This is the best book I've read this year. What a wonderful gem.

As I neared the last few pages, the more I hoped that Adams and Cawardine travelled across more places on the planet, saw more of the amazing and delicate species, so that I'd never have to stop reading this book.

This book is part travelogue, part an ode to nature conservation, part a serious attempt to help create empathy for the species on the brink of extinction and nature in general, and fully what Adams was born to write.

Adams does an incredible job at grabbing hold of the readers attentions and never letting go. Two pages in, and you've given in to his signature style and humor, and before you know it, he's taking you across a magical journey of planet earth - albeit one that is nearing the end of what it used to be. I've grown more empathetic towards nature and species in general, and Adams is a tour De force rallying this vital information across in the most superlative form of informative humor.

Please read this book as soon as you can lay hands on it.

It is interesting reading this compared to David Attenborough's descriptions of Zoo Quest. Only a few decades difference but very different feel.

An unexpected problem I've encountered with living in a massive city like New York is that I periodically experience really intense cravings for nature (see: the biophilia hypothesis). When this happens, a manicured park or crowded long island beach just won't cut it for me. So whenever I get the big city blues and can't escape I try and find a book that'll make me feel like I'm camping under the stars/hiking in the Amazon/climbing Kilimanjaro. I can confidently say that this is the BEST nature replacement book I've ever come across.

Adams writes in a hilarious, engaging and entirely non judgemental way about his 1988 tour to find the most endangered species on the planet. In the thirty intervening years since it was published the book has lost none of its wit or relevancy. Along with Mark Cawardine, he went to try and find some of the rarest species on the planet in the wild.

The aye-aye in Madagascar:


(Basically what I imagined Dobby to look like before the HP films came out)

The Komodo Dragon in Indonesia


(There might be a bit of forced perspective going on in this picture)

The kakapo in New Zealand


(When Mark Cawardine returned thirty years later with Stephen Fry, one of these little fellas er... took a shine to him)

The Northern white rhino in Zaire


(There are now only three of these left in the world, all live in Kenya and are protected 24/7 by armed guards...)

Mountain gorillas in Zaire



The Yangtze river dolphin in China


(Sadly now extinct)

And the rarest bat in the world in Mauritius



I’d strongly recommend this to basically anyone and I'll definitely be reading it again, maybe to coincide with Towel Day  one May 25th...

I love this book; possibly more than I love the Hitchhiker Series. Last Chance to See is a secret treasure and more people should know about it. Adams uses his gentle wit to shine a light on what the world is in danger of losing – birds and bats and dolphins. If you want to see a clever writer use his powers for good, pick up Last Chance to See. You won’t regret it.

In many respects this is Douglas Adams’ best book. Being non-fiction, the plot is taken care of, and Adams’ observational wit offsets the grave subject matter. What results is a humorous travelogue and rallying cry, at once poignant, profound, cautionary and hopeful.

Naturforscher Douglas Adams und Mark Carwardine reisen um die Welt (Australien, China, Mauritius, Uganda und co), um aussterbende Tiere in ihrem natürlichen Habitat zu besuchen.
Die Suche ereignet sich schwierig weil nur noch wenige Exemplare dieser Tiere leben. Von tödlichen Komodowarenen, Gorillas, Baiji Delphinen bis Kakapos.
Das Buch handelt von diesen Reisen. Es ist sehr humoristisch geschrieben & gibt dem gesamt Eindruck bittere süße. Denn seit den 70 ern ist der Bestand vieler Tierarten beschleunigt zurückgegangen. Und ausgerechnet der Tourismus ist auf vielen Ebenen gerade das was Tiere vor dem finalen, irreversiblen Tod ihrer Art schützt.

I read this decades ago, and as expected it's very funny, Adams is a very funny man. But it's also heart-breaking. I imagine for some of the things listed here that last chance to see has come and gone. Oh how I wish Mr Adams was still here, still able to comment on this rediculous world we've made for ourselves. He is missed.

3.75|5

This book is a travelogue, about a writer and a zoologist who went around the globe in search of exotic animals that are seriously endangered, almost extinct. Douglas Adams is the writer, and author of the hilarious science fiction comedy series, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. In this book, he again adds humorous touches, but not nearly as far-fetched.

Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine travel around the world in order to get a story for the BBC. Just as much about the animals, it is also about the journey itself. Douglas Adams tells his story with incisive remarks about the people they meet, the cultures, and the manner in which the cultures view their endangered species. The creatures they seek include the northern white rhino, the kakapo, the komodo dragon, the mountain gorilla, the Rodrigues fruitbat, and the Yangtze River dolphin.

While this is not a recent book, it still is a great read, and is still totally relevant to today. The book includes a selection of photographs, that illustrate each of the sought-after animals. I especially appreciate the reason that Adams gives for protecting these endangered animals. While he observes that animals and plants can provide us with life-saving drugs and food, pollinate crops and provide important ingredient, the most important reason for protecting them is that "the world would be a poorer, darker, lonelier place without them."

As grim a book as it is (dealing with the dying of species and all), I laughed out loud in multiple places. Douglas Adams has a beautifully absurd way of looking at the world (if you've read the Hitchhiker book(s) you know what I'm talking about). This read will fascinate you with the interplay of small things that combine to form large ecosystems, and make you want to see places, people, and animals from all the corners of the globe.

This is a review of a 2nd hand copy of the Ballantine Books edition of Douglas Adams and Nark Carwardine’s Last Chance to See. 3.5 stars rounded down. Last Chance to See reads like a personal diary by Douglas Adams, recording his experiences while recording a BBC Radio series about endangered species. Whatever their actual status at the time or since, the program included visits to the home and habitat, of nine animals and their usually just as endanger habitats.

The book is at its best as we meet the humans and institutions that are passionate, even obsessive about saving some obscure bird or fresh water river dolphins or what are almost always remote and unlikely animals in far away habitats. There is delicacy of decisions between keeping the last few safe from tourists while hoping that some publicity might generate the needed funds to last through another season or budget cycle. One has to admire this kind of stubborn refusal to let it go, where that means something will be lost forever.

Against the continuing belief that the world is too big for humans to make worldwide changes; the loss of an animal and especially if due to the destruction of its native habitat is a worldwide loss.

To keep this from being a series of sad puppy eyed reports, BBC included the sophisticated humor of Douglas. He is at his best with observations like: it was the development of branch-based technology that began the events that ends with having one set of advanced branch-based technology using primates, aka humans using mics to record the sounds of a primordial tool using primate, the Silver Back Gorilla.

In too many other instances he is simply grousing about the primitive accommodations on the way to the remote locations, and the officious process bound bureaucracies especially in recently independent, formally colonial outposts. These can become distracting complaints. Occasionally humorous, too often repeated. BTW just how comfortable should hotels be in remote places where tourist may not be welcome?

Last Chance to See is a fair enough book, it should have been better.

this is exactly why I love Douglas Adams, his ability to add a humor and comedy to real life and important matters is unmatched!

I never thought that I'd enjoy reading/watching a documentary after Carl Sagan, let alone laughing while reading! Recommend

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