This book was sent to me by Tim from England through a book trading site called Swappingtons. Even though this book wasn't sent to me through BookCrossing, it has traveled a long way and I thought I'd keep its travels going.

Douglas Adams is most famous for writing the novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and I have to admit that's the only other book of his that I've read. That book was a pretty wacky science fiction novel. This book is a pretty wacky non-fiction novel. One of Mr. Adams' favorite things to do is to make fun of people. People in general. Humanity. He likes to point out just how ridiculous we are. And he's good at it. Sometimes he makes me embarrassed to be a human. But that's not the point of this book. Apparently, sometime back in the early eighties somebody working for a nature magazine got the bright idea to throw Douglas Adams together with a zoologist and send him on a trip to Madagascar to look for a rare aye-aye and then have him write an article about the experience. Mr. Adams found this to be so much fun that he made a date with the zoologist for sometime in the late eighties and they travelled around the world visiting various endangered species and he wrote this book about it. Reading this book was rather like reading some of the better online blogs except his adventures were a bit more interesting than the average adventure of a blogger. His writing is humorous and interesting and since the book came in at only just over two-hundred pages long, it kept my attention the whole time. It also had pictures. Every fifty pages or so it stopped for a color photo interlude. Too bad in my copy, an old copy printed by a British publisher, the African pictures were in there twice and there were no pictures of New Zealand or China. Gorillas and rhinos are nice, but I would've liked to have seen the kakapo and baiji, too. Also, since this book was written in the late eighties it makes me wonder how many of the species that he discussed are still alive today. I guess I'll have to do a little research into that. Anyway, this book is worthwhile both for entertainment value and for educational value.

This book is now part of a bookring!

A bookring is when a book is sent from one person to another through a list of members who have signed up for it and eventually ends up safe and sound back home with the person who started the bookring—me!

Here are the guidelines for this bookring:

1. When the person before you on the list is done reading the book they will send you a personal message (PM) asking you for your address. If you feel that you are too busy at that time to read the book within a reasonable time period (about 1 month), ask that person to skip you and go to the next person on the list. If this happens, PM me to let me know what’s going on and, if you want, I may be able to move you down the list so you can try again later.

2. When you receive the book, make a journal entry letting everyone know where the book is. Keep in mind that there are other people waiting to read the book after you, so try not to take too long to read it. A general rule of thumb is to have the book in your possession for no longer than one month. If you know you won’t be able to get to the book within a month, pass it on to the next person on the list, PM me letting me know, and I can move you down the list so you can try again later if you’d like. If you’re reading the book and it’s taking you longer than expected to finish, make a journal entry letting everyone know! Remember, there’s no such thing as too many journal entries.

3. When you’re done (or almost done) reading the book, send a PM to the next person on the list asking for their address. Even if you think you already know that person’s address, it’s a good idea to double-check to make sure their address hasn’t changed—and also make sure the list order hasn’t changed since you checked it last. If the next person on the list doesn’t respond to your PM within several days, try again. If you still get no response within one week, PM me to let me know what’s going on and then skip this person and try the next person on the list.

4. After you’ve finished the book, journal a quick review of it for us letting us know what you thought of it!

5. Send the book to the next person on the list and post a journal entry letting everyone know it’s on its way. Sit back, relax, and watch the journals as the book completes its journey!

This bookring is currently open. PM me if you'd like to join.
The following is the current list of members. The list is subject to change.

1. ermintrude75 (UK) anywhere
2. ziggythecat (UK)
3. Tessla (Sweden)
4. RoryG (Finland) Europe pref
5. martinburo (Germany) anywhere
6. tuz (Brazil) N/S America only
7. chivers (Brazil) Brazil/Portugal/US/Can pref
8. gwendy (NY) US pref
9. sbrina921 (FL) US pref <--- it's here!
10. fanclub (HI) US/Can pref
11. MollyGrue (WA) US pref
12. TWIGMAN (OR)
13. Elspeth (MA) US pref
14. florafloraflora (DC) anywhere
15. Foucault (NJ) US pref
16. catrionamoore (UK) anywhere

Released on Friday, March 26, 2004 at sent to bookcrosser in Mailed, Bookring Controlled Releases.

I mailed this book to ermintrude75 this morning. Bon voyage, book, I hope everyone enjoys you and learns a lot from you!

