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4.06 AVERAGE
4.06 AVERAGE
Excerpts from the productions of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and some of the other works. If you want to read the backstory or are interested in Douglas Adams in general this is the read for you.
As the late great Douglas Adams wrote in Salmon of a Doubt “I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.” I'd always loved Adam's quotes but it was only after reading this book that I realised just how true that quote was to Adam's own writing life.
I got on to HHG2G in book form in about 84/85, it was a revelation. It was unlike anything I had ever read before. I was lucky enough to find my tribe when it came to fellow devotees. Except for Meaning of Liff which I have never been able to find a copy, all DNA's books have been read by me multiple times, as well as chasing down those Doctor Who episodes. As Neil Gaiman points out the special effects for the HHG2G TV series were primitive, comparing Pirate Planet's special effects with the current Dr Who series emphasised this.
In my teenage and young adult years, DNA was my guiding star. His writings enabled me to understand that I could be me - a little quirky, a little odd, a little different. I could see myself in Arthur. Adam's untimely death was heartbreaking, all that brilliance was no more.
I'd heard about this book, so put it on hold at my local library - their only copy was digital through Overdrive - how very HHG2G. It took forever for me to get to the top of the queue - I'd almost forgotten about it but there it was, the email that said I had 14 days to borrow and download the book. Reading the book took 2 days.
I can't say it was the best written book I have read this year, but I appreciated the facts and being able to relive some of those memories - such as changing my display name on the uni's computer messaging system to Trillian, such as playing Starship Titanic multiple times (whatever did I do with those disks?), such as persuading a friend that we needed to theme a group weekend away with a HHG2G theme, including decorating hand-towels with the words "Don't Panic" in fluro orange fabric paint. My friend 'got it', not sure about the other participants.
I think if you are a true DNA fan, then you'll appreciate the time and effort put in to writing this book and to relive some of your own memories.
I got on to HHG2G in book form in about 84/85, it was a revelation. It was unlike anything I had ever read before. I was lucky enough to find my tribe when it came to fellow devotees. Except for Meaning of Liff which I have never been able to find a copy, all DNA's books have been read by me multiple times, as well as chasing down those Doctor Who episodes. As Neil Gaiman points out the special effects for the HHG2G TV series were primitive, comparing Pirate Planet's special effects with the current Dr Who series emphasised this.
In my teenage and young adult years, DNA was my guiding star. His writings enabled me to understand that I could be me - a little quirky, a little odd, a little different. I could see myself in Arthur. Adam's untimely death was heartbreaking, all that brilliance was no more.
I'd heard about this book, so put it on hold at my local library - their only copy was digital through Overdrive - how very HHG2G. It took forever for me to get to the top of the queue - I'd almost forgotten about it but there it was, the email that said I had 14 days to borrow and download the book. Reading the book took 2 days.
I can't say it was the best written book I have read this year, but I appreciated the facts and being able to relive some of those memories - such as changing my display name on the uni's computer messaging system to Trillian, such as playing Starship Titanic multiple times (whatever did I do with those disks?), such as persuading a friend that we needed to theme a group weekend away with a HHG2G theme, including decorating hand-towels with the words "Don't Panic" in fluro orange fabric paint. My friend 'got it', not sure about the other participants.
I think if you are a true DNA fan, then you'll appreciate the time and effort put in to writing this book and to relive some of your own memories.
A book about my favorite author of all time, written by one of my other favorite authors. It's an absolute joy to read, and even as someone who has been a life long fan of Adams, I still learned about projects he worked on that I'd never heard about
As much as I once enjoyed Douglas Adams, I always had a nagging suspicion that hhttgg was lightning in a bottle.
This book sorta confirms that.
It’s a good recounting of all the history of Douglas Adams and his various projects. But it’s not life changing.
This book sorta confirms that.
It’s a good recounting of all the history of Douglas Adams and his various projects. But it’s not life changing.
This was an informative book, and Neil Gaiman's a treasure as always. I couldn't help but get frustrated that Douglas Adams was able to get a radio deal when he was younger than I am now, despite being one of the few entities who ever lived on this planet who are worse about meeting deadlines than I am, but on the other hand, this isn't his fault and the world is indubitably better for having discovered him during his actual lifetime, rather than posthumously uncovering entire storage units full of unsold and hardly-finished manuscripts. I don't doubt that there is a parallel timeline where this happened, and can only hope that in it, the Earth was demolished to create an interstellar by-pass.
