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Summary: A hitchhiker's guide to the animal kingdom
Review: Douglas Adams' sense of humour is so strong, it could inject a bucketful of laughs into an obituary. Needless to say I wasn't surprised when this book, his elegy for endangered species, turned out to have a welcome balance between laughter and melancholy.Adams is joined by zoologist Mark Carwardine, as they use their last chance to see a variety of animals on the brink of extinction, such as the Komodo Dragon, the White Rhinos of Zaire, New Zealand kakapos, and Yangtze river dolphins. Adams, amateur wildlife lover, is wise enough to know the purpose of his journey: to shine some of the glare from his celebrity as a "science-fiction comedy novelist" on the issue of global extinction. He does wisely not to downplay the plight of these animals in the favour of commerciality, but manages to produce an entertaining work nonetheless. Carwardine, and the other people we encounter, sometimes come off as little more than characters in a Douglas Adams novel. I am hesitant to believe that everyone he encounters has the same dry, deadpanned British sense of humour. Nonetheless, the characters' eccentricities further shed light on the kinds of people who are willing to undertake the monumental task of saving these beautiful beasts. It is not work for the dispassionate. "The great thing about being the only species that makes a distinction between right and wrong," he notes at one point, "is that we can make up the rules for ourselves as we go along." Which brings up the second theme he hopes to illustrate here. Humans are dumb. No, that's too simple. Humans are egotistical, selfish, wasteful, materialistic, impudent, and dumb. The single, overwhelming reason why most of these animals must fight for their survival is the sheer audacity humans have in moving into their natural habitat, and upsetting the balance of nature. Adams has no time for individual moments of human idiocy, best exemplified by his wonderful line skewering young Yemeni men who insist on wearing rhino tusk costume jewelry: "How do you persuade [them] that a rhino horn dagger is not a symbol of your manhood but a signal of the fact that you need such a symbol?" His exasperation is evident in this and other such pearls of prose. I admit that I read this book more for Adams himself than for the subject matter. It is a credit to the author that by the end, I felt some sense of emotional investment in the animals, without the bitter feelings that usually emanate whenever I am subject to an overt tug at my heartstrings. Adams walks that fine line quite well.
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Summary: Learn cool stuff, have fun reading
Review: Douglas Adams has really got something here. He's managed to bring the whit and fun he exhibits as a writer of the Hitchhiker's Trilogy (ineptly named, we know) to a book that can teach people something. By reading this book, you'll get to learn about some cool endangered creatures and also have fun doing it. What more can ya ask?
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Summary: A Well Written Travel and Nature Book
Review: I just picked up this book to read again after 3 1/2 years. It still holds up as a very well written text, put together with the same tongue and cheek style which has made Mr. Adams such a well known contemporary author. In this book he takes us through his journeys as he explores the status of several endangered and exotic species, and his pointed commentary illustrates how tenuous the situations of many of these species are. Interestingly enough, Mr. Adams, in writing a non-fiction travel related piece, sounds very much like Mr. Bill Bryson, the author of "A Walk in the Woods" and "In A Sunburnt Country." If you are at all interested in exotic travel or biology, or simply enjoy a good story, then this is an exceptional book to read.
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Summary: douglas adams does bill bryson - brilliantly
Review: in 1988, douglas adams took time away from writing highly silly science fiction novels to visit some of the rarest and most threatened creatures on earth. this account of his travels is as funny as anything he's made up, but touching in places too. i don't know how much bill bryson adams has read, but this could almost be one of bryson's travelogues. i say almost - adams doesn't quite have bryson's heart, but he's easily as funny.
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Summary: Humor in Endangered Species
Review: If you need a book for your Biology project on endangered species and need facts, this book is NOT it. If youre looking for drama and enlightment, this is also NOT for you. This book is instead a humor book like the HitchHikers Trilogy (even though its not a trilogy). Its about endagered species like gorillas and other strange fauna, as well as the other stranger species that our biology teachers and Discovery Channel never told us about. Even if you think that you know about all endangered species, are a part of WWF, and spend millions on saving them, you probably have never heard of the many fauna featured in this book and even if you have, this book would make you laugh. But if you think that this book has no seriousness and is all funny, that wouldnt be correct either. Last Chance to See would lead you off loving Douglas Adams and his humor but it'd also leave you collecting pennies in a jar for saving these funny creatures. Even if nonfiction and animals is not for you, id highly recommend reading this book.
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Summary: this book changed my life
Review: I belive this book is the best book ever written. Not only did it made me care even more about endagered species, but now I am going to become a zoologist and study sloth bears in Sri Lanka. I have since formed my own conservation fund (small) and work at a rehabilitiation center for wild animals. This book also made me notice that even at the age of 16 you can make a big difference in this world, for me it has been to conserve endagered species. And it all started with this book. I hope Adams and Carwardine know how this book has effected people like me.
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Summary: Excellent! Funny, interesting, entertaining and educational!
Review: No matter if you are a Hitchhiker fan or interested in environmental subjects or interested in out-of-the-way travel - or not! This book is excellent reading. The subject matter is very serious, but as this is also a travellogue, Adams is able to put a good amount of humor into it as well. Adams is very honest - there is no "I'm such a great environmentalist and writer" stuff in here. Just straight-forward information about the travel and the animals - but the man just formulates himself so well, that it is a pure joy to read. Seldom have I giggled so much while reading a book - and yet I learned a lot about the situation for endangered species - and how not to travel to Africa ;-)
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Summary: Great Book!
Review: This is one of the best books I have ever read. Until recently I didn't have a clue who Douglas Adams was and now I cant put his hilarious books down. A great author who will be remembered for a long time. This was the best book he's written!
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Summary: Grab this chance
Review: If you're an Adams fan, you already know how creative and devastatingly funny he can be. You might not know he can also break your heart. A delightful, sad, funny account of the havoc we're wreaking on our planet. Wonderfully written.
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Summary: Ford Prefect should read this book
Review: Douglas Adams could have worked comfortably within his sci-fi niche for the rest of his career knowing that he had left his mark on the literary world. He chose to take a chance and write a non-fiction account of some of the most unique and fascinating animals on our planet (the same one that Ford Prefect, from the increasingly inappropriately name Hitchhiker's Trilogy, considered "Mostly Harmless"). His addictive writing style made this book impossible to put down. His accounts of the Komodo Dragon and the Kakapo bird are two of the most humorous, yet informative pieces that I have had the pleasure of reading. I was fortunate enough to hear Adams speak at a local university a few years ago. The crowd was decidedly Hitchhiker fanatics but by the end of the evening, he had us all running to the bookstore to find Last Chance to See. Read this book. You'll laugh. And you might even learn something, too.
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