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42: The Wildly Improbable Ideas of Douglas Adams
Over 60 boxes full of notebooks, research, letters, scripts, jokes, speeches, to-do lists, hard drives and even poems… Welcome to the incredible archive of Douglas Adams.
After his death in 2001, Douglas Adams's papers were loaned to his old Cambridge college, St John's. Reproduced here, in facsimile form and in close association with Adams's family and literary estate, 42 is a full-colour, large-format hardback that follows Adams career from early collaborations with Graham Chapman to his work on Doctor Who, through the Hitchhiker years*, Dirk Gently*, his groundbreaking non-fiction book Last Chance to See and his later digital work. Alongside this are details of projects that never came to fruition like a proposed theme park ride and a TV series provisionally entitled The Secret Empire.
Edited by Kevin Jon Davies, who has worked on a number of Hitchhiker-related projects and had a personal friendship with Adams spanning more than twenty years.
After his death in 2001, Douglas Adams's papers were loaned to his old Cambridge college, St John's. Reproduced here, in facsimile form and in close association with Adams's family and literary estate, 42 is a full-colour, large-format hardback that follows Adams career from early collaborations with Graham Chapman to his work on Doctor Who, through the Hitchhiker years*, Dirk Gently*, his groundbreaking non-fiction book Last Chance to See and his later digital work. Alongside this are details of projects that never came to fruition like a proposed theme park ride and a TV series provisionally entitled The Secret Empire.
Edited by Kevin Jon Davies, who has worked on a number of Hitchhiker-related projects and had a personal friendship with Adams spanning more than twenty years.
- GenresNonfictionBiographyHumor
336 pages, Hardcover
First published August 23, 2023
68 people are currently reading
464 people want to read
About the author
Douglas Adams
120 books23.5k followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Douglas Noel Adams was an English author, humourist, and screenwriter, best known for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (HHGTTG). Originally a 1978 BBC radio comedy, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy developed into a "trilogy" of five books that sold more than 15 million copies in his lifetime. It was further developed into a television series, several stage plays, comics, a video game, and a 2005 feature film. Adams's contribution to UK radio is commemorated in The Radio Academy's Hall of Fame.
Adams also wrote Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (1987) and The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (1988), and co-wrote The Meaning of Liff (1983), The Deeper Meaning of Liff (1990) and Last Chance to See (1990). He wrote two stories for the television series Doctor Who, co-wrote City of Death (1979), and served as script editor for its seventeenth season. He co-wrote the sketch "Patient Abuse" for the final episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus. A posthumous collection of his selected works, including the first publication of his final (unfinished) novel, was published as The Salmon of Doubt in 2002.
Adams was a self-proclaimed "radical atheist", an advocate for environmentalism and conservation, and a lover of fast cars, technological innovation, and the Apple Macintosh.
Douglas Noel Adams was an English author, humourist, and screenwriter, best known for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (HHGTTG). Originally a 1978 BBC radio comedy, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy developed into a "trilogy" of five books that sold more than 15 million copies in his lifetime. It was further developed into a television series, several stage plays, comics, a video game, and a 2005 feature film. Adams's contribution to UK radio is commemorated in The Radio Academy's Hall of Fame.
Adams also wrote Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (1987) and The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (1988), and co-wrote The Meaning of Liff (1983), The Deeper Meaning of Liff (1990) and Last Chance to See (1990). He wrote two stories for the television series Doctor Who, co-wrote City of Death (1979), and served as script editor for its seventeenth season. He co-wrote the sketch "Patient Abuse" for the final episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus. A posthumous collection of his selected works, including the first publication of his final (unfinished) novel, was published as The Salmon of Doubt in 2002.
Adams was a self-proclaimed "radical atheist", an advocate for environmentalism and conservation, and a lover of fast cars, technological innovation, and the Apple Macintosh.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews
September 8, 2023
I am a big fan of Douglas Adams's books, one of the only authors where I have read all his novels...and I was one of those cool kids that quoted lines from the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy whilst being looked at like he was a freak. I also remember finding a recording of Adams reading about his Last Chance to See book, alas the last cassette was missing and I was gutted I never got to listen to the rest, he had such an awesome voice. Having read all his books I didn't actually know much about the man other than he died young, I was never one for biographies as a kid but as I've grown older I find myself wanting to learn more about the mind behind these classics and what better way to do it than via Adams's personal archives.
