My Penguin Year: Living with the Emperors

by Lindsay McCrae

For 337 days, award-winning wildlife cameraman Lindsay McCrae intimately followed 11,000 emperor penguins amid the singular beauty of Antarctica. This is his masterful chronicle of one penguin colony’s astonishing journey of life, death, and rebirth—and of the extraordinary human experience of living amongst them in the planet’s harshest environment.

My Penguin Year recounts McCrae's remarkable adventure to the end of the Earth. He observed every aspect of a breeding emperor's life, facing the inevitable sacrifices that came with living his childhood dream, and grappling with the personal obstacles that, being over 15,000km away from the comforts of home, almost proved too much. Out of that experience, he has written an unprecedented portrait of Antarctica’s most extraordinary residents.

 

Genres: Nonfiction, Nature, Animals, Memoir, Science, Birds, Audiobook

256 pages, Paperback

First published October 21, 2019

Reviews

[Petra X · Rating 4 out of 5]

Right to almost at the end I was thinking if I hadn't read such books on Antarctica like the not stellar but distinctly wacky Antarctica on a Plate and (equally wacky) Hoosh: Roast Penguin, Scurvy Day, and Other Stories of Antarctic Cuisine or Shadows on the Wasteland so I knew nothing about the emptiest, coldest and driest (1"-2" rainfall a year) continent on earth, and seen every penguin documentary every made, I would have rated this book higher than 3.5 stars.

But then, almost at the end, the absolute humanity of the author rather than the film-maker intent on capturing penguin-life-as-it-is-lived (or not) came out, and I cheered and cheered. Penguins and their babies were trapped about 20' down at the bottom of a gully, with only one penguin and her baby managing to climb out - she using her beak as an ice axe. So he and his co-workers, after a week or so of filming them and bad weather, dug a ramp for them to return to the main colony on. I wish he'd done it sooner, but... I'm glad he did it at all..

So after that I loved the author and the book enough to give it 4 stars.

What wasn't stellar about it? The writing was good but apart from a very descriptive passage about the aurora Australis that brought the phenomenon to life, it wasn't special. If he could write that well about the aurora he could have written more pictures in words, rather than just with his camera.

This might sound a bit churlish but I was thoroughly bored with his non-stop talk about his girlfriend, then wife, then mother of his child. Other than supporting him, looking after his home, bearing his child and looking after it alone, I don't know anything about her. What did she do? What did she look like? What did she find funny that she related to him in their daily communications? We never learned anything about her and her life at all, only her in relation to him. What's interesting about that?

The title should have been My Penguin Year - all the technical details of the difficulties of filming Emperors in Antarctica. I enjoyed the technicalities but I can't say I learned anything new about penguins. 4 star. Just.
_________

Notes on reading Isn't this brilliant? - The author is on an old specially-designed Russian plane going from South Africa to the Antarctic and the on-board entertainment on the screens is a view from the cockpit. I would love to see that.

The plane flies 20 times a year to the Antarctic. The author is going to film Emperors for 11 months out of which 8 months will be in total isolation as the weather does not allow for any kind of physical communication. So that means the plane flies 20 times in 4 months, that's more than once a week. Since the Antarctic is only occupied by research stations, that's quite a lot. What are they all doing coming and going so often? And that doesn't include any other flights from any other country.

[Olive Fellows (abookolive) · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Penguin Year is a memoir written by a wildlife cameraman in which he discusses his 11-month-long trip to Antarctica to film the breeding season of a huge colony of penguins for use in a BBC docuseries. As thrillingly recounted by the author, it was a enormously challenging but deeply rewarding trip. This was the perfect accompaniment to the docuseries episode.

Click here to hear more of my thoughts on this book (and one other penguin book) over on my Booktube channel, abookolive!

