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Summary: Last Chance to See
Review: Last Chance to See Ballantine, 1990, 222 pp., $...
Douglas Adams ISBN 0-345-37198-4
Last Chance to See, by Douglas Adams, is a powerful and insightful look at the alarming number of endangered animals and the attempts being made to preserve them. Written by Douglas Adams, the hit writer of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series, Last Chance To See is a non-fiction book that appeals to the entire range of senses. Adams manages to intertwine humor into a glum topic, which sets this book apart from others, such as Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
In the book Adams travels around the world with a zoologist, Mark Carwardine, and relays the humorous and sad details of everything he sees. In one part he receives a letter from a government official in the Zairian airport. The letter, which is supposedly written to the citizens of the country asking them to help the visitors, is not even written in the most common language. Adams does a great job with his imagery and draws the reader into the beautiful areas that he sees these magnificent animals in.
Even though chapters of this book were written between 1985 and 1989, Adams is able to tie them together beautifully to create a story that never stops. Most people should enjoy this book because it has many faces. It is a comedy yet it still speaks about the animals and their habitat. The book is accompanied with interesting color photographs of the animals Adams treks around the world to see. I really enjoyed this book. As fan of the comedy series I believe that it follows in it foot steps. So whether you are a fan of comedy, non-fiction, or just interested in animals Last Chance To See if a must read.
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Summary: Gets the message across with humor..
Review: I picked up this book because like so many others, I'm a huge fan of all of Douglas Adams' work. I didn't know what I was about to read, but this book definitely surpassed all of my expectations. Adams and Carwardine tell the true story of their various journeys to exotic locations around the world to track down endangered species for a BBC radio program. Using Adams' trademark sarcasm and humor, the seriousness of the subject is eased into readers' perception while still providing plenty of material for those who are already champions of endangered species. Seeing the humorous style used by Adams in his fiction works applied to a nonfiction topic is refreshing and enjoyable.This is a truly excellent read for anyone who is a fan of Douglas Adams or environmentalism, and I guarantee you won't be able to put it down for long. :)
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Summary: hilarious, if over credulous
Review: Douglas Adams is best known, and rightly so, for his hilarious Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books (and radio serial and tv series). But after a while, the succeeding entries in the series (and in the Dirk Gently series) have a certain sameness. It's not that they aren't funny, more that the unvarying tone and the set up of the jokes becomes, if not tedious, at least repetitive. In 1988, however, Adams took his same skeptical view of existence on the road and went in search of some of the most endangered species on Earth and the resulting account of his adventures is fresh and very funny. Adams and his "coauthor" (in a similar position someone once said, there is nothing more junior than being George Steinbrenner's junior partner), Mark Carwardine, who is a zoologist, traveled to Zaire to find the white rhino, to Indonesia looking for the giant Komodo lizard, New Zealand to see the kakapo (a nearly extinct bird), and so on. The actual travelogue is filled with humorous incidents and Adam's wry observations. From a trek with a freelance Kakapo tracker, to spending twenty hours at sea with a goat that's been dead for three days--the Komodos like them that way--to a flight with a Zairean pilot who leads passengers and crew in a prayer including the words "we commend our lives into thy hands Oh Lord," there is ample opportunity for a skilled humorist and Douglas certainly is that. His discussion of environmental, ecological and ethical issues however is disturbingly politically correct; he is unable or unwilling to unleash his sarcasm on the received wisdom of the Green crowd. So here he is on the topic of Gorillas and Language: Why [try to teach apes language]? There are many members of our own species who live in and
with the forest and know it and understand it. We don't listen to them. What is there to suggest we
would listen to anything an ape could tell us? Or that he would be able to tell us of his life in a
language that hasn't been born of that life?... Maybe it is not that they have yet to gain a language,
it is that we have lost one. It's so treacly it makes your molars hurt--we don't listen to the forest people, we wouldn't understand the gorillas and perhaps we don't deserve the wisdom they could share. C'mon. Prattlings like this, which are mercifully few, cry out for a humorist of his rank, perhaps P.J. O'Rourke, to respond. One of the dangers of the form of relentless irony that characterizes Adams' writing is that you need to be ready to apply it to yourself as well. It's sort of disorienting to go along with him as he essentially pokes fun at the entire Third World and then suddenly have him present these bourgeois envirocommunist platitudes with a straight face. The broader issue implicated by the book is actually pretty interesting. If we accept his figures, there are about 1.4 recognized million species and an estimated 30 million more still to be discovered. We all know about the poster child extinctions--dodo birds, carrier pigeons, etc.--and entire species disappear every day, whether we notice or not. The question arises: so what? Dodo birds look cute enough, but how is the quality of our lives effected by their disappearance? Rhinos are pretty cool looking but I'm never going to see one in person, what do I care if all that's left of them is the photographic evidence and written record which are already my sole experience of these beasts? Adams offers up the typical twaddle about biodiversity, the ecosphere, the interconnectedness of life and all that jazz, but what about the extinctions we had nothing to do with, like the dinosaurs? Obviously, even before we attained the power to cause mass extinctions they were occurring. Why should we try to stop them now? And if they are a natural occurrence, is it right for us to try to reverse the process. Moreover, if you accept Darwin's theory of natural selection, hasn't mankind been selected? If we want to open a chain of Kentucky Fried Kakapo restaurants, aren't we simply fulfilling nature's plan? As I said, the book is very enjoyable and I strongly recommend it. But the politics are just unexamined rubbish and because they are presented as gospel truths, are out of tune with the joyfully acidic tone of the rest of the book. GRADE: A-
