I love Douglas Adams. Although he has been gone from our world for 13 years I miss him as I would miss a good friend. The good times we had together, listening to him read his own books. He was a mad man and such a delicious one.
I was looking for a short audiobook. I wanted something funny and witty, so of course I found “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency.” It’s just over three and a half hours — precisely the right length and correct degree of lunacy.
When I began listening, I googled Douglas Adams and realized Douglas Adams shares my birthday.
What an honor! I can’t imagine anyone with whom I could be happier to share a birthday. I’m delighted Maybe there a bit of his madness in me, too.Perhaps I have a tiny piece of his magic. Even a sprinkling of pixie dust would be fine.
The Dirk Gently series — just two books — never enjoyed the monumental success of the Hitchhiker books — but I’ve love them best. And this version is Douglas reading his own book and he’s an exceptional reader. There are a bunch of versions of all of Adams’ books on Audible.com. The few actually narrated by the author are the best.
For my life, forever hence forth, when I celebrate my birthday, I will also be celebrating for Douglas Adams. Happy Birthday,Douglas. No one has replaced you and never ever will.
Douglas Adams
Born: March 11, 1952, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Died: May 11, 2001, Santa Barbara, California
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Categories: Book Review, Books, Entertainment
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
Hitchhikers Guide is probable the source I quote most.
Happy belated birthday!
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Thanks 🙂 It is an actual inspiration for me, too.
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i never knew about Adams until I heard Hitchhiker on the radio – which was so brilliantly done – that I recorded quite a bit of it. But it flopped when it went to film for some reason. ??
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It has not yet been done well, either on TV or film. The books are still the best. The audiobooks, the ones that Adams reads himself, are wonderful too.
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You and Douglas Adams!! Now, I’d love to sit in and just listen to that conversation.
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Me too!!
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Happy Birthday (a day late)! I love Douglas Adams’ writing, particularly the 2 Dirk Gently books. When asked about influences on the book I’m working on I usually put “The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul” in the top slot.
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I love the Dirk Gently books. Adams also thought they were better than Hitchhiker because they had actual plots and characters. He was planning a third one when he died. I still mourn him.
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My first encounter with Adams (I also adore him!) was a computer game (go figure) called “Bureaucracy”. He wrote the script. Brilliant man.
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He apparently wrote another computer game call Titanic which was based on a magnificent rendering of the ship in minute detail. It was beautiful. It also crashed the computer every time. It was a wee bit graphics heavy. He was brilliant. AND funny. How many brilliant and funny writers do we get in a lifetime? He wasn’t around long enough.
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Ah, that’s lovely, Marilyn: I adored his books, and thought he seemed such a fabulous guy. I wish I had met him. xxx
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I wish so too. From all I’ve heard, he was even funnier in person than in his writings. I have some interviews with him that date back to the first radio version of Hitchhiker, before it became a book or a TV series. He was still working out the ideas. Great stuff.
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Yes… love his work too, though I admit it was the HItchhikers series that got me first. Though I do not recommend them while driving if you are prone to the giggles 🙂
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I read Hitchhiker first because it was written first. I loved it. When the Dirk Gently books first hit the U.S., I loved THEM even more, though I’m still partial to “Life, the Universe and Everything.” And “The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.” I couldn’t believe he died so soon and so suddenly. We need that spirit of mad, witty joy. There’s too little of it in our world.
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I agree. I was lucky to be working with the physics department when the books first came out and as scientists they REALLY appreciated the lunacy, given that is theoretically is possible to extrapolate the entire universe from, say, a small piece of fairy cake… It opened the whole madness up for me beautifully.
I happen to write with a guy who has just that kind of lunacy… though not froma sci-fi persective… and yep, it is a joy.
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I worked with engineers and computer developers, so they were all nuts about Adams and could quote him — large segments — from memory. I’ve read all of the books so many times, but there’s always something new to discover and it always makes me smile.
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I agree… I can always pick him up and know I will end up laughing.
Terry Pratchett has a similar effect.
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Totally agree. Terry Pratchett can be very funny, though not as completely nutty 🙂
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The poor man has Alzheimer’s now. 😦
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(Shudder.)
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