[Fiction Addition Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book so much - I am a penguin fan so when I heard about this book I knew it was for me. What a fantastic read. Lindsay McCrae's passion for wildlife began when he was fourteen when he filmed badgers and wrote to Spring watch and asked them to come and take a look. They did just that and so his love of filming animals continued and grew. He asked for a loan from his Mum to buy his first professional camera and his first job was an internship involved in the filming of animals. His quest to film one of the most extraordinary animals on the planet saw him getting his dream job to film the Emperor penguins in the Antartica but that meant that he would have to travel 15,000km from home leaving his wife alone who would give birth to their first child whilst he was away from home for eleven months. Lindsay McCrae spent this extraordinary year living with the Emperor penguins, filming these amazing birds through torturous conditions - male penguins brood their large single egg for sixty four days in winds in excess of 100kmph battling to keep themselves warm to ensure their egg remains in position on top of their feet, no sun temperatures around -50 degrees celsius BBbrrruuu.
Extremely moving in parts and a little cheer from me when Lindsay encouraged an intervention to save the penguin chicks from death following a storm. If you love Animals and learning about their life cycles this is a fascinating, deeply moving, sad, uplifting book. Thank you for the ARC Edelweiss.

[Natalie (CuriousReader) · Rating 2 out of 5]

A memoir of a documentary film-maker getting the amazing opportunity to film emperor penguins in Antarctica for 11 months; this should sparkle and be charged but instead it falls short of any deeper revelations, it's ineffectually written and most of all the negative perspective of the author himself infects everything he writes about what he sees at this southern-most point of the earth.

My Review: https://curiousreaderr.wordpress.com/...

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is Nonfiction/Animals/Nature. The author is a photographer who received a chance of a life time to go spend 11 months in Antarctica to photograph the Emperor penguins. I liked the bits about the penguins. Those little facts were kind of fascinating to read about. It made me want to look at this author's photography.

But this was weighed down with a lot of other stuff that wasn't interesting....at all. Some of this was a struggle....so 2.5 stars.

[Brandon Forsyth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was so ridiculously charmed by this book, which details cinematographer Lindsay McCrae’s year in Antarctica filming emperor penguins for the BBC’s DYNASTIES. McCrae is not a brilliant writer, and there are plenty of eyebrow-raising sections of his experience (particularly around his relationship with his long-suffering wife) that made me unsure if I liked him very much, but his passion for wildlife and the sheer uniqueness of his experience kept me eagerly turning the pages. There’s plenty here about the incredible struggle of emperors, and McCrae doesn’t shy away from some of the horrific things he saw. There’s a brilliant section about saving some dying penguins that had been blown by incredible winds into a deep gully that beautifully describes the conflict between being a documentary filmmaker and also a compassionate human being in nature. There’s also lots here about the unique lives of Antarctic researchers and the lifestyle of doing research in such an inhospitable place that I found endlessly fascinating. One of the more delightful, surprising books I’ve read all year.

[Chochlikowebooki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Z jednej strony zawiodła trochę mnie ta książka, bo spodziewałam się więcej o pingwinach się dowiedzieć, chociaż z drugiej strony pojawiły się informacje o nich, ale nie tak jak ja się spodziewałam. Po drugie to nie jest jako taka książka, ale bardziej pamiętnik McCrae’a, który opowiada swoje 11 miesięcy, które spędził na Antarktydzie i dosłownie co robił w czasie kiedy nie mógł kręcić reportażu na temat pingwinów i w momencie jak je widział co się działo i jak on to odczuwał.

Pewne sceny, które opisywał jeśli chodzi o wykluwanie się małych pingwinów lub inne sytuacje, które naprawdę chwytały za serce były rewelacyjnie opisane i miałam wrażenie, że mam to wszystko przed oczami. I wcale nie były potrzebne, niektóre zdjęcia bo wyobrażałam sobie tak jak było opisane.

Ale nie mówię, że zdjęcia są złe, bo to jest wspaniały dodatek do całej tej przygody, którą opisuje główny bohater i można zobaczyć jakie to są rewelacyjne ujęcia jak na przykład mały pingwinek się wykluwa, albo jak stoi na łapkach swojego rodzica i patrzy na świat przed nim, który stoi otworem.

