David Suzuki: The Autobiography

This is the story of one man’s passion for the planet. A passion that for several decades he has brought to the world through his research, his writings, his broadcasting and above all through his life and the way he lives it.

One of the first and strongest influences on David Suzuki was the racism he encountered when he and his family were detained in an internment camp in Canada during World War II. His early experiences as an outsider informed his understanding and empathy with minority groups, and particularly with first nation and indigenous people around the world.

As David Suzuki details his teenage years in Canada, his college and post-graduate experiences in the US and his career as a geneticist, we trace his developing interest in the environment and its myriad constituent parts. David’s environmental message became synonymous with the long-running TV series The Nature of Things, which he has hosted for over thirty years.

David writes compellingly of the environmental crises, challenges and opportunities he has seen throughout the world in his travels as writer and broadcaster. Several chapters of the book are devoted to his work to help save the way of life of tribes in the Amazon, and with that the vital ecosystem of the Amazon basin. His meeting and his friendship with Kaiapo chief Paiakan makes compelling reading, as do his numerous meetings with world leaders from Nelson Mandela to the Dalai Lama.

In 2006 David Suzuki celebrates his seventieth birthday, but with no signs of slowing down. His life can fairly be termed a work in progress.