To say that Chris Packham is well-known is an egregious under-statement. Noted author, photographer, television presenter, tireless campaigner for wildlife conservation; Packham is quite likely one of the most readily identifiable naturalists in the world. If I did not loathe the modern over-use of the word, I would even refer to him as a celebrity. However for all who may think they know Packham, there is another side to him, a side of which even he himself has only recently come to know and understand; a side he has now shared with all in his new memoir Fingers in the Sparkle Jar.
An early reviewer in The Daily Mail described the book as “brutally honest and raw.” Mark Avery has called it “brave and powerful.” Craig McLean of the The Radio Times characterized his interview with Packam about the book “searingly honest.” BBC Radio 4 has even already featured Packham himself reading long passages from it in a five episode series on their “Book of the Week” program. Needless to say, this is a book that has, in the short time since its publication, certainly elicited a strong and wide-spread response.
I’ll be reading it for myself very soon, and as always, reporting back on what I found in its pages – including, I hope, an explanation of just what its rather cryptic title means.
