This book is definitely for you. After traveling through the world on its pages, I learnt a lot about the 18 species of penguin and how one man’s curiosity became an addiction. What a fantastic read!

[ishi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like the author, entertaining as he was at times, was writing to hit a word count. Loved what he had to say about penguins, about conservation, and the threats to the different species - I wish he focussed more on that aspect of the book.

[married-with-cat · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of those books that reminds you that truly anybody can write a book. Written by a widely published travel writer, "An Inconvenience of Penguins" takes a stellar title and a decent elevator pitch — a writer chronicles his attempts to see every penguin species on Earth — and spins it into a decent yarn. The book gives plenty of information on penguins, penguin ecology, penguin conservation, and the conditions in their habitats, and I really loved the more factually focused parts of the story.

Unfortunately, the book is heavy on the travel writing, and the writer seems to tire of his mission pretty quickly. By the end of the book, I felt like he no longer had any kind of wonder or appreciation for the beauty of these birds, and many of his observations in the final stretch are simply the same observations he had at the beginning, worded slightly differently. There are also a number of sections that a more prudent editor would have cut entirely, like an aside about The Penguin from "Batman" comics, a story about how he almost beat up an Australian man on a beach, a story about how he almost beat up his Chinese roommate, a story about how he almost beat up a birdwatcher on a cruise, and a story about how he took some acid in the Arctic.

The title doesn't make sense, either, having finished the book. "The problem started, as problems often do, with a penguin." What problem? At no point are penguins ever an inconvenience to the writer — if anything, travelers like the writer are an inconvenience to penguins, since they contribute to greenhouse gases that then, in effect, cause habitat depletion in the Arctic.

The writing is lively, and the audiobook narrator I listened to did a fine job with the material, but there are certainly more interesting books about penguins out there, both written and as-of-yet unwritten.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love penguins and after seeing some in the wild in New Zealand and Antarctica, I thought maybe I would try to see them all. Well thanks to this book I now know I definitely DON'T want to do that.

I really enjoyed reading about his adventures and challenges getting to all of the different species of penguins. It was interspersed with some interesting history of the explorers and others who have appreciated penguins in the past.

I have been to a couple of places he visited and his descriptions are very accurate and I could definitely relate. I once spent a whole afternoon in a bunker until one lone Hoiho appeared on the beach, only visible through binoculars.

This is a great book for penguin lovers as well as anyone who has gone on an impossible quest.

[Matt Semple · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of interesting tidbits about some of the more isolated parts of the world but it’s the penguins which are the real stars of the show (obviously).

[Foggygirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining and informative read the author comes across as an interesting personality to say the least.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

a brilliant travel book covering some of the most unique wildlife on the planet but also a harrowing reminder of the work we need to do towards conservation