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Summary: Hilarious look at extinction
Review: Douglas Adams looks away from the Hitchhiker's guide to the universe, into our own little world (Mostly Harmless as he referred to it). What he finds of course is that mankind is anything but mostly harmless. He looks at various species on the verge of extinction, and efforts to save them. The linguistic patina Mr. Adams draws over the subject is breath-taking, and certainly worth a second and closer evaluation. Readers will be amused by his language and his train of thought. But a closer read of the subject will show the deeper undercurrents of thought that have made Mr. Adams' works timeless classics. One particular recommendation - for all the people making documentaries on these animals - Mr. Adams writes an illuminating close to an episode involving Komodo dragons (I will not spol the surprise). In particular, he focuses on anthropomorphizing animal behavior, and the senseless vicarious pleasure we derive from that. If that doesn't open a few eyes in National Geographic and other "fine" makers of animal documentaries, I don't know what will. Its a pity Mr. Adams is no longer around to provide other perspectives for us to ponder.
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Summary: One of Douglas Adams greatest books
Review: READ THIS BOOK. I believe it is some of his finest (observational) humor Admas has ever written. It also tells a compelling educational storie about some of our planet's endangered species.
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Summary: Laughter, joy, and profound sadness
Review: Speaking personally (as a professional ecologist, for what it's worth), I have grown weary of the pedantic, condescending misanthropism that characterizes so much environmental writing. Too much doom and gloom consumes the soul.
Imagine, then, the thrill of discovering Douglas Adams' "Last Chance to See!" Adams' compassion (for all things, excepting perhaps a certain variety of tourist) is obvious and his sense of humor is contagious. His insights into life as an endangered species and our relationship to the natural world are equally remarkable.
This book is a quiet little miracle. Douglas Adams had a big heart and it shows on every page. What else can I say?
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Summary: Humorous, interesting- well worth reading
Review: I am not an Adams fanatic and found his other books amusing, not wildly funny. I enjoyed this one much more, with Adams being funny, but also very, very serious at times. This book is a mixture of nature and travel writing and comedy, and the resulting cocktail is a resounding success. Adams could have been a much better travel writer than somebody like Bill Bryson, who tries too hard to be funny and can be very condescending. Read this whether you like books on nature or not. You will not be disappointed.
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Summary: His best work, definitely...
Review: This was the book that meant the most to Douglas Adams himself, because unlike the Hitchiker or the Dirk Gently series, "Last Chance to See" is a true story. It is the story of Douglas Adams and Marc Carwardine, a zoologist, travelling around the world to experience species of animals that are close to extinction. One of the animals, the kakapo, a parrot in New Zealand, is reduced to only 40. His journey opens your eyes what it means when something is gone forever, when there is no more chance to see it in real life. You experience different cultures and customs through the eyes of a writer who has written about them all along, but by using alien worlds as metaphors, this time it is real. I have read this book many many times, but sadly have to say that the event that really opened my eyes about what it means that you missed your last chance to see is Douglas Adams's death, with it, I missed my last chance to see. Because of this book, I developed an interest in evolution and a thirst for knowledge about the way this world works. I think it is essential reading for everyone who is remotely interested in anthropology, zoology, wildlife preservation or simply a good book.
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Summary: Not a comedy, but very thought-provoking
Review: Douglas Adams has recently passed, but this volume remains as a testament to the type of person he was. Not just a humorist, but a true hitchhiker, wanting to see and explore every frontier. He brings the reader closer than most will ever get to some animals that, by their very scarcity, have become truly beautiful.
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Summary: He Said This Was His Favorite Book
Review: With Mr. Adams' recent death, I decided to buy several copies of his books to give to people as gifts. Strange? Maybe. I can't explain why, but I did the same thing when Richard Gorey died. This book, "Last Chance to See," will be the one I purchase most. Much as I loved all of Adams' books, this is my hands-down favorite. It is hilarious at several points, in Adams' trademark style, but beyond that, it has heart and soul. The last chapter is, in its way, crushing. One more reason it's my favorite Adams book: He told me, in an email exchange a couple of years ago, that it was HIS favorite. I felt fortunate to be able to swap a few words with a man that brought me so much laughter, and with this book, a real sense of wonder and responsibility along with it.
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