Last Chance to See

This is one of my favourite books. It is a palimpsest—a serious document about humanity’s effects on the natural world overlaid with Adams’s hilariously absurdist worldview. This book is different from most other popular science books in that it sort of isn’t one; it’s more of a travel book, with Adams acting as the uninformed everyman repeatedly confronted with the realities of an unfolding ecological tragedy and interpreting them as only he could.

Extinction is not an inherently amusing subject, and this book is a sobering account of how much biological diversity we have already lost, yet at the same… show more.

Serious writing about animals going extinct and how we are all to blame doesn’t necessarily resonate with everyone. Different communication approaches are needed.

In this book, writer Douglas Adams, and Zoologist Mark Cawardine document their travels to see very rare and endangered species like the Kakapo and the blind river dolphin. Never shying away from the realities faced by these species, this book has a wonderful, engaging lightness of touch that rides above the richness and wisdom underpinning the stories being told.

I love this book, not least because it makes me realize that, despite being very much a nature… show more.

Douglas Adams didn’t leave us enough books before he died, and so I find it strange that many Adams fans have somehow overlooked this gem, in which he applies his famously quirky wit to a real-life environmental cause. I’m recommending this one now because it perfectly exemplifies the idea that, in order to be truly sad about the plight of an endangered creature, you first must have a good long laugh at the creature’s expense. Adams makes me feel as if a Komodo Dragon is, not just majestic, but a friend that I’ve gone pub crawling with. 

This might just be my desert island book. I’m not ready to put a pin in that statement just yet, but I can’t think of another book that captured my heart quite like this one.

Written by Douglas Adams, of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy fame, and British zoologist Mark Carwardine, this 1990 masterpiece takes the reader on a round-the-world journey to encounter some of the most endangered and charismatic species on Earth. Destinations include Zaire, China, New Zealand, and Mauritius. Subjects include blind river dolphins, the Komodo dragon and the kakapo – a giant, flightless parrot that is… show more.

In this rollicking, wildlife adventure Douglas Adams takes a break from The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy to come back to Earth in this important non-fiction work about some of the world’s most endangered animals. I loved the humor and sensitivity this fiction writer brings to the natural world, showing us just how important each being is in the grand scheme of this planet.

What happens when a science-fiction writer accompanies a naturalist to observe animals before they become extinct? Douglas Adams is known as the author of The Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy, but his observations of severely endangered animals add humour to this very serious subject. As well as other locations, he visits Mauritius, visiting some places Gerald Durrell helped establish, Rodrigues, also in the Indian Ocean, and Komodo Island in Indonesia where he observes Komodo Dragons in a contrived tourist attraction. Notably, since the book was published over twenty years ago, one species has been lost forever, and at least one… show more.