This book was fascinating, I always assumed that it all came so easily to Adams but turns out he struggled just like any mere mortal, the only people to struggle more were those chasing him to meet the deadlines. The book covers his childhood, education, early attempts to break in to comedy writing and eventual success. The book then moves in to cult territory and the insane success of Hitchhikers, I never realised there were so many versions of it, then the book ends with the Dirk Gently series and Adams's obsessions with technology. (I can't believe he was an early fan of the evil Apple corp.) It has all been put together by scans of hand written letters/notes, then stuff badly-written on a typewriter and some later stuff on his Mac, luckily for the reader Davies has taken the time to transcribe for us, he has kept the originals so you can see the crossing outs and changes Adams made. This book gives the reader a unique and intimate insight into the mind of a very tall, towel owning genius.
I have learnt loads from this book and have laughed at so many parts and was almost reduced to tears from the letters his friends have written to him for this book, imagine Adams on social media, he would have made it a more fun place than it is right now. This has been well presented and you can see the love from everybody involved, Unbound lets the public fund the publication and I have never seen this many people sign up. Bloody brilliant book, so grab yourself a copy...meanwhile I have a sudden craving to re-read some books on hitchhikers.
Blog review: https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2023...
This book was fascinating, I always assumed that it all came so easily to Adams but turns out he struggled just like any mere mortal, the only people to struggle more were those chasing him to meet the deadlines. The book covers his childhood, education, early attempts to break in to comedy writing and eventual success. The book then moves in to cult territory and the insane success of Hitchhikers, I never realised there were so many versions of it, then the book ends with the Dirk Gently series and Adams's obsessions with technology. (I can't believe he was an early fan of the evil Apple corp.) It has all been put together by scans of hand written letters/notes, then stuff badly-written on a typewriter and some later stuff on his Mac, luckily for the reader Davies has taken the time to transcribe for us, he has kept the originals so you can see the crossing outs and changes Adams made. This book gives the reader a unique and intimate insight into the mind of a very tall, towel owning genius.
I have learnt loads from this book and have laughed at so many parts and was almost reduced to tears from the letters his friends have written to him for this book, imagine Adams on social media, he would have made it a more fun place than it is right now. This has been well presented and you can see the love from everybody involved, Unbound lets the public fund the publication and I have never seen this many people sign up. Bloody brilliant book, so grab yourself a copy...meanwhile I have a sudden craving to re-read some books on hitchhikers.
Blog review: https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2023...
March 4, 2024
The contents of this book are worth more than 5* in terms of nostalgia, memories, sorrow, happiness and at least 42 other things that reading it has stirred.
But I am going to make a comment on its architecture, which has caused me quite bit of trouble and pain. Just a gentle comment really, as of one who reminds their fellow traveller not to forget their towel.
Now, I know there’s a Kindle edition, but when it comes to books about important things and people like Douglas Adams, Dr Who and so forth, I like to own the physical book. I did not expect it to lie as lightly in my hands as four building bricks wouldn’t.
Yes I admit it, I’m old, arthritic and all those things. When I collected the book from my local independent bookshop my first sight of it made me think ‘Oh no, tell me it’s not a coffee table book!’
Actually it’s more like a coffee table. To be blunt, it’s disabled-inaccessible. I had a painful struggle carrying it in my bag from the bookshop to the car. If it weren’t for the walking stick, I would have done better to cradle it in my arms, but no possibility of that.
Once home I manage to add it to my reading pile, but then there was the reading to do. It’s very difficult to hold it on my lap and grip it so that it’s tightly bound pages are easily seen. Then I opened it and manage not to weep. SHINY PAPER!
Did I mention I’m on the old side? With spectacles. And an absolute need of a good reading lamp - which dazzles back off the shiny paper. which is also heavy paper. I won’t go on about small print, you had a lot to get in about a man who got a lot into a tragically shortened life.
I will treasure the book, I just want to say to publishers and creators in general of any such works - think of the weight and the shiny paper and please don’t use them.