Brilliant, just brilliant... the writing is a lot like Bill Bryson is a way, Douglas Adams has a clear eye for the ridiculous, and a quintissentially English way of dealing with the petty bureaucrats often found abroad (that is, complain about them from a safe distance), but more than that he writes as "one of us". Not some experienced adventurer, always off to foreign climes, enduring less than basic conditions without batting an eyelid; and not an expert naturalist, full of scientific information about the species he's off to see. Not that there aren't facts about the animals in question, but they're very much in the vein of a down-the-pub conversation, "did you know that...?"

Refreshingly he's not too heavy on the moral message, allowing the stories of his travels and the people he meets to stand for themselves on that score. All in all an extremely enjoyable read. The description of a white rhino grazing as reminiscent of "a JCB doing a little light weeding" will stay with me :)

(A shame that one set of photos seems to be missing, with a duplicate set of some previous ones in its place?!)

On its way to ziggythecat...

Hurray, this arrived in today's post. Thanks to eucalia for starting the ray and ermintrude75 for sending it to me. Love the postcard too ermintrude, very sweet baby baboons :o)

Looks like an interesting read & some great photos including some of komodo dragons - my ds is going to be pleased, he's been watching a series on tv ("Dragons Alive") the last few weeks all about reptiles and these have definitely been a favourite.

Really enjoyed reading this book. Douglas Adams can be very funny, picking up on the ridiculousness of human behaviour.
However the book had serious points to make and got them across in a way accessible both to people who may not have had any interest in environmental issues previously and to those who were already concerned.
The complete insanity of some of the things we've done is shown but there's plenty of hope in the stories of those passionately trying to save near-extinct species.
Wonderful colour photos too.

Book is off to Sweden today.

i have started the book, will write something about it later....

later: I really loved this book. It had everything: weird biologist, funny languages, rare and sometimes dangerous animales, Douglas Adams, exotic places... I could go on for ages.
Since I can call my self a biologist or maybe a future mad scientist, I really enjoyed reading about this strange but oh so devoted humans how did everything to try to save those animals that we with our "advanced twig technology" has almost wiped of this planet. It makes you hope for some future.
Even if it makes me sad that there are still only 30 northen white rhionceros left today.

Everyone should read this book!It should be a mandatory read at school.

sorry sorry sorry ... i didnt mean to hold this book so long.. but lack of money, and then moving made me forget all about the book ..but now it is on its way to finland ....

Got the book yesterday. Thanks Eucalia for organizing the ring. Can't wait to get to this, just have tofinish another book first.

I totally loved the book. It was so funny, even though the subject was serious. But I think the point came through anyway. I especially fell in love with the kakapos :) I think I need a copy in my own bookshelf as well, so I guess it's off to the bookstore.

I'll send this to martinburo in a few days.

Wow. I got this book yesterday and read half of it, then during breakfast I was stopped short by this sentence about how they arrived too late to see this parrot, ever. It should require more words to say that a species has gone extinct. I don't mean that literally, it is a major attraction of Douglas Adams that he can say so much in so few words, and this sentence and its context of very perceptive observations, involvement in what he is describing and his profound humour just jumped out at me with a deep sense of loss.
Thank you for sharing this book.
Sending this to tuz today.

The book arrived today, safe and sound! Thanks a lot! :)

August 26, 2004

What a wonderful book, it did have an impact on me. I can't stop thinking about it!

It'll go to Chivers soon.

August 31, 2004

I've posted the book today. Happy reading, Chivers!

the book just arrived. i'll try to read it as soon as possible but i have other rings with me right now. i'll let you know when i start reding this.

just finished reading this book. i'm really sorry i kept this one for sooo long.
thanks for charing eucalia!!!
since there is no pictures of the baiji i did a little research and find this web site that has some pictures:
http://members.aol.com/cokroach13/main.htm

while i enjoyed adam's writing style immensely, this book just couldn't keep my attention. as i've had it so long already, i decided to send it along. someday i'll track it down at the library and finish it.

this was sent along to sbrina921 at her new home in FL on May 16th.
USPS deliv confirm: #03911361005000012026

Loved the book. I'll be sending it on soon.

RELEASE NOTES:

This book was great. I'm going to buy a copy for myself, but I think this book should keep going around.