Readers' Nook

Douglas Adams, known mostly for his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books, also took a keen interest in wildlife conservation. Around 1989, he and a zoologist named Mark Cawardine collaborated on a radio documentary series for the BBC called "Last Chance to See," about endangered species. Adams was the perfect person to accompany Cawardine to various, often remote, parts of the world to see the animals that may not survive much longer, as well as interview the scientists and naturalists trying to save them. Adams speaks (and writes) with a clear and very humorous style that avoids the usual preachiness that often occurs when talking about endangered species. Adams had always proven a very astute observer (of humans and animals),. Even some of his off-hand remarks inject a much-needed element of comic relief into the radio series and the subsequent companion book.

Adams describes their interactions with government officials in a dictatorship thus: 

“The system by which Zaire works … is very simple. Every official you encounter will make life as unpleasant as he possibly can until you pay him to stop it. In U.S. dollars. He then passes you along to the next official, who will be unpleasant to you all over again.”

And about one of their hosts when they visit Mauritius, he writes: 

“Richard Lewis is a man who has worked out a foolproof way of getting snappy answers to his questions.… [He drives along narrow and windy roads] with a pizzazz that borders dangerously on élan, and when he asks you a question, he turns and looks at you and doesn't look back at the road again until you've answered. Mortal terror is not the best state of mind in which to try and frame intelligent answers, but you have to try.”  

In the chapter about the Yangtze River Dolphin, they snuck onboard a ferry docked on the river to use a fishing pole to lower a microphone into the water to record how noisy the river was. When confronted by a member of the crew (who clearly did not understand English any more than either of them could speak Mandarin), they decided, "The mere idea of even attempting to account for ourselves defeated us. We settled instead for explaining, by means of elaborate mime and sign language, that we were barking mad." 

That gives you a clear idea of what you will find in both the radio series and the companion book. For fans of Adams' "Hitchhiker's Guide" novels (and even those who haven't read them), this is a wonderful chance to enjoy his non-fiction writing. 

Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine (companion book to the radio series) 591.52 A211

Last Chance to See: the Original BBC Radio Series: in Search of the World's Most Endangered Species (The Radio series as a single eAudiobook available through Libby)  

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NON-FICTION

Applied Sciences

Jennifer Golbeck The purest bond : understanding the human-canine connection 636.7 G617

Arts, Architecture & Crafts

Bianca Bosker Get the picture : a mind-bending journey among the inspired artists and obsessive art fiends who taught me how to see 701 B743
Catherine Opie Catherine Opie : American photographer. 779.092 O618
Elizabeth Gaede Seaton WPA Federal Art Project : printmaking in California, 1935-43 769.973 S441
Ken'ya Hara White 701.8 H254
William H. Gerdts The world of Theodore Wores 759.13 W926
Peter Vergo Emil Nolde 750.92 N79v
Rosalind Cuthbert Oil painting 751.45 C988
Norma Stevens Avedon : something personal 770.92 A948s
Secondhand : August 4, 2014-May 31, 2015 779 S445
Vicki Goldberg Bruce Davidson : an illustrated biography 770.92 D252
Jacob Lawrence Jacob Lawrence : the American struggle 750.92 L42a
American scene painting : California, 1930s and 1940s 758.99 A512
Gordon. McClelland Milford Zornes 759.13 Z886
Gordon. McClelland George Post 759.13 P857
James McNeill Whistler James Abbott McNeill Whistler--pastels 750.92 W576j
Elmer Bischoff Elmer Bischoff : paintings from the figurative period, 1954-1970 759.13 B621
Two buildings San Francisco 1959. 720.483 T974