Jestem wielkim fanem tych ptaków, bo ja jako człowiek nie wiem czy bym odważyła się jechać nawet na rok, aby spędzić czas na Antarktydzie, a pingwiny tam żyją przez cały czas. I naprawdę to są niesamowite stworzenia, które mają taki instynkt i są takimi oddanymi partnerami dla swojej połówki jak się dobiorą w pary, że to aż jest niesamowite.

[Janet C-B · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a memoir about Lindsay McCrae’s experience of living in isolation for a year in Antarctica, while photographing penguins. The memoir includes extensive detail about the author’s preparation for the trip. Once he arrives in Antarctica, the author is very repetitious with details about how cold he felt. I listened to the audio while I was on a long road trip. I really did not enjoy the audio or writing. I considered putting it aside, but finished it because it was part I chose of my Around the World reading challenge. Rated 2 stars

[Nicola Rogers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not the best written book but he isn't an author so I'm not that fussed about that.

Managed to only cry 3 times...

[Meana · Rating 4 out of 5]

El libro se trata tanto de su experiencia en la Antártida como de los hábitos de los pingüinos emperador.

Me pareció muy interesante y escrito de manera cercana.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, written by BBC wildlife photographer, follows his 11th month stay in Antarctica filming a year in the life of Emperor Penguins. Emperor Penguins can only be found in Antarctica. Not much is known about their behaviors, life cycles and future sustainability all while living in the harshest conditions on Earth.

A good book is one that makes you feel like you're really there. This book does just that. As the author describes living in an isolated research station in Antarctica, experiencing eternal darkness, Aurora Austrailus' and filming/adventuring outside in temperatures south of -40°, you feel like you are experiencing those things right along side him. As someone who's always wanted to go to Antarctica, this book was very inspiring to me. There's something about the wildness, expansiveness and harshness of Antarctica that always makes me ponder the existential nature of my life and the world. I wasn't sure if I would find all of the details about the penguins as interesting but they completely sucked me in. I felt invested in the Penguins' daily struggles and triumphs. Learning about their behaviors was fascinating, and I could almost picture them waddling around on the sea ice. When the author said his final goodbye to the Emperor colony, I felt like I did too. What a journey.

[Denise · Rating 2 out of 5]

My Penguin Year, with this book in hand, I sat down to what I expected to be a twofer, true adventure and birds.
I was disappointed. The first page told about seeing penguins; but then it was page 77 before he saw the return of the penguins and page 99 before he started filming. There were interesting scenes of the female penguin passing the egg to the male penguin who would protect it in his brood pouch. Lindsay also told of the two weeks they were stuck indoors because the weather was too violent, with winds at 80 miles an hour and temperatures of -50 F.
He found a rare all black emperor penguin! Jet-black from head to toe, the only bit of normality being a hint of yellow on its neck.
Lindsay worked closely with two other men; he named them and told about them being on the ice shelf with him but he never fleshed them out.
At one point I planned to quit reading but I wanted to see how his return home would be. His wife had given birth to their son while he was in Antarctica for 337 days. The return to wife and son didn’t even use one page.
Maybe Lindsay would have benefited from having another author along side to help him move the story.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

The subject matter is intriguing: Antarctica is somewhere I would love to go, and how amazing to be able to spend a whole year with the Emperor penguins who live there. Sadly this book is let down by a lack of finesse in the writing style. It appears to have not been edited much or at all and the writing is clunky and repetitive.

[readbyjulia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wspaniały wgląd w życie na Antarktydzie nie tylko pingwinów, ale także ludzi zamieszkujących stację badawczą.
Lindsay McCrae spędziwszy tam 11 miesięcy, by nagrać film dokumentalny, błyskotliwie przybliża czytelnikowi proces lęgowy pingwinów cesarskich, opowiada także o trudach, z jakimi mierzyli się członkowie ekipy - zarówno tych fizycznych, jak i psychicznych.

Wzruszyłam się na tej książce 3 razy. Raz, gdy opowiadał o śmierci pingwinków, drugi, gdy opowiadał jak w Anglii rodził się jego pierwszy syn, podczas gdy on spędzał czas na Antarktydzie, i trzeci, gdy w końcu powrócił do rodziny.

