The Very Amusing Douglas Adams

I remember the moment very clearly: I was with my friend Erica at a writer's conference in 2001, when we learned that Douglas Adams had passed away. It was the first time I was really struck that an author I enjoyed would no longer write something, and we both commiserated over the book that really really loved: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

I read this book a number of times over the years, and I've always been struck at how *funny* it is. It's remained so in that time, and one of the things I was later surprised at was how the book came to be. It's alternatively been a radio show, audio drama, novel, television series and movie, and remained ridiculously popular throughout the whole time. I'll even admit that I enjoyed the filmed version.

Go read The Very Amusing Douglas Adams over on Kirkus Reviews:

Sources:

• The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide: Complete and Unabridged by Douglas Adams. I don't know what happened to my original paperback copy, but my wife owns the omnibus edition, which has a very good introduction by Adams, which provides some good details about how the story came to be.
• Don't Panic: The Official Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Companion by Neil Gaiman. Interestingly, Neil Gaiman wrote a guide to Hitchhiker's Guide. This isn't a great source most of the time: Gaiman assumes that you've read other texts, such as Webb's biography, and there's a weird apologetic "This has been covered elsewhere" attitude throughout some of it, but there's some interesting details that come out about the creative process.
• Wish You Were Here: The Official Biography of Douglas Adams by Nick Webb. Nick Webb, who originally commission the novel, wrote the official biography after Adams' death, and it's full of details, interesting facts about Adams' life.