Now a bit of an ironic book, since, sadly, you've now missed your last chance to see Douglas Adams himself.
An important book because it is bollock crunchingly funny and therefore a joy to read. Adams and Carwadine journey to some of the most remote parts of the planet in search of living things on the edge of extinction and their encounters with the various bureaucratic cultures that claim to be helping but only end up hindering their mission, are both hilarious and unerringly enlightening.
It tells in a real and unpretentious way just how much of our natural world is being eaten away by blind greed and unbelievable stupidity. This book was written some time ago now and it chills me to the bone to think of what has been wiped from the face of this earth since.
On the positive side, both Adams and Carwadine show us that that some steps are being taken to help protect a few of the areas most in danger (small comfort to those that are now extinct though).
We are constantly bombarded by the spectre of environmental disaster but in doing so, I think that the vast majority of people turn away from green issues thinking that the problem is so huge, they could never make a difference. This book makes you think that you can.