Last Chance to See

Rating:
Summary: In Search of The Weak
Review: 11/01/2003
In Search of The Weak
This is a review of a novel called The Last Chance to See, which is written by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine. This is an American duo who are highly obsessed with conservation of wildlife. They were part of a team that was sent by Observer Color Magazine to look for some of the world's most endangered animals Adams is a writer and Carwardine is a zoologist. I like this book because it is so captivating that, as I read it, I feel as though I am a member of this animal-searching team.
Adams displays a high level of intelligence throughout in his writing and this is one reason I would recommend that everyone reads this book. Besides teaching us about wildlife conservation, he tells us about how people outside America do live. Now I am for example, more informed about the poor infrastructure in China and how Chinese behave on the roads while driving or riding their bicycles. The book has indeed refreshed my mind and I feel like I have been out for a safari around the continents.
In a recent survey by a popular magazine, it was observed that many Americans did not only fail to identify correctly many countries on the world map, but that they also had difficulties locating some American states! If they read The Last Chance to see, their passion to go out and have a "chance to see" will be ignited. This will help them to learn more about the endangered animals and acquire general knowledge about the rest of the world.
There are others who ask, "What does the dying of animals in some remote countries of the world have to do with me? "Such people do not appreciate that the tenants of planet earth are closely interrelated and, like one advert by MSN says, "the flapping of the wings of a tiny butterfly in one place can cause a storm in a distant location" . It is a fact that the world is increasingly becoming a global village and we can only ignore what is happening elsewhere to our own peril!
Yet others argue that extinction is nature's way of maintaining balance. True, nature has to take its course but we have the ability to control much of what nature would like to do. For example if we live in a place that is prone to earthquakes, we avoid putting up high rise buildings. Likewise if we notice that a kind of fish is threatened with extinction due to water pollution, we should not wait until the species is wiped out. We should try to identify the problem so that we can find out how to save the animals. This is essentially what Adams and company are doing.
These gentlemen are very daring. They accept to go to remote places where they have never been to. A case in point is the tour that they take to parts of New Zealand where the terrain is so rough that very few expeditions have ever been made. We can learn from this pair because many times we have great ideas, which exist, only in our minds. The two gentlemen show us a good example of how we can plan and execute a difficult project.
I also like this book because of Adams's meekness. He praises and gives credit to his colleagues very often. He for example credits photographer Alain for all the good photos. He does the same to Richard and Carl, both of whom he says that their "first obsession" was birds. Richard and Carl were bird specialists. We have all met people who are guilty of professional pride-the kind who keep shouting about what they have achieved. I call them the "I" people. Last Chance would certainly help such people to see and appreciate the achievements of other people.
Of course there're some who do not appreciate what this team has done. They say that the areas covered were very minimal and that the tours were too brief to merit any credit. It would be wrong to allow such a weak argument to make us ignore the work done by this team. While what they have achieved may be only a fraction of what needs to be done, it's also true that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Furthermore, the effects of what the group is doing will be multiplied many times because the knowledge from this book will be passed from generation to generation.
On a scale of 1 to 5 stars, this book scoops a 4. I won't give a 5 because on a few occasions, Adams goes too far when criticizing the behavior of the local people. I'm giving this rating because the book is simple and hence appealing to a wide population. So what? Let everyone go out and learn by having the "last chance to see"

Rating:
Summary: I Wanna See
Review: Reading Last Chance To See, has opened my eyes. There are so many places that I need to travel to now. There are so many endangered species that I need to see now. This book has changed me in some ways. I really never thought about extinct or endangered animals until I read this book. Now I wanna see these animals and help in some way. This book talks about the animals from all areas of the world. So many different countries.
I would definitely recommend this book to lots of people that I know. I would recommend this book to people like me. People that don't really have a sense of what is out they're in the world. This book just gives you a little taste of that. Just enough to get you interested and concerned. Last Chance To See says enough in the title. It is really last chance to see what Adams and Carwardine are talking about in this book.
Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine give great tales of their adventures. They go through many mishaps just to get to some of their planned destinations. I think that is what is so great about this book. There is comedy. The adventurers are real. They do whatever it takes to just see this one animal, or in some case's a plant. That tells the reader just to go for it, no matter what it takes.
I would rate this book a very high four. I give it that rating because this book is very easy to read. This book teaches you something new in almost every page. This book has humor and it makes you laugh. I gave it a high four because it's not the best book I have ever read, but it's a pretty good one. It's a book that kept me interested.
I usually don't like to read books. I am more of a magazine reader. This is a book that I would definitely recommend to magazine readers like me. It's more of an adventure then just a lot of facts. I first thought that, that is what the book was gonna be about. When you read about endangerment, its facts. This was actual real life stories.
I wanna see what Adams and Carwardine saw. I feel like I have to do something like that. This book tells you that if you wanna see it then go for it. Do whatever it takes to see something that really interests you. Put a little adventure in your life.

