Attenborough still clearly remembers the very first time he visited the tropics-stepping off the plane and into the muggy, perfumed air of West Africa, he says, was like walking into a steamy laundry.

Wang Yuheng, a celebrity well-known among Chinese nature lovers thanks to his knowledge of nature and science, says he loved reading the book and went to some of the places mentioned in it. He also encourages more people to follow suit to have a deeper understanding of nature.

Shu Degan, a paleontologist and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, says the book tells its stories in a simple and entertaining way.

Shu says: "When we see each phase of natural history, we can appreciate both the greatness of evolution and how lucky and how hard it was for us to evolve into humans!"