An Inconvenience of Penguins

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, Nature, Animals, Audiobook, Birds, Natural History

336 pages, Trade Paperback

First published September 25, 2025

Reviews

[Leora Taratula-Lyons · Rating 5 out of 5]

The perfect mix of education, humour and reality.

[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! 🍺🍺🍺

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would love to see every penguin species someday, just as the author did. I just wish this book was more about the actual penguins themselves instead of tangential stories about the author's life.

[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.

[Ben Aitken · Rating 5 out of 5]

really, really enjoyed this.

[Belle]

Not enough penguins, too much general travel writing. The writing was good, but the anecdotes felt strung together without much of a through-line and a lot of them didn't have much of a point, so I got bored or lost or confused while waiting for the next penguin story. Not a bad book, just not for me. Had two tries at it and made it about halfway in the end.

[Georgie Vile · Rating 4 out of 5]

Serious boredom buster. Think I now want to go see wild penguins

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is hilarious. Even if you are not a birder, if you have any kind of sense of humor you will find yourself laughing.

[Anja Seidel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been to Antarctica, I've seen the penguins and I get it!

[Andie Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a delightful, funny, slightly terrifying book

[Jennifer Goedde · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dear Madi

Unpopular opinion apparently.. not a great read. It’s meandering and pointless, all the facts and anecdotes are interesting (or could be at least) but are not structured in any meaningful way. It doesn’t build to anything and their jokes are trite and silly.

I DNF’d at page 220. Congratulations on being the first wildlife/climate change book I’ve DNF’d penguins.

🥂

See you, Mark and the pigion this weekend 🎉
Jen

[Grant Lyons · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. The reviews mention the comedy moments but its actually a pretty depressing read at times. Penguins,like so many other species are struggling to survive in the planet that we ( humans) have messed up.
You don't have to love penguins to enjoy this book, but it does help. And anyway. if you don't love penguins you are a bit weird.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intermittently employed Scottish travel writer becomes obsessed with penguins, plunges self into debt and even more precarious career on a mission to see all 18 species in their natural habitats. Chaos, beauty and a lot of guano ensue.

Enjoyable.

[Geoff Cumming · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was lucky enough to visit the Antarctic Peninsula, Elephant Island, South Georgia, and the Falklands on the Aurora ship "Greg Mortimer", with Greg himself as expedition leader and Jamie Lafferty as photographer (and zodiac driver, raconteur, highlight of the evening recap): the A team indeed!
I'd previously gone swimming with Galapagos penguins. And just about every Australian has seen the little penguins come ashore on Phillip Island--they now also come in at St Kilda, a mere stone's throw from the centre of Melbourne.
So I've seen a number of the penguin species Jamie describes--with his wonderful photos--and agree that the kings are the outstanding animals, in a high-quality field.
So I was agog to read (and goggle at) his "Inconvenience". It didn't disappoint!
Beautiful, highly engaging, and a fascinating read. Highly recommended!

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an inveterate Penguin lover (falling head over heels for Adelies when I first encountered them in a children’s animal encyclopedia) I knew I had to read this book. It did not disappoint. I wish I could have been on some of the expeditions with Jamie, witnessing his Penguin quest firsthand. The combination of memoir and Penguin quest was perfect for this reader.

While I will likely never see all of the species he ticked off, he has fueled my desire to travel to see the Royals and the Erect Crested. I will be talking to my travel agent about a Heritage expedition.

[Jackie Warham · Rating 5 out of 5]

A moving, exciting, and hilarious book! Every time I sat down to read it I felt like I was on a new adventure. The writing was fun and detailed, and I doubt I’ll ever stop thinking about penguins after this gorgeous read!!! Would 100% recommend to anyone with even a small curiosity about penguins! Genuinely such a fun adventure to read and trust me once you pick up this book it’ll be hard to put down!❤️

[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!

[Nick828 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never write reviews but my goodness this is an amazing book. If the author happens to read this, write the book about the 300 different families of birds!

