she obviously had no conception of the value of gold

Adams concludes his journey across the world on the search for endangered animals with a simple summary of "the story of the Sybilline books" (215). He uses this as a metaphor for the world's relentless squandering of natural resources and wildlife. The animals and their habitats are the essential counterparts to human existence and to the functioning of the ecosystem. Yet, we have begun to severely underestimate our reliance upon them and instead traded their well-being for "gold" (216). Like the farmers on Mauritius destroying the forest and everything within it to increase their profits (198), the townsmen in the story focus on the immediate benefits of keeping their wealth instead of obtaining knowledge and wisdom that would help them in later years. Similarly, the capitalist mindset of most governments and peoples has led to the detriment of hundreds of thousands of acres of unique landscapes and animals for a positive profit margin for the next year. But, when we have suddenly eradicated something, a shocking realization occurs. For example, Adams discusses the extinction of the dodo (204), probably the most widely known destruction of a species purely by human hands (quite literally in this case). After this tragedy, many people hoped this would bring about remorse and change from humanity. As Adams says, "we are merely sadder and better informed" (205) as "there are now more than a thousand diferent species of animals and plants becoming extinct every year" (212). Adams places the story of the books of knowledge and wisdom at the end because it summarizes his years of observations. People have decimated species until there are so few the animals have to be captured and bred in captivity in order to possibly see another generation. He believes that man will continue to destroy the Earth until he is so desperate for survival that he takes what little he has kept and finally starts to appreciate its true worth.