Last Chance to See

1990

travel
endangered species
journeys
rare animals
zoology
interactive multimedia

The story

An interactive multimedia exploration of the authors' trip around the world in search of endangered species. Contains the unabridged text of the book Last chance to see, a reading of the entire book by Douglas Adams, and over 800 full-screen color photographs. Allows the user to either read or listen to the book, to choose any chapter within the book, and to explore the many sidebars that provide scientific information about the animals and stories about the authors' experiences as they traveled around the world.

What it’s like

Warm, wry and unhurried, with Douglas Adams reading the full text in his dry, conversational English voice, so listening feels like being talked to over a late dinner rather than lectured. The visual side is more than 800 full-screen colour photographs of animals and field sites, set against plain on-screen text, giving the experience the feel of a well-stocked expedition album you dip into at leisure. The mood is curious, self-deprecating and gently melancholy: the lightness of a comic travelogue sits over a real worry about vanishing creatures. Chapters move at the pace of a road trip, with brisk anecdote, then a pause for a sidebar of field science, then back on the road. The arc follows two wry companions who grow fonder of the animals and of each other as their search goes on. Intensity is very low: no violence, no gore, no fear, just occasional wistful notes about extinction. It suits a slow Sunday, a commute, or a rainy afternoon with a cup of tea, and readers who love nature writing with a sharp sense of humour and a soft spot for odd creatures.

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