- Lyall Watson
Lyall Watson (
April 12 ,1939 -25 June 2008 ) was aSouth Africa n botanist, zoologist, biologist,anthropologist , ethologist, and author of manynew age books, among the most popular of which is the best seller "Supernature". Lyall Watson tried to make sense of natural andsupernatural phenomena in biological terms. He is credited with the first published use of the termHundredth Monkey in his 1979 book, "Lifetide". It is a hypothesis that aroused both interest and ire in the scientific community and continues to be a topic of discussion over a quarter century later.He was born in
Johannesburg as Malcolm Lyall-Watson. He had an early fascination for nature in the surrounding bush, learning fromZulu and !Kung bushmen. Watson attended boarding school at Rondebosch Boys' High School inCape Town . He enrolled at age 15 at Witwatersrand University, where he earned degrees in botany and zoology, before securing an apprenticeship inpalaentology underRaymond Dart , leading on to anthropological studies inGermany and theNetherlands . Later he earned degrees in geology, chemistry, marine biology, ecology and anthropology. He completed a doctorate of ethology at theUniversity of London , underDesmond Morris . He also worked at the BBC writing and producing nature documentaries.Around this time he shortened his name to Lyall Watson. He served as director of the Johannesburg Zoo, an expedition leader to various locales, and
Seychelles commissioner for theInternational Whaling Commission .In the late 1980s he presented
Channel 4 's coverage ofsumo tournaments.He was married three times. His first two marriages ended in divorce, and his third wife died in 2003. He was the eldest of three brothers, one of whom (Andrew) lived in
Gympie, Queensland ,Australia . It was while visiting Andrew that he died on25 June 2008 . [cite news|title=Lyall Watson|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/2236703/Lyall-Watson.html|publisher=The Telegraph|date=2008-07-02] [cite news|title=Lyall Watson|url=http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/views/obituaries/2008/07/04/lyall-watson-64375-21226576/|publisher=Liverpool Daily News|date=2008-07-04] [cite news|title=Lyall Watson|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/jul/23/pressandpublishing?gusrc=rss&feed=books|publisher=The Guardian|date=2008-07-23]Writing career
Lyall Watson began writing his first book, "Omnivore" during the early 1960s while under the supervision of Desmond Morris, and wrote more than 20 others.
Bibliography
*"Omnivore: The Role of Food in Human Evolution" (1972)
*"Supernature: A Natural History of the Supernatural" (1973)
*"The Biology of Death: A Matter of Life and Death" (1974)
*"The Romeo Error" (1974)
*"Gifts of Unknown Things: An Indonesian Adventure" (1976)
*"Lifetide: a Biology of the Unconscious" (1979)
*"Whales of the World: A Field Guide to the Cetaceans" (1981)
*"Lightning Bird : An African Adventure" (1982)
*"Heaven's Breath: A Natural History of the Wind" (1984)
*"Bali Entranced: A Celebration of Ritual" (1985) - published in Japanese only
*"Dreams of Dragons: Essays on the Edge of Natural History" (1986)
*"Beyond Supernature: A New Natural History of the Supernatural" (1986)
*"The Water Planet: A Celebration of the Wonder of Water" (1988)
*"Neophilia: The Tradition of the New" (1989)
*"Sumo: A Guide to Sumo Wrestling" (1989)
*"The Nature of Things: The Strange Behaviour of Inanimate Objects" (1990)
*"Lasting Nostalgia: Essays Out of Africa" (1992) - published in Japanese only
*"Turtle Islands: Ritual in Indonesia" (1995)
*"Dark Nature: A Natural History of Evil" (1995)
*"Monsoon: Essays on the Indian Ocean" (1996) - published in Japanese only
*"Lost Cradle: A Collection of Dialogues" (1997) - published in Japanese only
*"Warriors, Warthogs, and Wisdom: Growing up in Africa" (1997)
*"Jacobson's Organ and the Remarkable Nature of Smell" (2000)
*"Elephantoms: Tracking the Elephant" (2002)
*"The Whole Hog: Exploring the Extraordinary Potential of Pigs" (2004)References
* [http://www.worldwhoswho.com/views/entry.html?id=wat-0230 WATSON, Lyall] International Who's Who. accessed
September 3 ,2006 .External links
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