Don't Panic

Every once in a while you rediscover something that had crept in to the deep, shadowed recesses of your brain to sleep and be forgotten. If you're lucky you'll stumble across it with a mixture of joy and disbelief, much like finding a twenty dollar bill in the middle of the street.

For me, the rediscovery has been Douglas Adams. I had been discussing him passionately with a friend of mine and she asked, "Have you read 'Last Chance to See'?" I replied that I had, but it was a long time ago. I have fond memories of the book because I read it during a great time of my life but I read it quickly because it was someone else's book and I was only living at their house for a few weeks.

So, I tracked down a copy and re-read it this past week. I loved it more the second time. It is such a joy to read the words of an intelligent, funny, peculiar person when they are speaking of something that is entirely out of their own element. Imagine sending Bruce Springsteen down in the next dive to explore the depths of the ocean or recover the Titanic. An odd choice for the job and perhaps he's underqualified but some interesting songs would probably come of it. Imagine dropping the members of Coldplay on to the moon with a mic, a recording device (some space suits, of course) and asking them to talk about the experience. I grant you they've already done this in one of their videos but that's beside the point. The point is placing something or someone where it has no business being and allowing that thing/person to comment on the situation. In this case, it's an incredibly entertaining success.

The BBC decided it would be great if Douglas Adams (who writes funny science fiction novels) and Mark Carwardine (who is a noted and respected zoologist) travelled together to incredibly difficult to get to places around the world visiting, commenting on and raising awareness of some of the worlds most endangered species. The book has everything: dragons, drinking, jungles, deserts and shopping for condoms deep in communist China. How can you not bake a delicious cake with a recipe like that?

And it's created awareness for me. I'm being nicer to my cat. I want to write a song about the kakapo. I'm watching more of the Nature channel. I was on the subway with a woman who smelled remarkably like the African Pavillion at the Metro Zoo and I tried (with limited success) to just bask in the musk.

So what am I saying here? Well, read some Douglas Adams. That's for certain. And try something different. Just because. Sleep on the other side of the bed. Take the long way home on purpose. Watch a television show upside down. Anything. It's amazing how the smallest changes can alter our perceptions. So try something new, revel in the discomfort and - most importantly - don't panic.