Hitchhiker: A Biography of Douglas Adams

I loved this book. I think it made Douglas Adams so much more human, and added alot of depth to his books. He aspired to be a writer/performer, like John Cleese, even following him into the footlights gang. He wrote usually at the last moment and hardly ever managed a deadline. He used music to inspire him, listening to the same piece over and over, then shutting it down to write. He found writing incredibly hard, and I think most writers would take heart in this description of a complicated man who produced a runaway success.

What's most impressive about this volume is how often it is forced to go against conventional wisdom. Through astonishingly complete research, Simpson manages to root out dozens of stories Adams told about his work and then provide the true story behind Adams' half-truths. In all, a wonderfully assembled timeline of an interesting person.

...and then some. I have read all of the books out there about Douglas Adams and his work, and this is by far the most in depth and comprehensive(as well as the most fun). This work is at times funny, personal and warm, at others written with astonishing factual detail. Mr. Simpson's meticulous research and attention to detail, as well as his personal passion for the life and work of Douglas Adams stand out like Douglas in a crowd. I highly recommend this book for any DNA fan.

And better than pretty much anything else out there right now. Douglas Adams may be dead (or only hiding), but I'd rather read him or even just read about him than a lot of the self-congratulatory cyber-muck being peddled as SF these days. Hitchhiker is exhaustive (at times, exhausting), dead-on, funny, sad, nostalgic and true. For anyone you know who's read all of DA, or even just some of DA, this is a perfect complement, and a perfect capstone. Neil Gaiman's Don't Panic might be funnier, but Hitchhiker is richer.

42 of course.He had an all too short life for the witty and intelligent creations he gave us, although I was left thinking after I read this book that Douglas was just too much of procrastinator. So we are left with a reletively small legacy to enjoy. The book put it well when the biographer felt that not enough publishers and friends would lock themselves up with Adams and watch him like a hawk to get his books done, because that is often what it would take to get a book out of him!This bio is very informative and well done. It was rather dissapointing to learn that his last ten years unfortunately didn't produce much, I was left feeling his talent was wasted...at least we have the trilogy.