Rating:
Summary: They Said I Needed a Title
Review: I actually preferred the book "Last Chance to See" by Douglass Adams over "Ishmael" by Daniel Quinn. Not because one book was crap and the other wasn't, but because of personal taste. I enjoyed "Last Chance..." because not only did it have its moments of comedy, but it also had its serious side. I delved into the descriptions of animals that are on the verge of annhilation. From the Komodo Dragon to the Aye-Aye, it gave a very good look at a lot of species that I didn't even know existed. "Ishmael", as good as it was, was a very diffcult read, even for me. And I have read a lot of books that were usually above my age group's actual reading level. I want to be honest: I don't care to read a book just because someone says that I have to read it for a class. Although I love to read, a lot of books that are assigned by teachers, for the most part, don't catch my attention. I'm a person who, if not being caught by the book in the first two pages, will put it down. For example, I love the "Lord of the Rings" series. But when I tried to read "The Fellowship of the Ring", I became so bored that I started falling asleep. It was either put the book away, or risk spending the next five years of my life trying to read a book two pages at a time.

Do not mistake what I am saying as an excuse. It's just an example of how interested I can get in a book. "Ishmael" didn't do it for me. It was an interesting book. I'll give it that. But I didn't want to continue reading it. It became frustrating with all of the in-your-face philisophical ideals that the gorilla abd the man were debating. "You're not 'Goliath'." "What does it mean to have identity?" Yes, these issues are things people face, but they spend too much of their short, little lives worrying about who and what they are. It doesn't take a huge amount of time to figure this out. All it takes is some time, not a lot of time, to just sit down, and focus on what, and on who you are. It may be a difficult question to answer, and the answer may be a long time in coming, but at least you can quickly begin getting ideas as to the answer.

Also, the characters in the book, unlike the author of "Last Chance..." spent their time living in the past. They were living in all the hurt, and anxiety, and remorse, and hatred that they had brought with them into adulthood. The man was still pissed because he was the only surviving member of his family from the Holocaust. Okay, it happened to a lot of people. No need to harbor a grudge against his Creator because he had become a survivor, and there was certainly no sense in being pissed just because nobody wanted to teach him when he was a kid. He hated his past, but couldn't do anything to change it... and his obsession with being hurt kept him from looking to the future. At least Douglas Adams was trying to save the future of beings that rightfully deserve to live.

"Last Chance to See" was good in that it presented issues about animals that are endangered in a manner that us not offensive or in your face. Believe me, I like good offensive humor or rhetoric, but still, there needs to be some tact. And I feel that this book ("Last Chance...") had some. Not a lot, but some. However, I would not recommend the reading of this book to any friends because I have a lot of friends who do not like to read. Secondly, the ones that do like reading prefer books that are works of fiction, not a collection of essays written by a guy who compulsively buys bottles of aftershave from the duty free cart on his flight to China.

Rating:
Summary: Last Chance to Read
Review: You know, I normally wouldn't read a book titled, "Last Chance to See". It wouldn't stick out to me or jump out when I walk by browsing, say at a library or something. If I did happen to pick it up by some miracle, and browse the summary and quotes of praise by various media types on the back, I still wouldn't take it home, in all honesty. Perhaps I'm close minded, mean, or just don't really care about the environment (The whole book is about saving animals and how importandt it is to do), but stuff like this has never gotten me excited.
Well, guess what, I go to school. And so you can guess that I read it. The story goes like this. A writer(Douglas Adams, the author) and his animal freak friend (Mark Carwardine)travel the world to view and report on various endangered species. As the book comes to a rather sad and moving cnclusion that what we are doing to out planet and it's inhuman inhabitants is, if not anything else, sad. And out of the whole book, through Douglas' various adventures and realizing the dire and extreme situation that some animals are in, that was the whole point of the book and the most influential to me: that what is happening is just sad. He doesn't scold the readers into this conclusion either, if that's what you're thinking, but just paints a realistic picture of the state of things that most people, himself included, don't usually think about.
So, am I glad that I read this book? Yes. There are a couple small parts that I lost interest, as in any book, but it's very interesting and entertaining as a whole. Douglas Adams has an exaggerated and deadpan sense of humor that makes situations that could be dry very funny and exciting. He talks about these animals that you've never heard of before and makes you want to know more about them. And although I'm not anywhere near sending money to save an endangered monkey or declining to buy a fur coat (that is if I wore fur coats), I would say that the book might have budged something a little in my brain to at least think, yeah, it is sad.
Should you read it? I don't know; should you? Just kidding. I would say if you are set on your views of this planet and don't really care whart happens to it, then this will give you the other side of that argument in a genuine and honest way. You don't have to be afraid of being called uncaring, or worry about pages and pages of facts and numbers on the death rate of a rare bug in Swahili (Well, maybe a little but it's not that bad). And if you love animals and are big on animal's rights, well then to read it would be a no brainer.
The writing is good and for the most part keeps you entertained. There are parts of the book that will make you laugh out loud. I don't think it's on the level of a life altering experience, but it's good. If I had to rate the book from one to five, I'd give it a four. To give it a five would be unrealistic, but to give it a three would make some of you decide not to read it at all, and, that would probably be just sad.