Biography & Genealogy

RuPaul The house of hidden meanings : a memoir 792.092 R945
Katie Gee Salisbury Not your China doll : the wild and shimmering life of Anna May Wong 792.092 W868s
Joel Agee Twelve years : an American boyhood in East Germany 943.1 A265
Judith Tick Becoming Ella Fitzgerald : the jazz singer who transformed American song 780.92 F55b
Ron Kovic A dangerous country : an American elegy 959.7 K885
Fernanda Eberstadt Bite your friends : stories of the body militant 813 E165
Clinton Heylin The double life of Bob Dylan : a restless, hungry feeling, 1941-1966 780.92 D99h
Cynthia Carr Candy Darling : dreamer, icon, superstar 792.092 D221c
Mary V. Dearborn Carson McCullers : a life 813.54 M13d
Susan Page The rulebreaker : the life and times of Barbara Walters 070.92 W23p
William Roper The mirrour of vertue in worldly greatnes; or, The life of Sir Thomas More, knight. 942.05 M83r

Books, Reading, Publishing, Journalism

Herb Reich Lies they teach in school : exposing the myths behind 250 commonly believed fallacies 031.02 R347

Business & Economics
Bob Keefe Clean economy now : stories from the frontlines of an American business revolution 333.79 K261
Daniel Susskind Growth : a history and a reckoning 338.9 S823
Loretta Napoleoni Technocapitalism : the rise of the new robber barons and the fight for the common good 338.064 N216
Ali A. Allawi Rich world, poor world : the struggle to escape poverty 330.9 A421

Chess
Axel Smith Black & White Magic 794.1 M377
Jacob Aagaard Conceptual Rook Endgames 794.124 A112c
Nikolaos Ntirlis Playing the English 794.1225 A10 N961
Sam Shankland Calculation! 794.12 S528c
Charles Hertan Strike like Judit! : the winning tactics of chess legend Judit Polgar 794.15 P76he
Emanuel Lasker Emanuel Lasker : a reader ; a compendium of writings on chess, philosophy, science, sociology, mathematics and other subjects by the great World Chess Champion, scholar and polymath Emanuel Lasker 794.1 L34

History

Dan Stone The Holocaust : an unfinished history 940.5318 S877
Chris Fogarty Ireland 1845-1850 : the perfect holocaust and who kept it "perfect" 941.5 F655
Kenneth L. Ames On Bishop Street : avenue of Hawai'i pioneers 919.693 A513
Kathleen DuVal Native nations : a millennium in North America 970.004 D983
San Francisco, two years after the great fire of April 18, 19, 20, 1906. 917.9461 S224

Languages & Linguistics

Anne Curzan Says who? : a kinder, funner usage guide for everyone who cares about words 428 C983

Law

Ronald M. George Chief : the quest for justice in California 347.73 G347

Literature & Writing

Jami Attenberg 1000 words : a writer's guide to staying creative, focused, and productive all year round 808.02 A883
Roxane Gay Opinions : a decade of arguments, criticisms, and minding other people's business 814.6 G285
Dwight Garner The upstairs delicatessen : on eating, reading, reading about eating, and eating while reading 818.603 G234
Hermione Lee Biography : a very short introduction 809 L478
Robin Reames The ancient art of thinking for yourself : the power of rhetoric in polarized times 808 R288

Natural Sciences & Mathematics

Leila Philip Beaverland : how one weird rodent made America 599.37 P549

Performing Arts & Music

Philip Gefter Cocktails with George and Martha : movies, marriage, and the making of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 791.437 G299

Philosophy, Psychology & Religion

Travis N. Rieder Catastrophe ethics : how to choose well in a world of tough choices 170 R441
Brian Klaas Fluke : chance, chaos, and why everything we do matters 123.3 K631
Urs Gasser Guardrails : guiding human decisions in the age of AI 153.83 G251