Niesamowita książka!

[Clarence · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bardzo przyjemna, osobista książka o człowieku który spełnił swoje największe marzenie.

[CindySR · Rating 3 out of 5]

Those poor penguins.

Not a good book for those who can't stomach animal suffering but an excellent book for those who dream of living and working in the Antarctic.

[Koen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely write up of the 11 months McCrae spent in Antarctica to film a colony of Emperor Penguins throughout the arctic winter.

Emperors, arctic what's not to like. McCrae does an excellent job of conveying the hardships of an arctic winter, what goes in to making a natural history production like BBC's Dynasties and the toll and anxieties of an 11 month stay in one of the most hostile environments on earth. Especially when one's spending those months away with a firstborn on the way.

Mind you, McCrae spent his year in the arctic in a modern German research facility in 2016 so his story is nothing like the classic arctic exploration stories but i found it gripping nevertheless.

The main characters were the penguins though. There's plenty of behavior described in the book and you can't help be in awe of those funny looking birds. Can't wait to watch the film now.

[MichaelR · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read, about the authors year in Antarctica filming a penguin colony. Lots of details about living so remotely and the ups and downs of weather.

[Sandy Nawrot · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's probably because of my son that I grabbed this book on Audible when I saw it. Penguins are most definitely his spirit animal (he even has a penguin tattoo on his bicep) and I've learned to adore these waddly, humorous, fiercely loyal little animals. I'm sure if my kid were offered a trip to Antartica, he would take it, no questions asked. I thought it would be fascinating to learn more about what would be required to endure such a harsh climate where temperatures average -30F, as well as penguin behaviors beyond what I learned in the "March of the Penguins" movie.

Lindsay McCrae is a young filmmaker of wildlife who began obsessing over the observation of nature from an early age. He skipped college and started his career, traveling around the world filming creatures in their natural habitats. After gaining a reputation, after 10 years he was offered the opportunity to live in Antarctica for a year to film Emperor penguins, which was a dream come true. Trouble was that he was newly married with a baby on the way. His long-suffering wife gave him permission to go, however, and he began the preparation...physical conditioning, rescue training, and basically fixing anything that could medically go wrong (in his case shoring up some dental work). And off he went, enduring isolation, subzero temperatures, frightening storms, and above all, witnessing the miraculous mating, egg-laying, parenting and untimely death in some cases.

I found the story of McCrae's entire journey to be absolutely fascinating. The fact that some people have their appendix removed (or other problematic organs) before such an assignment kinda blew my mind! The behaviors of the penguins, as told by McCrae who has a real talent for observing the smallest detail, were remarkable. There was a kidnapping! The males fierce protection of their eggs while the females hunt. A female that clawed her way out of a deep ravine with a baby on her feet! Fascinating stuff. Now with regards to McCrae, he is not a writer. He can be repetitive. But his passion shines through and that is what made an impact on me. I did have moments when I felt he sounded self-absorbed. He did miss the birth of his first child after all, he "forgot" his wife's birthday, and got irritated when his wife wanted to talk about permanently moving closer to her family (would you blame her?). I suppose this is the downside to a spouse who is so totally driven by his or her profession.

The author himself narrates the audiobook, and he really did a wonderful job despite the fact it isn't his day job. He has a pleasant British accent and again his passion shines through.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This book chronicles the author's journey to Antarctica, where he lived for eleven months filming emperor penguins for a documentary. Spending both summer and winter in the world's most remote place, he dealt with harsh storms, equipment that didn't always work as expected in the Antarctica temperatures, and the loneliness from being away from family, even missing the birth of his first son.

This was an interesting look at what it's like to be in Antarctica, not just for a brief look at wildlife and scenery but to actually live there for almost a year, completely cut off physically from the rest of the world for months at a time. I'd never given much thought to how photos and videos of penguins in Antarctica were captured, but this really gave me an appreciation for the harsh conditions videographers weather in order to capture such incredible moments. The book mostly focused on what it was like to film the birds and get to see them year-round, but there was also much discussion about frustrations due to the remoteness of the area and, mostly, the weather that impacted the author's ability to film the penguins and kept him completely frozen, more so than even anticipated.

