Tegelijkertijd hilarisch en treurig boek over wildlife conservation. Van de droogkomische beschrijving van de zoektocht naar een condoom in Shanghai tot de intieme ontmoetingen met zeldzame dieren (waarvan er al twee zijn uitgestorven sinds dit boek is uitgegeven).

Over het belang van conservation, deze laatste zin:
"There is one last reason for caring [...] and it is simply this: the world would be a poorer, darker, lonelier place without them."

Αυτό τό σχετικά παλιό βιβλίο,είναι μία πολύ σημαντική μαρτυρία οικολογίκης σκέψης καί πράξης διότι σε προβλημάτιζει και σέ "πείθει" ότι πρέπει νά νοιαστεις.
Ο Adams εκτός από ικανότατος συγγραφέας επιστημονικής φαντασίας ήταν καί ένας αληθινός ακτιβιστής, όχι "δεντραγκαλιτσας".
Πραγματικά αυτός ό άνθρωπος κέρδισε τον σεβασμό μου με αυτό τό βιβλίο, καί όχι μόνο επειδή έγραψε τό πρώτο (;) και μόνο (;)βιβλίο τού αυτού τού είδους.
Με ξεκαρδιστικό χιούμορ καί ελαφρότητα-οχι όμως ελαφρομυαλια- περιγράφει τά ταξίδια τού στις εσχατιές τής γης σε αποστολή για νά σώσει κάποια απειλούμενα είδη ζώων, πτηνών καί ψαριών.
Συστήνει στον αναγνώστη πλάσματα όπως παραδείγματος χάριν, ο" Δράκος" του Κομόντο, ο "άτυχος" παπαγάλος Κάκαπο,ένα "τυφλό" ποταμίσιο δελφίνι από την Κίνα, καί σέ κάνει νά τά αγαπάς, και νά αγωνιάς αν θά καταφέρουν νά επιβιώσουν. Σάν αφηγητής ντοκυμαντέρ, μόνο πιο αστείος.
Παρόλη την ευχαρίστηση πού πήρα από τό βιβλίο, το λίγο ψάξιμο πού έκανα στο διαδίκτυο μετά για τά διάφορα ζώα που αναφέρονται στο βιβλίο με έκανε να νοιώσω μελαγχολία, αλλά καί ελπίδα. Ελπίδα διότι κάποια από αυτά τά ζώα έχουν σωθεί, καί μάλιστα είναι και πολυάριθμα πλέον(το βιβλίο γράφτηκε στα μέσα των 80's, οπότε έχει γίνει πολλή δουλειά από τότε).
Κάποια άλλα όμως όπως ό υπέροχος λευκός ρινόκερος τού Ζαιρ, έχουν εξαφανιστεί κυρίως λόγω τής ανθρώπινης "παρέμβασης" στο περιβάλλον τους.
Αυτόν δεν θά τόν δούμε ποτέ ξανά.

Μία πολύ ωραία συλλογή περιπετειών που παρέχει τόνους τροφής για σκέψη, καί λίγη αναγκαία αισιοδοξία.
Τό προτείνω ανεπιφύλακτα σε όλους τούς ζωοφιλους/φυσιοδίφες αναγνώστες εκεί έξω.

5/5

I love Douglas Adams's science fiction. Just look at my bookshelves. So it's as a firm fan that I say: Douglas Adams was wasted--wasted--on science fiction.

The man is obviously a science writer.

His science fiction was always good. Clearly. But none of it sings like Last Chance to See. This book is a passionate, loving, critical look at the human species and the influence we've had on our planet-mates. It chronicles the decline, and impending loss, of some wonderful, charismatic vertebrates. It takes us to task for the degradation of the planet, and makes us feel the tragic loss of our heritage, but it never depresses. It bounces up from the darkest moments with Adams's trademark dark humor. Of course, that humor has the effect of throwing all the rest into sharp relief, highlighting the tragedy and wounding your heart. That's what makes it such a powerful book, and one everyone should read.

The beauty is that it's also smooth and lucid enough that everyone can read it. He never preaches, and the book always keeps the tone of a story told around a campfire, among friends.

If this doesn't inspire anyone who reads it to care just a little bit more about the non-human, but still precious, species that inhabit Earth, then I will give up trying to save them tomorrow. But at the same time, Adams's courage, compassion, humility, and humor make a compelling case for humanity's continued existence as a species.

In this book, Douglas Adams teams up with zoologist Mark Cawardine, as they travel around the world, documenting critically endangered species. By which I mean species with barely enough members to survive the next few decades, if that.