Easy fun read about a favorite author by a favorite author. Nice to get some background on Douglas Adam's work.
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Douglas Adams plus Neil Gaiman is about what you'd expect. I enjoyed the book, but some parts dragged simply because I'm not familiar with the material being discussed.
A great trip down memory lane--even if the memories aren't mine to relive--for those folks like me who've read THHGTTG. Plus some awesome bonus material, interviews, and Doctor Who script excerpts that all make the reader, in this case me, appreciate the genius of sorts that Adams shared with us as he wrote the fantastic adventure such as Arthur (originally Alaric!) lived.
A companion to Douglas Adams' career, this book covers everything from the initial idea of "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy" through to the radio series, novels, game, TV series and eventual movie. It also covers Adams' work on Dirk Gently, Doctor Who and his non fiction writings.
As it is mostly written by a young Neil Gaiman it definitely carries the same irreverent voice as Adams' own work, although there are sections added subsequently that are informative but slightly less "Neil Gaiman" in tone.
That being said I did find the later chapters pretty interesting as I'm a big fan of the radio series that were produced after Adams' death.
A lot of this may be well known to fans of Douglas Adams, but a lot of it was new to me, so I suspect would be the case for any slightly more than casual fan of his work.
While I would usually listen to the audiobook of this kind, as soon as I saw that it was narrated by Simon Jones, the original incarnation of Arthur Dent from "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy" radio and TV series, I bought it without question.
And it's worth it just to hear him read the following:
"Certainly 'So Long and Thanks For All The Fish' is a widely different book to its predecessor. Gone are the big heroics and wild invention to be replaced by... a love story. We had to somehow marry off Arthur, something that was pretty hard to imagine."
Indeed as much as we all adore Simon Jones' portrayal of the hapless Arthur Dent, he's hardly the obvious romantic lead.
His voice is so reassuring, so familiar that as soon as I heard his voice it took me back to my teen years listening to the original radio series on cassette, yes I'm old.
My biggest criticism is that the book doesn't translate that well to audio, somewhat ironically. There are a lot of sections where it's confusing who is actually spaeking, whether its Neil Gaiman (as he occasionally makes comments in the first person) or it's a quote from someone interviewed for the book. Often it won't be until the end of the paragraph where a "...said Geoffrey Perkins" is added that I can figure it out.
Aside from that I enjoyed it, learned a bunch of things I didn't know and have decided to re-listen to the radio series once again.
As it is mostly written by a young Neil Gaiman it definitely carries the same irreverent voice as Adams' own work, although there are sections added subsequently that are informative but slightly less "Neil Gaiman" in tone.
That being said I did find the later chapters pretty interesting as I'm a big fan of the radio series that were produced after Adams' death.
A lot of this may be well known to fans of Douglas Adams, but a lot of it was new to me, so I suspect would be the case for any slightly more than casual fan of his work.
While I would usually listen to the audiobook of this kind, as soon as I saw that it was narrated by Simon Jones, the original incarnation of Arthur Dent from "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy" radio and TV series, I bought it without question.
And it's worth it just to hear him read the following:
"Certainly 'So Long and Thanks For All The Fish' is a widely different book to its predecessor. Gone are the big heroics and wild invention to be replaced by... a love story. We had to somehow marry off Arthur, something that was pretty hard to imagine."
Indeed as much as we all adore Simon Jones' portrayal of the hapless Arthur Dent, he's hardly the obvious romantic lead.
His voice is so reassuring, so familiar that as soon as I heard his voice it took me back to my teen years listening to the original radio series on cassette, yes I'm old.
My biggest criticism is that the book doesn't translate that well to audio, somewhat ironically. There are a lot of sections where it's confusing who is actually spaeking, whether its Neil Gaiman (as he occasionally makes comments in the first person) or it's a quote from someone interviewed for the book. Often it won't be until the end of the paragraph where a "...said Geoffrey Perkins" is added that I can figure it out.
Aside from that I enjoyed it, learned a bunch of things I didn't know and have decided to re-listen to the radio series once again.