The writing in here was decent and clearly the author had an interesting story to share, but it felt somewhat basic. This is one of those books that you read to learn about the behind-the-scenes work to get videos in Antarctica, not something you read for the writing itself. I found much of the content interesting, although a bit repetitive at times, but this wasn't as gripping as I'd hoped it'd be because of its simple nature. Still, this was enjoyable overall and I'd recommend this to anyone interested in finding out more about the mating habits of penguins, living in Antarctica, or how nature documentaries get made.

[Brandon McGuire · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. When I was a senior in college, I had to write a paper and give a presentation for Biogeography based on our favorite animals. My top 2 were Siberian Tigers and Emperor Penguins, and although I eventually went with the tigers I’ve always been fascinated with Emperor Penguins and penguins in general.

Therefore, when I wandering the library and found this book with the new ones they had received I had to get it. It definitely didn’t disappoint. Following the journey of McCrae uprooting his life with a baby on the way to spending a year in Antarctica was a wild one to read. There were moments of joy, humor, and sadness that helped propel the story along.

It was absolutely heartbreaking to read about the mass death of the chicks after terrible storms and the carnage that was left behind. It was interesting to read about the struggles that the penguins go through on a yearly basis and how they’ve evolved to battle the elements.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone with even a passing interest of penguins, or even just for a tale about living for a year in one of the most isolated and dangerous places on earth. I read it on breaks and during downtime while at work and it never failed to keep me hooked the whole time.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lindsay McCrae spent a year (I think 2017-ish?) living at the German base in Antarctica, filming the Emperor penguins for a BBC documentary. My Penguin Year focuses very closely on the year without a ton of background, historical or personal. He shares both the experience of documenting the Emperors and the experience of wintering in Antarctica with a small group of people, away from his wife and the birth of their first child. It reminded me of reading Jane Goodall; McCrae is observing and documenting the penguins, and also feeling very attached and emotionally involved with them. It also reminded me of Jane Goodall in that everything is going along wonderfully with the animals until it isn't.

There was one moment where McCrae and his team did intervene to save the life of some penguins and I'm so glad they did. It's maddening for humans to interfere all day long with their skidoos and giant buildings, walking around the pristine landscape in their giant red polar suits, then as soon as an animal could be saved from certain death by the simplest, smallest gesture, suddenly getting very strict about not interfering. The way McCrae and his colleagues reacted was, in my opinion, perfect.

I need an Antarctic book club so I can obsessively compare and contrast My Penguin Year with Apsley Cherry-Garrad's Worst Journey in the World.

[Kristin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fantastic first-hand look at Emperor Penguins inside the Antarctic Circle. Nature photographer Lindsay McCrae spent 11 months at Neumayer III research station on the Queen Maud Land region of Antarctica. While there he photographed and took video of Emperor penguins during mating, egg-laying, incubating, birthing and chick-raising.

This book comes with incredible close-ups photos of the largest penguins in the world and their habitat. Lindsay spent hours capturing the daily lives of penguins in their natural habitat. If you don’t know much about Emperor penguins, this book gives you the chance to discover them. If you are aware of them, you will cherish this look at the harrowing lives they live in the most inhospitable climate on Earth.

This book was well-written with a personal slant and an easy style. I have always been entranced by penguins and this book gave me a lasting admiration for a species with intelligence, grace, and a strong sense of loyalty to its fellow penguins and its own nuclear family. If you are a nature lover, you will surely enjoy this entertaining book.

You can check out the video of Lindsay’s work on BBC’s Dynasties: Emperor, narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me a long time to get through this. The book was great describing Lindsay’s nearly full year at Antarctica as a wildlife cinematographer documenting the lifecycle of Emperor Penguins for the BBC. Loving natural science, I was totally immersed but I also found parts of the book involving the penguins were very distressing. At the end of the book Lindsay includes a quote from an earlier Antarctic explorer. ‘I do not believe anyone else on Earth has a worst time than the emperor Penguin.’
The perils of mating, breeding and surviving were extreme. Still, I am very grateful for this insight and would recommend the book. I’ll be trying to seek out the BBC series now even though it is a few years old.

