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Last Chance to See.... | 
 enlarge | Authors: Douglas Adams, Mark Carwardine
Publisher: Pan Books
Category: Book
List Price: £7.99
Buy Used: £0.01
You Save: £7.98 (100%)
New (3) Used (21) Collectible (2) from £0.01
Rating:  23 reviews
Sales Rank: 10981
Media: Paperback
Edition: New edition
Pages: 224
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.8
ISBN: 0330320025
Dewey Decimal Number: 590
EAN: 9780330320023
ASIN: 0330320025
Publication Date: November 8, 1991
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: nice copy of classic book quick delivery edges slight tanning
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| Customer Reviews: Read 18 more reviews...
 Take a Chance on Douglas... July 30, 2008
Ian Wood, Author of 'Here's 2 Absent Fathers'
Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine show us `more exotic wildlife than you'd be wise to shake a stick at' highlighting many of the species of animals on the verge of extinction in this excellent book which is as relevant now as it was when first published in 1990.
Originally commissioned to write an article for the Observer newspaper on the virtually extinct Aye-Aye Lemur in 1985 Douglas and Mark teamed up four years later to make `Last Chance to See...' initially as a Radio programme and then written up as this highly entertaining and informative book. We go on a trip to see Komodo Dragons, Mountain Gorillas, White Rhinos, Kakapo Parrots, Baiji Dolphins before arriving at a bird sanctuary on Mauritius. This is the perfect ending of the book as Mauritius is where the Do-do became extinct and the parallel is drawn that if we don't want history to repeat then we must learn the lessons it teaches.
I read this book after enjoying Adam's Hitch Hiker and Dirk Gently books and although this is very different to them the brilliance of his writing shines through and we are entertained whilst the message is hammered home. So long and thanks for all the facts...
If you only ever read one book - make it this one. July 28, 2007
JS Craigy (North Wales, UK)
It is hilarious - it is sad - how can you cry and laugh at the same time? Read about the Kakapo!
I bought and read this book the week it was released. I quoted from it this afternoon. My 6 year old son asked me about Kimodo dragons - he wants one for his birthday - I could explain exactly why I was saying no. I think that although this book is over 15 years old it is extremely relevant to today. We must learn about our disappearing world - this is the easiest, funniest and most painless ways to do it. I hope Douglas and Mark were as proud of this book as I am of their writing it. Every week we lose hundreds of species - I'm not the conservation gestapo, however I do think more about what I do to the world since I read this book. Maybe you will too.
Last Chance to See September 11, 2006
dogbarkssome (England)
7 out of 10 found this review helpful
Most readers will probably be more familiar with Douglas Adams fictional output, but any fans of Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy et al would be making a grave mistake if they failed to investigate this book. Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine's globe-trotting journey to visit some of the most endangered species on the planet is not only a thought-provoking treatise on the plight of extinction but also a funny and warm travelogue, with Adams playing the role of perpetually bemused Englishman abroad. Amusing, insightful, important and highly readable.
Don't blink! July 17, 2006
Stephen A. Haines (Ottawa, Ontario Canada)
13 out of 15 found this review helpful
Somewhere in the depths of its vast corporate wisdom, the Guardian/Observer news organisation found a pearl of good sense. The pearl hatched a precious jewel of an idea. Send Douglas Adams, creator of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, accompanied by zoologist Mark Carwadine, to seek out some of the Earth's disappearing species. His account is classic Adams, with vivid description, poignant observations and incisive study of the people and places he encountered. The age of this book is of small account, even with the "Mark's Last Word" update segment closing the book. The book remains a pleasure to read.
Starting by his admission that he was "entirely qualified" for his role as "an extremely ignorant non-zoologist", Adams then describes their visit to Madagascar to find the aye-aye. A nocturnal lemur that "seems to be assembled from bits of other animals". He notes that the island was bypassed by the monkeys due to continental drift. It was the lemurs that occupied the aboreal environment. This was fine for the lemus until a different monkey, humans, arrived and began cutting down the trees. The lemurs, having fewer places left to hide, are increasingly constrained for habitat. This, of course, is the theme of the entire book.
The touring team moves through Southeast Asia to view the komodo, which may be the origin of the many "dragon" myths. Komodos are eating machines. Adams description of the way tourists are entertained by feasting komodos isn't something for the squeamish. Yet as he rightly points out, there is a tourist dollar factor to consider in how some disappearing species are to be saved. Government action is to be considered, but when wildlife becomes symbolic to a regime, endangered animals are just as likely to be further threatened. A "Leapordskin Pillbox Hat" resting on a President's head isn't the best example of conservation of species.
Of all the poignant accounts in this narrative, the kakapo must rate very high in our concern. Adams sets the scene with a vivid description of New Zealand's South Island - a place to "make your brain quiver". Landing a helicopter in that landscape also makes the brain quiver as Adams account of flying onto a ridge top demonstrates. His radio operator refuses to look over the edge while interviewing the pilot. But all the skilful piloting is of no avail as the team seeks the object of their quest. A strange, flightless bird, whose mating call was like "A Heartbeat in the Night", no longer offers his call from the ridge top. The kakapo, which inhabited the mountains for millennia, mate infrequently in a courtship beset with difficulties. With no natural predators, they failed to adapt to human-introduced dogs, cats and rats. Consequently, the population is down to about forty individuals when Adams visited New Zealand. In this case, a government has expended much effort in protecting this plump, lonely bird. An island suffered an extinction due to New Zealand's conservation efforts - it killed every cat on it. Free of predators, the island is now home to all the kakapos in existence. Every parrot bears a number tag, and a name. We meet finger-chewing Ralph whose sharp, powerful beak that never did duty as a defensive weapon.
Adams travelled to Africa to find rhinos and China to locate baiji dolphins in the murky Yangtze River. The rhinos almost escaped his gaze, but the baiji remained out of sight. The silty river caused the dolphins to adapt their hearing to life in the dark, but the multitude of noises created by human boats confuse them. The slaughter of dolphins by boat propellers is exterminating them. More active disturbances by our species have already extinguished the dodo on the island of Mauritius. Other species face similar fates. Adams encounters one of conservation's more exotic figures, Carl Jones [who also received attention from David Quammen in "Song of the Dodo"]. Jones' methods of preserving the Mauritius kestrel provides Adams with one of the most hilarious accounts in the book. How well Jones has succeeded remains to be determined.
The book is a delightful read, but that doesn't distract from the seriousness of the issue, nor Adams dedication to species preservation. Graced with some enchanting photographs, this highly personalised account still captures the reader's heart. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Superbly brilliant... November 7, 2005
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
I was recommended this book as part of my ecotourism degree and the more i read, the less i could put it down. It was a superb insight into the world we know so little about under the surface. An interesting, highly informative read with an amusing side which never mocks the message but only contributes to the thought-provoking story that is the severity of the rapid disappearance of these unique animals.
A book to make you laugh and cry...
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