Wild: The Life of Peter Beard: Photographer, Adventurer, Lover by Graham Boynton
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Web ID: 15086958An interesting character
Wild: The Life of Peter Beard By Graham Boynton Peter Beard was a very complex and interesting character. He was born to old wealth in America, but he was definitely the black sheep of the family. At an early age he traveled to Kenya and started a lifelong love affair with the dark continent. He was an artist in the field of photography, and used his gifts to promote his ideas about conservation in Africa; he believed that the arm chair do-gooders were using conservation methods that were destroying the wilderness and driving animals like elephants and rhinos to the brink of extinction. Peter was full of contradictions. He was irresponsible, having no concern about his financial extravagances or the value of material things, including his own work. He was a party animal throughout his life – alcohol, drugs, and women were his constant companions. There was nothing he liked better than lively discussions over a range of topics with his multitude of friends. He refused to be tied down, even for the sake of his three wives and his daughter. This is a well written biography of a fascinating man who arrived in Africa as the days of the great white hunter were waning – and basically traded in his guns for his cameras. He was a giant in his field. Thank you, Mr. Boynton, for this introduction to the larger than life character of Peter Beard. "Wild" is an apt title indeed.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
great book!
This book was fantastic! The author, Graham Boynton, did a great job of bringing Peter Beard to life! Beard had so many close calls in his many trips to Africa. What a character! I found Beard’s story fascinating because he traveled in so many different circles, and who knew he was such a mooch! It seems like he leaned on everyone for cash or credit. This is a great Summer read. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the Arc!!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
A life of action and art
Graham Boynton has written a very thorough account of Peter Beard's life, but in the end it seems hollow. Beard was a flawed and frenetic character who, it seems, was a whirlwind of action. His life was in the doing - embracing a life in Africa that went from hunting to photography eventually seguing to New York and art. It was always accompanied with a cloud of other people with whom to party and talk. There was also a parade of mistresses, lovers and three wives. It may have been a charmed life (he had the connections to get him out of prison in Kenya) but he had a darker side as Boynton relates. Unfortunately Beard's estate probably made it impossible to show any of his art and really delve into it, especially his collage diaries. It would seem that some of Beard the person might be found there, but maybe not. His life was certainly one adventure piled on another and on that level worth the read. I received am advanced digital copy of this book compliments of St. Martin's and NetGalley.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
A Complicated Man of Many Talents
Peter Beard was larger than life from his exceptional talent as a photographer, to his love of Africa, and beautiful women. He visited Kenya as a young man and fell in love with Africa, perhaps his most enduring love affair. He married three times, but he couldn’t resist taking many lovers. He was the life of the party, but could never seem to pay his bills and often touched his friends to pick up meals and hotel bills. There was also a dark side. He took drugs and drank to excess. He may have had an undiagnosed mental illness for many years. However, in his later years it manifested as depression and eventually dementia. His death was almost as iconic as his life, wandering off from his home in Hamptons to die in a forest and not be discovered for days. The author was the perfect person to write this biography being a friend to Beard for many years. He tells all the amusing and dangerous stories, but he also manages to make Beard come to life as a complex individual. I enjoyed this book. If’s fun to read because of the famous people and incidents, but it also leaves you thinking about the man and how he lived an exceptional life. I received this book from St. Martin’s Press for this review.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
terrible
This book is insensitive and gossipy
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
A Fascinating Insight to a Remarkable Life
I was not too familiar with the life of Peter Beard before reading this book. But wow, this man was interesting, who lived a life that spanned all across the globe and has associations with the most wide-array of people imaginable. Peter Beard was a photographer, artist, and person who loved Africa and its wildlife. This was the main inspiration for his work. He was extremely popular, he was mauled by an elephant which nearly killed him, was a womanizer, and was constantly broke. This book points out how much of an enigma and walking contradiction that Peter Beard seemed to be. People hated him and loved him at the same time. He was a famous photographer whose work was sought out by many celebrities, he but never wanted his work displayed in a museum gallery (and it never was). This novel was entertaining and well done, but I feel like you had to know a little about the life of Peter Beard before diving into this book. So I do not think I would recommend it to people who are not at least a little familiar with Peter Beard and his life. As a result, there were a lot of moments in this book where I just could not connect or was not feel as invested as I would have otherwise. It was hard to keep track of all the people that were mentioned that Peter associated with and I did not have as much background knowledge on the celebrities or art scene to get as much out of this story as I would have otherwise. Having said this, I feel like this book was well done in conveying how “Wild” the life of Peter Beard was. However, in my opinion the way this book was written, it certainly is a book for readers with specific taste and interests of Peter Beard and the famous, celebrity scene in which this book heavily comprises. Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for a copy of this book. My opinions and viewpoints in this review are my own.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com