I’m off for a Pan-Galactic Gargle-Blaster - wish you all well and thanks for all the facts. 🤖
But I am going to make a comment on its architecture, which has caused me quite bit of trouble and pain. Just a gentle comment really, as of one who reminds their fellow traveller not to forget their towel.
Now, I know there’s a Kindle edition, but when it comes to books about important things and people like Douglas Adams, Dr Who and so forth, I like to own the physical book. I did not expect it to lie as lightly in my hands as four building bricks wouldn’t.
Yes I admit it, I’m old, arthritic and all those things. When I collected the book from my local independent bookshop my first sight of it made me think ‘Oh no, tell me it’s not a coffee table book!’
Actually it’s more like a coffee table. To be blunt, it’s disabled-inaccessible. I had a painful struggle carrying it in my bag from the bookshop to the car. If it weren’t for the walking stick, I would have done better to cradle it in my arms, but no possibility of that.
Once home I manage to add it to my reading pile, but then there was the reading to do. It’s very difficult to hold it on my lap and grip it so that it’s tightly bound pages are easily seen. Then I opened it and manage not to weep. SHINY PAPER!
Did I mention I’m on the old side? With spectacles. And an absolute need of a good reading lamp - which dazzles back off the shiny paper. which is also heavy paper. I won’t go on about small print, you had a lot to get in about a man who got a lot into a tragically shortened life.
I will treasure the book, I just want to say to publishers and creators in general of any such works - think of the weight and the shiny paper and please don’t use them.
I’m off for a Pan-Galactic Gargle-Blaster - wish you all well and thanks for all the facts. 🤖
May 4, 2025
Writing isn’t so bad really when you get through the worry.
The above quote is from a DA handwritten note to himself. The advice is too good not to quote in full. It continues:
42 is kinda like finding a cache of your favorite writer’s dry cleaning receipts. If, on the reverse of which they had scribbled in serial an unpublished masterpiece… in indecipherable handwriting.
After a moving Forward penned, literally, (and then scanned) by Stephen Fry, pages 13 through 70-something are a chronicle of DA’s fairly banal schoolboy years. It then proceeds chronologically. The handwriting does not improve, although the jokes do.
We then have pages and pages of scans of hand-scribbled scripts, letters, diary entries and dot matrix-printed ephemera with their full translations or summaries in readable text. A few more letters from friends are interspersed throughout.
Interest and profundity varies widely, but you may find yourself by the end chuckling with a strange bit of liquid leaking from the eyes.
The above quote is from a DA handwritten note to himself. The advice is too good not to quote in full. It continues:
Forget about the worry, just press on. Don’t be embarrassed about the bad bits. Don’t strain at them. Give yourself time, you can come back and do it again in the light of what you discover about the story later on.
It’s better to have pages and pages of material to work with and maybe find an unexpected shape in that you can then craft and put to good use, rather than one manically reworked paragraph or sentence.
But writing can be good. You attack it, don’t let it attack you…
42 is kinda like finding a cache of your favorite writer’s dry cleaning receipts. If, on the reverse of which they had scribbled in serial an unpublished masterpiece… in indecipherable handwriting.
After a moving Forward penned, literally, (and then scanned) by Stephen Fry, pages 13 through 70-something are a chronicle of DA’s fairly banal schoolboy years. It then proceeds chronologically. The handwriting does not improve, although the jokes do.
We then have pages and pages of scans of hand-scribbled scripts, letters, diary entries and dot matrix-printed ephemera with their full translations or summaries in readable text. A few more letters from friends are interspersed throughout.
Interest and profundity varies widely, but you may find yourself by the end chuckling with a strange bit of liquid leaking from the eyes.
November 14, 2023
A great compilation of various letters, ideas, scripts and scraps from throughout Douglas Adams' life, with kind and insightful words from several friends and collaborators.
I'm a longtime fan of his writing (Hitchhiker's, Dirk Gently, Last Chance to See), but there were plenty of new and interesting things I learned from this book about his work. It's more than just a Making Of of his popular publications. The early (student) years did not captivate me that much, to be honest. Then, everything about the Hitchhiker's plays and books, and Holistic Detective is of course wonderful to hear more about. But later chapters are particularly interesting and great to see: on intriguing programmes or digital media that never quite saw the light of day, or his insights into how technology would (should!) progress.
