I love Stephen Fry's sense of humor, and I found Peru through his eyes to be some place I wish I could visit. He says in the introduction that the diary is published with very few changes and this must be true, as there are several parts that could use better editing. Overall a fun read, and good pictures. ( )

I could probably read anything written by Stephen Fry; he’ s a very self-aware writer, in the sense that you know he knows he’s writing for an audience, rather than writing for the sake of the story or chronicling, but as he’s a witty, engaging entertainer, that’s not necessarily a flaw.

Rescuing the Spectacled Bear is one of his shallower offerings; it touches on the history and ecology of Peru, and the filmed events of the BBC’s series, but as travelogues/celebrity diaries go, there is more flash than substance to this book… aside from ranting about the corruption, luxuriating in hotel suites or running to the loo, a basic breakdown of the days events is all you get; the glossy photos of Spectacled bears rarely have anything to do with the text (except the adorable last set) and even the landscape photography is often used as a background for a splashy display of some enthusiastic quote-from-the-text. I understand that this book was published to raise money and awareness for charity, and aimed at people who didn’t necessarily want an in-depth evaluation of the species and its habitat, but honestly, I was expecting to read a lot more about spectacled bears and lot less about Fry’s addiction to gadgets.

There are some lovely passages, that said. There’s a reason why I claim I could probably read anything by the author. When he’s on form, he’s bloody brilliant. He also enjoys garnered facts, and can be steadfastly relied upon to share them, so the reader is bound to pick up something interesting. Personally, I was shocked at the story of Yungay’s tragedy, as shocked that I’d never even heard of it, as much as by the events themselves. Under two minutes – ninety seconds - for a glacier landslide to wipe out a town of eighty thousand people. Okay, I wasn’t born yet, but in the wake of numerous global catastrophes, why isn’t this cited more? Or have I just been oblivious? Huh, shut up.

Finally, Rescuing the Spectacled Bear was written for a good cause. So I’m glad I’ve added it to my collection of things-by-Fry, but I won’t be desperately waiting for ‘real’ non-fiction by the author that isn’t strictly Stephen-centric. ( )

A very easy read, only took a couple of hours to read cover to cover. Very gentle read, but very informative, learnt quite a lot about Peru. Could almost hear Stephen narrating it for me, some nice humour in it too. ( )