Rating:
Summary: Who Cares
Review: Last Chance to See is a book about a group of scientists/journalists that travel to far away places looking for almost exticnt animals. The book was very entertaining, yet it made some very good points. It encourages you to look around yourself and to think about what you do before you do it and how your actions can affect the world.
When I first started to read this book I thought to myself, "Who Cares?" Why should I care about some strange bird that is almost extinct, or a white rhino. Why on gods green earth should I care. This is the conclution that I have come to, I have to care because it is common courtesy. Is it right that an animal should be killed only for the benifit of myself?
No, never, if I was an animal I would want the same common respect that a human deserves. Who would devote their entire life to these creatures? Anyone with a passion for life. After reading this book I understand where people come up with this feeling of protection.
You can feel the authors passion throughout the book. Anyone who takes a two day journey so that by some lucky chance they might get a glimpse of some people forsaken creature, has dedication. Any book that can make you feel what the author feels, or make you think is a book worth reading. I would recommend this book to anyone with a sense of humor and a passion for thinking outside the box. The book was well written and kept me engaged

Rating:
Summary: On The Edge
Review: After reading Last Chance To See I have a little better appreciation for the people who devote their lives to the preservation of an animal, or animals, that is on the verge of disappearing from the face of the earth. These people put a lot of hard work and effort into something that they believe in with their whole heart. I respect them for that.
In this collection of short essays from different locations all over the globe we see stange and unusual creatures that most of us have probably never heard of. I find it fascinating how the author describes the animals in ways that we who have maybe not seen these particular creatures can easily get a picture of what features and characteristics these animals possess. In addition to the animals, there are many interesting people that we meet along the way as well.
I would eagerly recommend this book to anyone because even if you don't agree with the ideas, at least you are made aware of what is going on in the world around you. As inhabitants of this planet it is good for us to know what effect we have on our environment and what we need to do for that effect to be a positive one.
On a scale of one to five stars I would give this book a four. It doesn't get a five because in some places the author goes off and takes us somewhere else that takes away from the story. Other than that the book is very interesting and descriptive. The stories are from all over the world and yet I feel as though I am right there along side a huge silverback gorilla or a reeking komodo dragon.
All in all this book was a great experience for me and I am glad to have read it and found out more of what is going on in the world around me. These animals are living on the edge of extinction, and they don't even know it. I leave you with one final thought: Now that we know these facts, what are we going to do?

Rating:
Summary: Far and Away
Review: Douglas Adams received a call, one day, requesting that he travel to the far away island of Madagascar. He was called on the pretense of writing a story on an endangered lemur called the Aye-aye, but it turned out to be much more for him. This trip ended up being the first of many ventures to far off places in search of various endangered animals. All of these things he wrote down in a book entitled Last Chance to See co-written with zoologist Mark Carwardine. The book takes you to many different places, from Madagascar (as aforementioned) to Codfish Island, off of New Zealand. You will also be introduced to many different people, from the crazy driving ornithologist Richard Lewis to the long-bearded Kakapo tracker Arab.
Adams does a fine job of combining the historical facts with humor to keep your attention. He also gives you a good look at how hard some of these people are working to keep these animals alive, and some with very little support or none at all. Adams stated sveral times that he is not an animal expert but he was willing to use what little knowledge he had and wanted to learn more.
So now that we are aware of these things what do we do now? Perhaps we should think twice befor dumping out trash wherever we like, or killing whatever we like. On the other hand we shouldn't get too concerned. That may cause more problems. Once the balance of an ecosystem is disturbed it can be vary difficult to fix the damage. In many cases it makes the situation worse than it was in the first place. We should try not to disturb mare then we already have. This book has opened my eyes a little bit more to the people who are trying to do these very things.
Though I didn't agree with some of the things he stated, such as his views on evolution, I did enjoy the book. I found some of the facts interesting and parts of it quite humorous. Three because it held my attention most of the time and make me laugh in parts. but some of it I found a little dull and it wasn't a subject that I normally read about. I would recommend this book to thise who are fascinated by far off places and are interested by animals, but I would also recommend it to those who maybe don't think of those things very often, (which ptetty much includes eveyone). This book will make you aware of some things that maybe you haven't thought of in a while or never thought of. Are we really aware of what's happening far and away?