As always, it's a treat to read Douglas Adams' writing, even when it's non-fiction. Humorous anecdotes and witty asides add color and a more human dimension to something that would be bleak and almost voyeuristic otherwise. As the team documents species after species, you gain a glimpse into the world of wildlife conservation and how their tireless efforts are being challenged at every step by greed, industrialization, and often just plain human negligence and ignorance.

The impassioned way Adams himself writes about the sheer magic and beauty the world's biodiversity offers us suffuses the book with a spirited sense of hope and the need to look at the world's biodiversity with more wonder, to realise just what's at stake.

brief synopsis:
the preface provides this information quite nicely.

setting:
madagascar
zaïre
china
mauritius
mwanza, tanzania
nanjing

named personalities:
mark carwardine - the author
alain le garsmeur - a photographer
gaynor shutte - a bbc radio producer
chris muir - a bbc sound engineer from glasgow
stephen faux - a sound recordist
douglas adams - the other author
struan sutherland - a man in melbourne who knows more about poisonous snakes than anyone else on earth
david attenborough - a person who said that bali is the most beautiful place in the world
kiri - a charming indonesian with a squarish face, a shock of wavy black hair, and a thick black moustache that sat on his lip like a bar of chocolate
hieronymus 'mus' aka moose - a much more straightforward indonesian
condo - a guide
gulliver - the titular character from gulliver's travels
marshall mobutu sese seko kuku ngbendu wa za banga - the president of the republic of zaïre
stanley - presumably sir henry morton stanley, a welsh journalist and explorer
livingstone - presumably david livingstone, a scottish physician and christian missionary
leopold - a belgian king
murara - a rifle-carrying guide who claimed to be ex-commando
serundori - murara's companion of similar ilk
jozi - a young female gorilla
'helmut' - a young, fair-haired, vigorous, incredibly well-equiped german student
'kurt' - 'helmut''s companion of similar ilk
conrad aveling - a field researcher in goma who has for years been responsible for gorilla conservation work
h rider haggard - an english author
noël coward - an english musician
kes hillman-smith - a rhino expert
annette lanjoun - a chimpanzee expert
charles mackie - the senior management adviser on the garamba rehabilitation project
fraser - kes' park conservation manager husband
hannibal - a carthaginian general
tarzan - a fictional adventurer
napoleon - presumably napoleon bonaparte, a french military leader
josephine - presumably josephine de beauharnais, napoleon's wife
bill black - said to be one of the most experienced helicopter pilots in the world
salvadore dali - a spanish surrealist artist
henry moore - an english artist
don merton - a benign man with the air of a vicar apologizing for something
te lawrence - a british archeologist
mike - dobby's wife (below)
dobby - the warden of little barrier island
arab - a freelance kakapo tracker
ron tindall - a scotsman from department of conservation; the district conservator of rakiura
boss - arab's dog
phred - dobby and mike's son
trevor - a field worker
ralph - kakapo 8-44263
zhou - a baiji dolphin expert
mao - a chinese revolutionary
richard clayderman - a french pianist
george harrison - a sitar player
james fenton - a writer
isaac newton - an english scientist
ho - a guide
richard lewis - an ornithologist
carl jones - a brilliant but completely mad welshman in his late thirties
wendy strahm - an equally obsessed botanist
pink - a weird mauritius kestrel
tom cade - a world authority on falcons
al capone - a notorious american gangster
genghis khan - a mongolian invader and conqueror
rupert murdoch - an american media mogul
james - an elderly and eccentric mauritian
jacques - a dapper and arrogant frenchman from réunion
mark twain - an american writer
raymond aquis - a teacher from mauritius
alan munn - a dog handler
ari - alan's english setter
jane - a female kakapo
andy roberts - a kakapo project manager
snark - a nine-year-old male kakapo
heather - a nine-year-old female kakapo
mpiko - a baby northern white rhino whose name means 'courage'
molende - a baby northern white rhino whose name means 'perseverance'
minzota - a baby northern white rhino whose name means 'a star'

i admit i've got a wildly different idea of the book's premise beforehand, given one of the authors' reputation.
he's no benchley but this book is definitely moving.

Adams and Mark set out over 30 years ago in search of endangered species across the world, and documented their wild encounters, travel mishaps and mosquito bites in comical detail. Adams' fast-paced and engaging writing keeps you entertained as you accompany the team to meet rare birds, lemurs, Komodo dragons, gorillas, rhinos and their passionate conservationists. By the end you are uncomfortably reminded that the human species is the proverbial "bull in a chinashop", having spent centuries oblivious to the accelerating damage we wreck on delicate ecological balances. We can choose to ignore this today, or make an active effort (not just as online warriors) to give future generations One More Chance...