I'm glad I spontaneously picked up "42" in a small bookshop in Hebden Bridge, after a muddy autumn walk.
The only regret I have is that I hadn't heard about it sooner, so I was not part of the crowdfunding that backed this project.
I'm a longtime fan of his writing (Hitchhiker's, Dirk Gently, Last Chance to See), but there were plenty of new and interesting things I learned from this book about his work. It's more than just a Making Of of his popular publications. The early (student) years did not captivate me that much, to be honest. Then, everything about the Hitchhiker's plays and books, and Holistic Detective is of course wonderful to hear more about. But later chapters are particularly interesting and great to see: on intriguing programmes or digital media that never quite saw the light of day, or his insights into how technology would (should!) progress.
I'm glad I spontaneously picked up "42" in a small bookshop in Hebden Bridge, after a muddy autumn walk.
The only regret I have is that I hadn't heard about it sooner, so I was not part of the crowdfunding that backed this project.
November 19, 2023
Douglas Adams will always be my hero. I don't know if there will ever be a writer like him again, but thank goodness there was him. Fascinating look at his creative process.
December 30, 2023
Worth reading if you like the Hitchhiker’s Guide.
September 29, 2024
Sometimes a book comes along which can only be described as a treat. A great big massive one where every page is colourful, lovingly designed and a surefire instant hit of dopamine. A pack of large friendly letters, as Douglas Adams might have put it.
In 42: The Wildly Improbable Ideas of Douglas Adams, Kevin Jon Davies has assembled a treasure trove of Adams’ life, using reams of his old documents and various paraphernalia to build a picture of the man, and most importantly, his inventions. This isn’t a straightforward biography, but rather a technicolour tour of a most remarkable brain.
On a personal level, Douglas Adams is the first author I think I really loved. I read, listened and watched every version of Hitchhikers’ and Dirk Gently I could find (yes, even the maddening text adventure game). I aped his writing style as a teenager, though it wasn’t very successful - like many other imitators, I probably could have done with the pinpoint accurate translation of the Babel Fish when it came to his talent.
The thing I have him to thank most of all for though is the way he introduced me to the power of an idea, a theory, the wonder of speculation. Before this I’d always thought of the sci-fi I loved as spaceships, aliens and time travel. Adams has all of that, sure, but his is special because they’re based in a universe of infinite possibilities and improbabilities. There’s gags marrying space engineering with restaurant bills, vegetarian philosophy with riotous body horror, questions of faith with confused robots. Suddenly many of the classic ideas of sci-fi looked a bit boring - why weren’t they as funny or clever as this?
This book goes some way to answering why Douglas’ humour was a singularity in our universe. Its early pages show he was in fact very human, not appearing out of thin air like his later mercurial rise might suggest. Snippets of his university revues, notes and early scripts show a talented writer who loved Python but was still a bit rough around the edges, occasionally funny but sometimes pretty typical of Oxbridge.
Still there’s a hint of excitement every time you read a joke that really hits, or an early prototype of a quote that would become a classic. Seeing the origin of the “space is big” speech from Hitchhiker’s inside a uni revue script is a real kick knowing just what it would become. Similarly, the first ever line of an idea for Hitchhiker’s is staggering in how starkly simple it is: “Man goes to friend; reveals that he is in fact an alien (they have known each other many years), he must now leave the Earth which is threatened with extinction and offers to take his friend with him.”
His creative process once he hits success is laid out brutally too, with pages of notes showing a man often deeply frustrated with the whole fuss of writing the actual ideas, scribbling or tapping streams of consciousness when things didn’t come together. Maybe my favourite one of these is at a point of frustration writing an entry in the Hitchhikers’ series:
Arthur Dent is a burk. He does not interest me.
Ford Prefect is a burk. He does not interest me.
Zaphod Beeblebrox is a burk. He does not interest me.
Marvin is a burk. He does not interest me.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a burk. It does not interest me.
Deleted passages, letters of frustration and rough outlines show a man bristling with endless ideas, often frustrated with his attempts to fit them all into a narrative he was satisfied with. Of course, the final works speak for themselves, but there’s something reassuring to know that it didn’t all come like some magical apparition to him, but through the laborious work of taking his natural gift for incredible, initially unconnected concepts and building them into something intelligible and coherent.
