It reveals that Adams was quite a talent at an early age, from his short story submission for The Eagle at age 12, to a hilarious very Pythonseque Kamikaze Briefing sketch included here that I really enjoyed that he did pre-HH. His secret? "Writing comes easy. All you have to do is stare at a blank piece of paper until your forehead bleeds." Thank goodness I had those paper towels to clean up my computer screen.

Part of this is a biography of Adams, from his days at Cambridge, to his wilderness years doing odd jobs, including being a bodyguard for some Arabs, and doing collaborations with other writers, many of which fell through. Despite initially being mistaken for being the sixth Python member, he did work with Graham Chapman, but that didn't work out, as Chapman was struggling with alcoholism at the time. His time as Doctor Who's script editor from 1978-1979, and the three stories he personally wrote for the series, is explained, and the reason why he hated being script editor. But there is also a synopsis of the stillborn Dr. Who and the Krikkitmen at the back of the book, parts of which later became Life, The Universe, And Everything, the knotty but still well-written third book.

Adams reveals to have some sensitive yet artistic side of him. He doesn't seem to like remembering about writing his books because of some bad memories and hardships he had to go through. And time-oriented is NOT the word to describe him. For writing my and his personal favourite in the series, The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe, he had to be locked up in an apartment in an ascetic-like existence for four weeks, with Paul Simon's One Trick Pony as his only companion.

Neither is deadline a word found in Adams' dictionary. Apart from only doing three essays during his time at Cambridge, there was even a time during the second series of the radio programme that "they were recording the show in one part of the studio, while I was in another part of the studio actually writing the next scene."(!!!)

Mixed inbetween are script excerpts from dialogue never used in the radio series. There's also a list of the most asked questions to Adams, of which most of them are either brief and to the point or totally deranged, but he did answer one I wondered, which was the Dire Straits song he referred to in So Long..., which was "Tunnel of Love" from Making Movies.

This goes up to the first Dirk Gently novel, done in 1987, and it's a good read for those into HH or wanting to learn about the story and history about HH after reading the series. Whoops, time for another Pangalactic Gargleblaster and a slice of Arcturan Megadonkey.


Well, it was just another planet   May 30, 2002
 1 out of 44 found this review helpful

damn, this book was funny as hell! the main character was always getting into screwy situations, it seemed as if everything was going wrong for him and then the best thing happened, the planet blew up. maybe it wasnt the best thing, but it shure was a turning point for him. after the planet goes the story delivers non-stop laughs and the craziest things happen, this story keeps you giggling and interested until the very last word. i would reccomend this book to someone looking for a really un-serious story of complete mayhem and calamity.


Warts-and-everything story of the creation of the Guide   June 4, 2001
 33 out of 35 found this review helpful

For anyone interested in how the Hitchhiker's Guide came into being, this is essential reading. For anyone interested in the evolution of a great idea into a radio series, album, TV series, computer game, five books, and more than one attempt at a film script, this is equally vital.

I found it particularly helpful in providing explanations of why:

1. episodes five and six of the first radio series have a different style to the wonderful episodes 1 to 4.

2. the second radio series was so sloppy in comparison to the first.

It's fascinating to read Douglas Adams' original summary of the Hitchhiker concept. (Goodness knows why Arther Dent was originally going to be called Alaric!) It was depressing to read how Adams and John Lloyd (co-writer of episodes 5 and 6) fell out when Adams changed his mind about co-writing the first book, but encouraging that they put their differences behind them and went on to collaborate on works like 'The Meaning of Liff'.

There are plenty of bits of unused dialogue spread across the pages of this book. It is partly a biography of Adams and partly a biography of the Hitchhikers Guide itself. There is a BBC-produced double cassette tape which also tells the story of the Hitchhiker but tends to gloss over most of the disagreements that Adams had with various BBC colleagues and publishers.

I would strongly recommend Hitchhiker fans to get this book.


Fun and informative   May 14, 1999
Let's face it. The "Hitchhiker's Guide" books aren't well written. . . but they sure are fun to read!!!! If you want to why the first book has some problems with cohesions, read this book. If you want to know what influenced the increasingly misnamed trilogy, read this book. It is worth it! (and besides, it is written by Neil Gaiman who's work bears Adam's influence!)


hi   March 29, 1999
 0 out of 77 found this review helpful

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