Douglas Adams
Douglas Adams (1952 – 2001) was a British author best known for The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
“I miss Douglas Adams. He’s been dead since 2001. He occupied that area for me between friend and acquaintance. He was, I suppose, a work friend. The first book I ever wrote that did anything was The Companion to the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I got to work with Douglas on it. Douglas Adams was a genius. A lot of the pleasure in reading Douglas Adams is in jokes that are elegantly and delightfully tuned while also commenting on the human condition.” Neil Gaiman selecting comfort reads.
Books by Douglas Adams
42: The Wildly Improbable Ideas of Douglas Adams
by Douglas Adams & edited by Kevin Jon Davies
“It’s a picture book, not a biography. Facsimiles of his papers and his terrible, messy handwriting. His untidy typing full of blobs and crossing outs and xxxxxxxxxxxxx, deleted passages. There was a lot to wade through. I’ve been to the archives seventeen times last year, photographing, then reading it, logging it, working out the chronology. It’s a very similar process to the archive documentaries I make. It’s in vaguely chronological order showing his development and growth: poems from when he was 12-years-old, student comedy stuff, early radio writing, Doctor Who and early Hitchhikers material—the things that got him on the map. And then details of the projects he got invited to work on later once he was famous. We follow that whole story, through his tech company that he started and failed, and a couple that managed to get underway before the dotcom bubble burst. So, his whole life story. If you’re interested in how writers write, and in Douglas as an author, you’ll get something out of it. It will appeal to people of a curious mindset.” Read more...
Kevin Jon Davies, Film Director
“He had this idea for a detective novel. And of course, he becomes a time-travelling detective. It’s hard to sum up the plot, you just have to work through it yourself. What you may find—I did—is that you get more out of the second time reading it. It’s one of those books. You’ve got to concentrate. But it will make you laugh. Stephen Fry has spoken about the elegant phrasing. He compared it to P.G. Wodehouse, of whom they were both massive fans.” Read more...
Kevin Jon Davies, Film Director
“I think it came from a game Douglas played at school with his English teacher, of whom he was very fond, Frank Halford. He pops up in a couple of documentaries. Douglas would play this game with him, and later Douglas played it as a kind of drinking game. They did it from both angles—sometimes they’d come up with a human experience that doesn’t yet have a name, or an object, or a feeling, something that we’d all recognise but doesn’t have a defined name. Then they’d come up with a string of placenames and try to put them together.” Read more...
Kevin Jon Davies, Film Director
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
by Douglas Adams
The audiobook of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is narrated by the British actor, Stephen Fry.
Narrator: Stephen Fry
Length: 5 hours and 51 minutes
“It’s a lovely book, with a point to it. It’s his only factual book, and that means it sounds more serious, but I don’t think so. It’s one of his funniest. You don’t have to be any kind of fan of science fiction to love this book. It stands alone.” Read more...
Kevin Jon Davies, Film Director
Interviews where books by Douglas Adams were recommended
The Best Douglas Adams Books, selected by Kevin Jon Davies
Douglas Adams found huge success with The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a surreal science fiction satire in which a dressing gown-clad Englishman finds himself roaming the multiverse in an improbability-powered spaceship. Here, Kevin Jon Davies—editor of a new book that puts together material from 60 boxes Adams left behind—talks us through the comedy writer’s life and work.
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1
Field Notes From a Catastrophe: Man, nature and climate change
by Elizabeth Kolbert -
2
When The Rivers Run Dry: Journeys into the heart of the world's water crisis
by Fred Pearce -
3
Last Chance to See
by Douglas Adams & Mark Carwardine -
4
The End of Nature
by Bill McKibben -
5
Our Dying Planet: An ecologist's view of the crisis we face
by Peter Sale
The best books on The Anthropocene, recommended by Gaia Vince
The best books on The Anthropocene, recommended by Gaia Vince
In 2015 Gaia Vince became the first woman to win the Royal Society’s science book of the year prize for her book, Adventures in the Anthropocene. She spent two years on the road investigating how communities across the world are coping with climate change. Here, she shares the five best books on climate change and the Anthropocene – the geological epoch of man.
The best books on Extinction and De-Extinction, recommended by Beth Shapiro
Evolutionary biologist Beth Shapiro tells us why it’s impossible to clone a mammoth, and why we might want to. She guides us through five inspiring books to get us thinking about extinction and the role genetics could potentially play in maintaining biodiversity.
The best books on The Environment, recommended by Mark Lynas
The British author, journalist and environmental activist talks to us about climate change. Warns that mankind has become a global catastrophe and discusses books that reveal our impact on the planet
Comfort Reads, recommended by Neil Gaiman
In his latest book, fans from around the world chose which of Neil Gaiman’s writings they liked the best, a great introduction to his writing for anyone not familiar with his work. Here the prolific, genre-bending author recommends some of his own favourite books: comfort reads to turn to in difficult times.
The Best Young Adult Science Fiction Books, recommended by Estelle Francis
Young Adult science fiction extends far beyond the typical dystopian novels which immediately come to mind. Estelle Francis, a teenage author who recently published her first book, shares her favourite YA sci-fi reads.
The best books on Cosmology, recommended by David Goldberg
David Goldberg, professor of physics at Drexel University, recommends the best books to start learning about cosmology. He explains his choices to high school student, Eric Bolton.
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The Origins of Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution
by Francis Fukuyama -
2
Seeing Like a State
by James C Scott -
3
The Nature and Growth of Modern Mathematics
by Edna Ernestine Kramer -
4
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
by Douglas Adams -
5
Finite and Infinite Games
by James Carse
The best books on How the World Works, recommended by Venkatesh Rao
The best books on How the World Works, recommended by Venkatesh Rao
Armed with one of the ‘big histories’ currently in vogue, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and a tome about how modern maths came to be, you too can get a grip on how the world works. Tech blogger Venkatesh Rao chooses some good books for those who agree with Socrates that ‘for a human being, the unexamined life is not worth living.’
The best books on How to Win Elections, recommended by Marko Rakar
The campaigning expert explains what it is that makes a successful political campaign. Highlights The Election Game And How To Win It as the bible for all political consultants