While I’ve known Adams primarily through his most famous works, the book offers an insight into just how widely he spread himself across mediums and genres, with contributions to theme park rides, to computer gaming, and some remarkably prescient essays on the future of technology, where he somehow predicts the kindle pretty much spot-on a decade early. There’s a degree of sadness when reading these passages too, because it gives the impression of a creative who was finally seeing the arrival of technology that could match his ideas, tragically passing just before the multimedia age he’d been waiting for arrived.
And though the book spends less time on biography than it does the mechanics of his creativity, the snippets of Adams we see are moving and telling. Each bit of personal writing - whether it be a love letter, a note giving advice to a mate (who just so happens to be in Pink Floyd), or a diary entry has traces of the narrative voice so easily recognisable in his prose.
So - whilst I’m still some way off from knowing what the question of Life, the Universe and Everything is, I think I’ve come a bit closer to understanding exactly why there’s nothing else out there that gives me a kick quite like the writing of Douglas Adams; lots of people can string a good sentence together, or even a few nifty thoughts, but few can string countless brilliant ideas in such quick, hilarious succession.
And as an added bonus, it’s made me realise I’ve got some new Adams media to discover - his wildlife series, Last Chance to See has just arrived on my iPhone - now if I could somehow get all his archive on my phone too, I could really turn it into a device to match the Guide…
In 42: The Wildly Improbable Ideas of Douglas Adams, Kevin Jon Davies has assembled a treasure trove of Adams’ life, using reams of his old documents and various paraphernalia to build a picture of the man, and most importantly, his inventions. This isn’t a straightforward biography, but rather a technicolour tour of a most remarkable brain.
On a personal level, Douglas Adams is the first author I think I really loved. I read, listened and watched every version of Hitchhikers’ and Dirk Gently I could find (yes, even the maddening text adventure game). I aped his writing style as a teenager, though it wasn’t very successful - like many other imitators, I probably could have done with the pinpoint accurate translation of the Babel Fish when it came to his talent.
The thing I have him to thank most of all for though is the way he introduced me to the power of an idea, a theory, the wonder of speculation. Before this I’d always thought of the sci-fi I loved as spaceships, aliens and time travel. Adams has all of that, sure, but his is special because they’re based in a universe of infinite possibilities and improbabilities. There’s gags marrying space engineering with restaurant bills, vegetarian philosophy with riotous body horror, questions of faith with confused robots. Suddenly many of the classic ideas of sci-fi looked a bit boring - why weren’t they as funny or clever as this?
This book goes some way to answering why Douglas’ humour was a singularity in our universe. Its early pages show he was in fact very human, not appearing out of thin air like his later mercurial rise might suggest. Snippets of his university revues, notes and early scripts show a talented writer who loved Python but was still a bit rough around the edges, occasionally funny but sometimes pretty typical of Oxbridge.
Still there’s a hint of excitement every time you read a joke that really hits, or an early prototype of a quote that would become a classic. Seeing the origin of the “space is big” speech from Hitchhiker’s inside a uni revue script is a real kick knowing just what it would become. Similarly, the first ever line of an idea for Hitchhiker’s is staggering in how starkly simple it is: “Man goes to friend; reveals that he is in fact an alien (they have known each other many years), he must now leave the Earth which is threatened with extinction and offers to take his friend with him.”
His creative process once he hits success is laid out brutally too, with pages of notes showing a man often deeply frustrated with the whole fuss of writing the actual ideas, scribbling or tapping streams of consciousness when things didn’t come together. Maybe my favourite one of these is at a point of frustration writing an entry in the Hitchhikers’ series:
Arthur Dent is a burk. He does not interest me.
Ford Prefect is a burk. He does not interest me.
Zaphod Beeblebrox is a burk. He does not interest me.
Marvin is a burk. He does not interest me.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a burk. It does not interest me.
Deleted passages, letters of frustration and rough outlines show a man bristling with endless ideas, often frustrated with his attempts to fit them all into a narrative he was satisfied with. Of course, the final works speak for themselves, but there’s something reassuring to know that it didn’t all come like some magical apparition to him, but through the laborious work of taking his natural gift for incredible, initially unconnected concepts and building them into something intelligible and coherent.