Rating:
Summary: WHO CARES, I CARE
Review: Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine is an engaging and stunning long voyage of adventure through the world's wildlife kingdom. This book is a sequence of expeditions Adams and Carwardine went on to look for some of the world's very unusual and most endangered animals. These authors don't think twice to present the alarming evidence and relate the details of their serious pursuit in a lively description. Whether chasing the endangered Kakapo over rough lands, the white rhinos of Zaire or searching for condoms in China, they keep their sense of wittiness.
Reading this book has made me realize and understand that every animal and plant is an essential part of its natural environment. In the last paragraph of Mark's epilogue he writes: "There is one last reason for caring, and I believe that no other is necessary. It is certainly the reason why so many people have devoted their lives to protecting the likes of rhinos, parakeets, kakapos, and dolphins. And it is simply this: the world would be a poorer, darker, lonelier place without them." I agree with Mark, animals are beautiful creatures and should be valued because without them the world would be dull and dry.
This is an outstanding selection for readers who take pleasure in voyages and escapades. I would definitely recommend this book to people who associate with the Green Party, environmentalists, and adventurers. I would not suggest this book to my fellow peers because most of them are not in college; much less do they vote so they most likely wouldn't understand why I am telling them to read this book. Their attitudes would be like "who cares" about endangered animals and plants.
This book kept me intrigued and took me to places I've never been before. I rate this book a 5. Like I said before, if you are not into endangered or extinct species, adventure, or find yourself relating to my peers, then you are probably not going to enjoy this book. But, if you take pleasure in saving animals then I would urge you to pick up a copy of Last Chance to See.

Rating:
Summary: "So What?"
Review: "So what?" That is the question I would often ask myself when I would hear people try to preach about the fact that we as humans are doing so much harm to the world. I would get completely frustrated because I didn't feel that it was our fault animals were going extinct. I just simply thought humans were more intelligent and therefore deserved everything we were creating for ourselves, no matter what we destroyed in the process.
Last Chance to See started out a litle dry and I wondered if I was going to be able to take yet another author telling me how horrible humans are. But, actually, this book was completely different. The authors never take it to the extreme in their efforts to solve extinction. THere is no preaching in this book. The facts are simply laid out and it is left completely up to the reader to do with these facts what they choose.
Whether you believe humans are to blame for extinction of valuable animals or not, you would enjoy this book. I can say that after reading it I definitely think twice about simple daily activities, because I never realized just how severe animal extiction is. I still don't believe that humans are to blame for the extinction of animals. I will say that we sometimes act in what may apppear to be selfish ways, but I think we truly have good intentions.
Read Last Chance TO see. It has the ability to make you question your opinion without ever once having to preach to you. It is full of interestiong facts while at the same time the authors manage to throw in a little humor and make you laugh while you learn. It may make you stop asking the question, "So what?"

Rating:
Summary: Dragons, Gorillas, And Kakapo?! Oh My!
Review: Last Chance To See is an adventure everyone should be a part of. The stories never take the same path. As other documentary essays just inform you of the animal you are reading about, Last Chance To See informs and asks you to help in the conservation process. I find myself thinking about animals a lot more now that I have read the book. Definitely consider reading Last Chance To See.
Now that I have read the book my ears tend to hear endangered and perk up a bit. Everyone has a different way of looking at animals that are endangered. Now, after reading the book, I don't see them as endangered at all. That word is no more to me. I only see animals as "there or not."
I believe we, as humans, are to take care of the animals in this world. Douglas Adams, author of Last Chance To See, makes you see how ridiculous our efforts are to help the endangered animals. More often then not, we as humans ruin the animal's natural habitat. Tourists come in to a fake environment, planned out for the animal getting fed on a very strict schedule, never having to move more than a couple feet. The poor animals become lazy. Not because of themselves but because we make them lazy. The book has definitely changed my take on animals.
This book can be for everyone though. You don't have to be on one side of the fence or the other in regard to endangered animals. You just have to like animals. Who doesn't like animals? I suggest this book to those that are adamant about conservation, like to hear about cool animals or just like a different kind of documentary.
These essays are written very well by Adams. He brings you through the trip and all the problems they encounter. However, these are not normal essays. You aren't subject to endless lists of information. You are actually brought along with their group as they encounter White Rhinos, Silverback Gorillas and the Baiji Dolphin. Adams even adds humor to the story and that makes a big impact when you are hearing about animals you didn't even know existed.
In my eyes this book gets four stars. You may ask why after all the praises I gave it, it didn't get five, well, I don't think I have ever encountered a book worthy of five stars. Last Chance To See is definitely a good book. You will enjoy the humor, adventure and definitely the "colorful" natives as I have. I enjoyed the read from beginning to end.