[Atsuko · Rating 3 out of 5]

Revisiting a childhood dream as an adult... This book definitely points out the realities of actually going to Antarctica that you never thought about as a kid, such as human relationships, physical and mental health, isolation, darkness, animal survival, brutality, and death etc.

This book definitely felt weak without watching the Dynasties documentary that McCrae had worked on. I felt that the descriptions in the book could not compete with the actual footage. Though the strength of the book of course is what the documentary was missing, which was the personal experiences and thoughts of what was going on in the author's head, like the emotional toll of being away from his wife and newborn for months, and the valuable friendships he made.

I also wished there were more photographs. The author described many interesting scenes with the penguins, but I was disappointed that he didn't include photos of them. For example, there was no photo of the rare melanistic penguin or the penguins under the aurora (the latter shows up in the documentary, though).

I think I just prefer seeing Antarctica (videos, images) than reading about it (I guess that hasn't changed). I certainly binged-watched videos on living in Antarctica after reading this book.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a thoughtful gift from a friend who knows I love penguins.

What started out as a bit of a record of experiences ended up with me being emotionally invested in Lindsay, his newborn son Walter, and the colony of penguins. I shed some tears at the end.

I feel that the book benefited from me being able to sit and read the final third of it in a couple of decent stints rather than the odd few pages before falling asleep.

The final film can be seen in the uk at https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Książka o spełnianiu dziecięcych marzeń czyli wyprawie na Antarktydę i obserwacji pingwinów cesarskich z częścią naprawdę cudownych pingwinich zdjęć.

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I may have been a tad harsh on this book last year when I first picked it up. Like many other non-fiction pieces, it starts off a bit slow, but if you’re patient, you get to the beautiful bit. 🐧 I’m glad I decided to pick it back up after a (year) break.

[Paul Naoum · Rating 5 out of 5]

*I received an advance review copy through Goodreads Giveaways.

For anyone who's a fan of BBC nature shows like Planet Earth and Blue Planet, this is a highly entertaining read that pulls back the curtains on what it's like for the folks who venture into the wild to capture the footage. The author spent an entire year in an Antarctic research station, braving the worst storms on Earth and months of total darkness to film emperor penguins for the new show Dynasties.

I learned how isolated people in the research stations are. For 8 entire months, no planes or boats can get to them. Apparently it's actually easier to evacuate someone from the ISS than from an Antarctic station in the middle of Winter. I learned a lot about the behavior of emperor penguins. Lindsay captured behaviors on camera that have never or rarely been seen before, like a penguin kidnapping and the methods they use to survive a terrible winter storm. Or not survive - not all penguins make it, and the book definitely gets emotional at times, but that's the reality of the life that Lindsay is filming. I also learned how much heart and backbreaking work goes into the production of shows like this, that I usually take for granted while I'm watching it on my warm couch at home.

Also I'm not going to spoil anything but there's a moment involving a stuffed toy penguin where I definitely wasn't crying. There was just something in my eye, that's all.

My advance copy didn't include the pictures, which if the author's Instagram is any indication, are spectacular. All in all, a fun read, and definitely check out the penguin episode of Dynasties after you're done reading, you'll know a lot of cool details about the scenes that are talked about in the book.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must read for anyone that likes Emperor Penguins, but also of interest to anyone that is interested in Antarctica. While he is in Antarctica to film the Emperor Penguins and struggling through the weather, you get to sit at home and read of the struggles of filming the penguins near Neumayer station. I was amazed at the difficulties he went through to get the complete life cycle of the penguins while they are breeding. As for his decision after the big storm, I was relieved at his decision. The surprising part to read was the difficulties he had once he got back home and his body had to adjust to being back among people and the germs they carry. I will definitely be looking for the film he helped make. It is on my must see list.