[Valerie Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

While it may not appeal to a wide audience, I loved this book! Partly because I love penguins, but also because I have traveled to many of the sites in the book and seen the penguins - Australia, Galapagos, Antarctica, New Zealand. Excellent writer - very funny. Thanks for a fun and educational read!

[Callum · Rating 2 out of 5]

The actual parts about the penguins was interesting. I liked learning about the different species, their behaviours and how their societies work, conservation efforts, their involvement with human culture and history.

Problem is, there isn't actually all that much of that. It's a meandering travelogue which is much too cynical in tone for me. It's often sneering and bitter, with lots of complaints often outweighing which was surely a pretty wondrous experience; but that wasn't much conveyed.

Perhaps I am putting travel writers on too much of a pedestal but I found it fascinating how often the writer complained about the privilege of others when he is regularly enjoying the pleasure of seeing vast swathes of the world and the animal kingdom at someone else's expense. And he makes what sounds like an amazing opportunity (seeing every species of penguin) sound like a chore - did he even enjoy this experience?

[Paulibrarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before it is too late, and extinction sets in, Glaswegian Jamie Rafferty has set out to cross the entire penguin family off in a quest to see all 18 species. Penguins are one of the most popular families of animals on Earth, and New Zealand has its fair share of them, including the ancestral origins of the family - through an increasing archaeological fossil record. His time here in New Zealand is a mixed lot of despair and wonder, whilst his affairs overseas elsewhere are more interesting. In an evocative passage in the book, Lafferty describes the reaction of children when they see a penguin as, “whose joy around penguins is so brilliant that all shadows disappear”. In a less-delightful episode, he describes a Canadian tourist in South Africa naively offering in a baby-like talk - to a tropical South African Penguin - a ride home to Ottawa in her backpack. “We have so much snow there” she whispers. More and more penguin species which belong in the subantarctic and Antarctic are arriving further North due to climate catastrophes like glacial melt and warming ocean currents. Rafferty grinds out the last two species in paradise, but in poverty, in the subantarctic Bounty and Antipodes Islands, South of New Zealand. An admirable adventure.

[Cbuitenhuis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. I love birds and travel and as I will probably never get to Antarctica due to seasickness loved reading this tale. The author is fun, sarcastic and sometimes depressing but what can you expect when going on a mission to see birds or in this case penguins in a fragile environment suffering under man made global warming. To which the author naturally contributes a lot by going on a lot of cruises to see all species.

[Eefje · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took a while for me to finish this book, because I had the opportunity to go look at penguins in real life. But really happy I finished it, and enjoyed the personal reflection about this journey towards the end.

[Jamie Furlong · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have long had an obsession with penguins, I’m not really sure when it started but it probably intensified when I moved to Chile and saw Humboldt penguins sliding down rocky islands just off La Serena. Since then I have often wondered if it was possible to see every species in the world.

After reading this book, I now know it is probably not in the cards for me - at least not without a substantial investment of cash, time, energy and an element of luck.

Fortunately, this book has been able to give me an idea of what that adventure would look like.

Each chapter focuses on the hardship of the journey to visit each species while tying in some surrounding context of the area in which they find themselves and how they have adapted.

I certainly learned a lot I didn’t know, and I was glad to see this was by a Glasgow-based author, my own current Homebase.

The only downside I felt is I would have loved more focus on the penguin species themselves and what makes each unique. Sometimes this information seemed lacking compared to the wider discussion. But I guess it’s not really a bad thing if my only criticism is that I wanted more?

Solid read for penguin lovers told in a very easy to read way. As a result of this book I started donating to the WWF and adopted an Adelie penguin!

[SBT&ERT · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great read! Any combination of a Scotsman’s wit, an absurd animal, recreational drug use, and abnormal travel is bound to be fun and this book had it all.

[E · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some days you just need to faire l’otriche (do the ostrich ~ bury your head in the sand) and listen to an older Scotsman ramble on about travel woes while tracking down all 18 penguin species. Even with serious discussion of some man-made global crises, like the ones I was activity trying to avoid, it kept my interest while I knit manically.

[Sara Marolt · Rating 5 out of 5]

i really enjoyed this actually - learnt so much about penguins

[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.