Ben Southwell

Last Chance to See: In the Footsteps of Douglas Adams is the 2009 follow‑up to Douglas Adams’s and Mark Carwardine’s original Last Chance to See from 1988. I waited a few months after reading the first book because I was afraid the second would suffer in a back‑to‑back comparison, but I don’t think that would have been the case. In this one zoologist/wildlife photographer Mark Carwardine’s companion is Stephen Fry who was smart enough not to try to fill Douglas Adams’s shoes. show more From reading between the lines, I take it he was there primarily for the BBC television documentary, leaving the writing in Carwardine’s more than capable hands. Mark and Stephen follow in Adams's footsteps by revisiting – or attempting to revisit – some of the endangered species from the first book to see how they have fared over the intervening years. Sadly, for some it is not good news. Will there be another 20‑year update in the near future? I hope so. show less

Some 20 years after Carwardine's trip with Douglas Adams, he is joined by Stephen Fry in a repeat trip to see some of the same and some new endangered animals. This isn't quite a companion book to the TV series as I had hoped, but rather a book-version of the TV series; most of the narrative in the TV series is in this book (and vice versa) and, since I've seen the TV series on more than one occasion (and recommend it highly), this turns out to be more a reminder of the show than any new show more information. It's still funny and interesting and, unfortunately, just as scary as Adams' original book; two (i.e. 25%) of the animals that Carwardine saw with Adams in 1985 are now de facto extinct, and many more will follow unless us humans get a real grip on ourselves. Fast. I wish the book had more photos, but that's a small complaint and there are plenty available from other sources. show less

A rare book that one regrets finishing - you want the stories to go on and on. A zoologist teams up with an comic actor to roam the globe in search of rare and elusive species. This is a sequel to the original account published with Douglas Adams in 1998 (?).