Douglas Adams might very well have been the most amusing man in history. I'm sure people who read the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy would agree, but I never have. Sure, I've seen the BBC TV series a decade or more ago, but I barely remember it. I mostly read non-fiction nowadays, due to crippling anxiety that makes me reading fiction a nightmare of emotions(don't ask for reason or logic in this, anxiety answers to no one). Luckily, I recently found out Douglas Adams wrote a book of non-fiction where he toured the world for the most endangered animals at the time, in 1985 and 1988, and wrote about his experiences. This is Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine.
It should be noted Mark Carwardine is the biologist who travels with Douglas Adams. Adams job is, as he puts it, is to know as little as possible about zoology and animals, and then write about them, a job which he is well qualified for.
It should also be noted that the book I got was from the library, and its cover looked nothing like the above. It had a simple green background, Douglas Adams name at the top in huge golden letters, four pictures of animals in the middle, small picture s at then, and then the title, Last Chance to see in also golden letters. It looks like an extremely cheap cover, unlike the one above which looks expensive.
The books back describes basically what I already said, with bits of other reviews saying how good it is.
The book is wonderful, even if at times the subject matter gets depressing and serious, Adams never seems to, always with a quip or joke to say about it. While most of the trips are detailed enough to my liking, the starting chapter, about Madagascar's aye aye lemur, is extremely short, but is mostly used as a jumping off point for why Adams is doing this. While Adams was the one who had the idea for the trip, Marks knowledge of endangered wildlife and the original trip to Madagascar is what gave him the idea.
It should be noted that I think the Madagascar trip was supposed to be a one off, I believe, though I have conflicting info on that thanks for the internet. They saw the Aye-aye, the Komodo dragon, Mountain Gorillas, the northern white rhinos, the Kakapo of new Zealand, the blind river dolphins of china, and some of the worlds rarest birds on the planet in Mauritius, as well as the Rodriguez fruit bat. While they also visited the Amazonian Manatee, and the Juan Fernandez Fur seal, Douglas did not write about them in his book, but he did talk about them on the BBC radio show of the same name, I beleive.
While I don't want to spoil the book by telling you everything that happened in it, I will list some of my favorite interactions and scenes from it. The interaction with the so stereotypical it hurt German backpackers/tourists had me laughing a lot. The Land rover hi-jinks (read: Near death experiences) in Mauritius was also put in an extremely amusing way. The driver would look directly at you and away from the road when asking questions, and would not look back until you answered. It was certainly a way to get quick and snappy answers.
I loved the book deeply, and it's only 200 pages, so its a quick read for people without anxiety. There is also a 2009 documentary TV show where a friend of Adams, Stephen Fry, and Mark go back to some of the species they visited to see how they're doing, and I plan to watch that. Unfortunately, not all of the species in the book are alive anymore, or at least are widely considered extinct.
While depressing subject matter, Douglas Adams manages to keep a smile on the readers face while enjoying his book. I also felt that Douglas Adams shared many of my views on life and society. I felt we could've gotten along, and I am sad that he died at the age of under 50.
Either way, if you like animals, if you like humor, or even just Douglas Adams, definitely pick this up.
Excellent review. I want to read it.
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