More highlights from my 2021 reading list (very late, I know):
This is a very good book. It's funny (as you'd expect from Douglas Adams) and terribly saddening (as you'd expect from a book about endangered animals), and somehow those two things work together.
The biology and ecology are interesting.
I did think it started off a bit on the wrong foot. It felt less like an animal book and more like a travelogue which mostly consisted of complaining about the host country and pretty much everything else. This was done in a witty way, of course, but it felt a little uncomfortable. And when they met the first animal…it was over in about three lines. I thought, "Come on, Douglas Adams, you're better than this." And he was. The book got better and better as it progressed. I didn't want it to end. There was a still too much complaining travelogue, but the author/s tied it in better to the complicated web of perils/benefits surrounding ecotourism. And there was a lot more about the actual animals and the quest to find them.
Overall, sobering and entertaining at the same time—quite a feat of writing.
More accurate rating:
4.5 stars
No comments:
Post a Comment