Politics

Juliet Hooker Black grief 323.1196 H783

Social Sciences & Current Events

Lisa Davis Housewife : why women still do it all and what to do instead 331.4 D261
Malaika Jabali It's not you, it's capitalism : why it's time to break up and how to move on 335 J117
Jane Marie Selling the dream : the billion-dollar industry bankrupting Americans 364.16 M334
Cedar Monroe Trash : a poor white journey 305.5 M753
Therese Oneill Unbecoming a lady : the forgotten sluts and shrews who shaped America 305.4 O586
Morgan Parker You get what you pay for : essays 305.896 P238
Dan Savage Skipping towards Gomorrah : the seven deadly sins and the pursuit of happiness in America 306.0973 S263
Matthew Stewart An emancipation of the mind : radical philosophy, the war over slavery, and the refounding of America 306.362 S851
Zoë Schiffer Extremely hardcore : inside Elon Musk's Twitter 302.3 S333
James Ridgeway Blood in the face : the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations, Nazi skinheads, and the rise of a new white culture 305.8 R544
Grace Blakeley Vulture capitalism : corporate crimes, backdoor bailouts, and the death of freedom 364.16 B636
Megan Kimble City limits : infrastructure, inequality, and the future of America's highways 388.1 K497
Annabelle Hirsch A history of women in 101 objects 305.4 H669

Sports & Games

Kevin Baker The New York game : baseball and the rise of a new city 796.357 B167

Travel & Geography

Camille Seaman Melting away : a ten-year journey through our endangered polar regions 910.911 S438
Pocket Rough Guide Copenhagen. 914.891 R856

E-AUDIOBOOKS

Eugene O'Neill Anna Christie
Eugene O'Neill Desire under the elms
John Lithgow Drama
Cixin Liu The three-body problem
Mark Twain Who is Mark Twain? by Mark Twainches.
Peter Mann The torqued man : a novel
Ryan Lee Wong Which side are you on : a novel
Rasheed Newson My government means to kill me : a novel
Alexander McCall Smith The Department of Sensitive Crimes
Julian Barnes England, england
Julian Barnes Flaubert's parrot
Bruce Davis The Academy and the Award : The Coming of Age of Oscar and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Carlie Sorosiak Always, Clementine
Itamar Moses Completeness
Jonathan Freedland The escape artist : the man who broke out of Auschwitz to warn the world
Oscar Wilde The importance of being earnest
Ken Narasaki Innocent when you dream
The lost world
Andrea L Rogers Man made monsters
Thomas J Cox The scarlet letter
Oliver Goldsmith She stoops to conquer
Mary Rodgers Shy : the alarmingly outspoken memoirs of Mary Rodgers
Graham Greene The third man
Matthew Lopez The whipping man
Jennifer Coburn Cradles of the Reich : a novel
Greer Hendricks The golden couple : a novel
Elizabeth McCracken The Hero of This Book Elizabeth McCracken.
C J Box Treasure state
Lucy Worsley Agatha Christie : an elusive woman Lucy Worsley.
Dur E Aziz Amna American fever : a novel
T J English Dangerous rhythms : jazz and the underworld
Kelly Ripa Live Wire : Long-Winded Short Stories
Andrei Martyanov Losing military supremacy : the myopia of American strategic planning
Katherine Rundell Super-infinite : the transformations of John Donne
Graham Boynton Wild : the life of Peter Beard : photographer, adventurer, lover
Tom Larcombe Enter system
Horse girls : recovering, aspiring, and devoted riders redefine the iconic bond
David Fromkin A peace to end all peace : the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the creation of the modern Middle East
Peter Biskind The sky is falling : how vampires, zombies, androids, and superheroes made America great for extremism
Irvin D Yalom The Spinoza problem : a novel

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FICTION

Jean-Luc Bannalec The Fleur de Sel murders Fic Bannalec
Christopher Robinson Deliver us : a novel Fic Robinson
Martin MacInnes In ascension Fic MacInnes
Jennifer Cody Epstein The madwomen of Paris : a novel Fic Epstein
Kathryn Ma The Chinese groove : a novel Fic Ma
Richard Brautigan Sombrero fallout : a Japanese novel Fic Brautigan

Historical Fiction

Kristin Hannah The women Fic Hannah
James Lee Burke Flags on the bayou : a novel Fic Burke

Mystery, Suspense, Thrillers, Espionage & Intrigue

Ivy Pochoda Sing her down Fic Pochoda
Michael Koryta An honest man Fic Koryta
Adrian McKinty The detective up late Fic McKinty

Short Stories

Irvine Welsh The acid house Fic Welsh
Lisa Alward Cocktail : stories Fic Alward
Zechen Xu Beijing Sprawl Fic Xu
Shades of noir : a reader 791.43 S524