Published in 1990, this book by SF author Douglas Adams with help from naturalist Mark Carwardine describes their efforts to see certain endangered animals such as the Komodo dragon and the white rhino to lessor known species such as the kakapo parrot, the aye aye, and the baiji dolphin. They were accompanied by a couple different BBC folks for a radio program.

Written in Adams' typical humorous style, at times it reminded me of Mark Twain's "Innocents Abroad" in his descriptions of various officials, personalities, and customs. The book is a quick read (I actually read it again after the first reading). It still makes a statement however, without getting too preachy about the sad status of these animals. Adams and Carwardine were not completely successful, they only get a short glimpse of the aye aye, and never see a baiji dolphin. But I loved Adams' description of his close view of the mountain gorilla (with photo).

Since then, a couple of the animals have (probably) become extinct: the Northern White Rhino and the baiji dolphin (the first dolphin we have wiped out). A couple of the others are in lessor numbers despite the efforts of many. A bit of good news, some of the very, very, rare birds that they saw on Mauritius have increased in numbers, mostly due to a naturalist named Carl Jones.

Sadly, in 2001 author Douglas Adams also become extinct.
Speaking of 2001, I wonder if those aliens made the right choice in putting that Monolith near those Australopithecines...

This book gives you a chance to hitch a ride with Douglas Adams as he explores the world with an zoologist in an effort to find, and publicize, rare and endangered species. That makes it sound a lot drier than it is. Adams does a superb job of reminding us why we should care about disappearing species, while making us chuckle at his misadventures in the process of reaching the places where those animals live, which are not very reachable. He is witty and insightful and humble. He describes places and people so vividly, with just a few perfectly chosen words, that you feel you are right there with him. His description of Fiordland in New Zealand was just like I remember it, but captured better than I ever could!

The book was published in 1992, and it inspired me to look up the status now (26 years later) of some of the animals it features. The wikipedia page about conservation efforts for the kakapo (a New Zealand flightless parrot) is gripping reading itself. Progress is being made for some animals... yet not for all, and we continue to destroy habitat, create pollution, and drive species into extinction.

Mark (the zoologist) gets an epilogue in the book, which contains this excellent and poignant metaphor: that in the process of trying to record newly discovered species before they become extinct, "it is like someone hurrying through a burning library desperately trying to jot down some of the titles of books that will now never be read." Poignant and powerful.

Last Chance to See is a wonderful book by the late Douglas Adams. It is not Science Fiction. It is his account of his travels around the globe to observe some of the planet's most endangered species. It also contains liberal smatterings of his customary humour. He also shows us his great insight and compassion. Such a shame that he moved on before any of the creatures that he tells us about in this book.

One of those books that is simultaneously really interesting and informative, while still being bingeable. I blasted my way through this while traveling to Vermont and finished it within three days, which might not be fast to some but it's fast to me.

This is basically a little memoir from Douglas Adams, the author of Hitchhiker's Guide, about the time when he travelled around the world with some environmentalists to write about certain species of rare animals that were near extinction. Given that this was written about 30 years ago, many of those animals are unfortunately now extinct, which makes the book a little more poignant.

He is incredibly funny, often with multiple laugh out loud passages per page. The writing is often touching, especially when he profiles the sort of insane people who do their best to keep these species alive, often at great personal costs. I would recommend this book to literally anyone, and have been for the past several days.

It’s a funny book because it’s Douglas Adams, but very sad thinking about all these animals on their way to going extinct… The book was written in 1990, and I was curious to see if any of the species are doing better. I know that the Northern White Rhinos are essentially extinct… there are just 3 left. And the Baiji or Yangtze River dolphin is most likely extinct as well. I am fascinated by the Kakapos, a parrot who is flightless and nocturnal with a lek breeding system, living in New Zealand. I was happy to see that they are still alive: there are now over 100 of these weird birds. (altho it's weird that the last updates on many sites were in 2014, I hope everything is still okay with that program.)

This book makes for a very pleasant reading. Douglas Adams writes in his inimitable style - wickedly witty at times. To be honest, it is quite difficult to mesh "wildlife conservation" and "humor" but this book handles it very well without missing out on the theme.

Each of the book's chapters talk about a different animal species in a different geography and entails the adventure of the author and his companion (Mark Carwardine) who were assigned to cover endangered animals by the BBC.

The book ends with a Sibylline story which seems to be scaringly apt for our times. It adds a powerful punch to the book's message and drives home the point.

http://musingsmith.blogspot.com/2016/...