The Last Unicorn: A Search for One of Earth's Rarest Creatures

DeBuys can really write.In this book, Dubuys captures the frustrations and challenges of modern conservation in remote difficult to reach areas. I found this book to be moving and informative about an amazing forest in the modern shrinking world. Despite the disapointments and change occurring in the forest in remote Laos, the beauty of the forest still can shine though.Thanks to the writer and the naturalist he joins for being able to share their amazing exploration of this remote area.Highly recommended!

As a work about conservation in the modern world this was a very pleasant read. It was also interesting as book about a very little known, little written about country -laos, and an even less well-known animal, the saola. Worth a look!

"The Last Unicorn" is DeBuys first hand account of his journey to a remote corner of the earth in search of one of the rarest creatures on the planet, the saola. "Saola is this underdog, It doesn't hurt anybody. Nobody gains anything by killing it. It doesn't go eat crops, and it doesn't kill any domestic animals. It doesn't kill people, and people don't lose anything by not killing it. So it's kind of just this quiet, beautiful animal just wanting to be left alone and doing its little role of providing an element of beauty to the world. The only thing to achieve is to just leave it alone. But humans find it very hard to leave things alone." ~WR. The book is an excellent read that takes you on a journey of hope through one of the most underdeveloped spaces on earth, exploring the difficult balance of conservation and economic development. A great read.

THE LAST UNICORN is an extraordinary work that encompasses several genres. It is an adventure story, a quest narrative, a tale of adventure and exploration,and a meditation on human despoliation of our planet and its resources. The author, well known for his writings about the American Southwest (e.g., RIVER OF TRAPS, A GREAT ARIDNESS), now moves far from his natural habiitat to Souteast Asia in search of the saola, a beast first identified in 1992 and rarely viewed since. The author struggles through illness, fatigue, strange foods, strange languages, strange customs and more. The story is gripping and frequently moving, as in the author's elegiac meditations on what has been lost and what remains threatened. The book is based on extensive research and precise observation. It is haunting and unforgettable.

The search for the Last Unicorn is actually a search for a small, rare ungulate, the Saola, that is on the verge of extinction and is making its last stand in the moist Annamite Mountains along the Vietnamese/Laotian border. At approximately 60 years of age, the author William DeBuys goes on a strenuous, almost fatal, multi-week expedition in a dangerous and demanding environment to try and see if any Saola are still living and, if so, to put together a plan for advertising this fascinating animal's plight in hopes that a local, national and international coalition can come together to save the Saola and other rare, endangered species in bio-rich Southeast Asia. This book is lovingly and compellingly written. It rewards on virtually every page with wit and irony, wisdom and warning, science and erudition that it succeeds in wearing lightly. Nonetheless, the reader should be prepared to be smacked between the eyes with a powerful question: Can we humans be satisfied with how we have co-existed with our fellow living creatures to date? And are we prepared to continue on our course of habitat and species destruction until practically the only creatures left are man, the animals we farm, and insects? D. Foster

A truly fantastic read, even for those without an existing interest in conservation or environmental policy.Centered on a journey into the remote forests of Laos, the story is as much an adventure as a conservation study. The mix of narrative and research makes it a crisp, engaging read.deBuys is especially thoughtful on issues of collective and personal responsibility for large-scale environmental issues. He ponders these quandaries without preaching or ranting, and the result is a genuinely thought-provoking look at how the fate of a single species on the far side of the world can speak to all of us.

The author meticulously documents an expedition to the remote mountainous border area between Laos and VietNam in search of a near-mythical creature. He presents with unflinching honest the disturbing cross-currents of political, cultural, and ecological factors that threaten the survival of an animal known to man only within the past two decades. The author is in turns philosophical, wry, self-deprecating, a bit pedantic, and hilarious. Read this to learn but also to be entertained.

This latest book by Bill DeBuys is as entertaining as it is important. The personal narrative of an aging conservationist trekking through the jungle is an immensely entertaining tale, and the greater story, of a planetary ecosystem being inexorably consumed by humanity, needs to be told loudly and widely. This is an engrossing and enlightening story, scholarly and impeccably researched, but laced with personality, humility, and humor. I highly recommend this book to all readers.

This book is beautifully written. Every step you are with william on his quest for the elusive saola. Its is heartbreakingly sad and should be compulsary reading.

Fascinating glimpse of one of earth's rarest creatures and the fight to understand and save it.

excellent