While I’ve known Adams primarily through his most famous works, the book offers an insight into just how widely he spread himself across mediums and genres, with contributions to theme park rides, to computer gaming, and some remarkably prescient essays on the future of technology, where he somehow predicts the kindle pretty much spot-on a decade early. There’s a degree of sadness when reading these passages too, because it gives the impression of a creative who was finally seeing the arrival of technology that could match his ideas, tragically passing just before the multimedia age he’d been waiting for arrived.
And though the book spends less time on biography than it does the mechanics of his creativity, the snippets of Adams we see are moving and telling. Each bit of personal writing - whether it be a love letter, a note giving advice to a mate (who just so happens to be in Pink Floyd), or a diary entry has traces of the narrative voice so easily recognisable in his prose.
So - whilst I’m still some way off from knowing what the question of Life, the Universe and Everything is, I think I’ve come a bit closer to understanding exactly why there’s nothing else out there that gives me a kick quite like the writing of Douglas Adams; lots of people can string a good sentence together, or even a few nifty thoughts, but few can string countless brilliant ideas in such quick, hilarious succession.
And as an added bonus, it’s made me realise I’ve got some new Adams media to discover - his wildlife series, Last Chance to See has just arrived on my iPhone - now if I could somehow get all his archive on my phone too, I could really turn it into a device to match the Guide…
December 29, 2025
DON’T GET THE KINDLE EDITION.
I‘ve just finished this and feel entirely unqualified to judge wether or not this is something I’d recommend, seeing as half the pages were scans of notes and letters that were completely unreadable on my Kindle (though the handwritten notes may forever be unreadable, the man didn’t have particularly neat handwriting).
What I could read ranges wildly between funny, interesting, touching and entirely forgettable.
Really made me want to do a reread of at least 4 of Adam’s books, though.
DO GET THE PRINT VERSION.
So, having now got the print version where all of the book is actually readable, I very much recommend this.
I‘ve just finished this and feel entirely unqualified to judge wether or not this is something I’d recommend, seeing as half the pages were scans of notes and letters that were completely unreadable on my Kindle (though the handwritten notes may forever be unreadable, the man didn’t have particularly neat handwriting).
What I could read ranges wildly between funny, interesting, touching and entirely forgettable.
Really made me want to do a reread of at least 4 of Adam’s books, though.
DO GET THE PRINT VERSION.
So, having now got the print version where all of the book is actually readable, I very much recommend this.
January 11, 2025
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
---
WHAT'S 42: THE WILDLY IMPROBABLY IDEAS OF DOUGLAS ADAMS, ANYWAY?
from The Publisher:
A FEW SHORT-COMINGS (only one of which is of any substance)
Not every piece of handwriting is transcribed—and no, I'm not referring to the more than a dozen examples of his signature (an interesting evolution to be sure). The majority of bits of handwriting are printed under, next-to, or following to make them legible. But not all—and there are a few things that I can't quite suss out. And if you'd ever seen my handwriting, you'd know that I can figure out what a lot of messy writing says.
The other drawbacks are that the chapters covering Dirk Gently (in the various books) and The Last Chance to See (radio program and book) are too short. I could've used twice the material on both of those.
I DIDN'T EXPECT TO GET MISTY-EYED
Throughout the book are letters written by people who knew Adams to him, describing their relationship, what he meant to them, and how his death affected them. The first one, by Stephen Fry, is used as the foreword and threw me—I didn't realize I was going to have an emotional experience while reading the book.
These were wonderful and heartfelt and make the reader feel close to someone they've only admired from afar. Sure, it's a parasocial relationship at best (for almost everyone who reads the book), but especially reading those letters, it feels far less "para."
AN OVERLY SPECIFIC SUGGESTION
Do not read this book while recovering from abdominal surgery.
It is large (8.5" X 11.9" X 1.2"). For a book, it is heavy (roughly 4 pounds). There is no comfortable way to hold this book while reclining if you cannot rest it on your stomach.
That said, the large size, the high-quality paper, and the full-color pages are a wonderful way to present this material, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT 42: THE WILDLY IMPROBABLY IDEAS OF DOUGLAS ADAMS,?
So, really, at this point, should I be allowed to rate books related to Douglas Adams? Probably not. But, this is my blog, so I get to set the rules.
There were some things that I'm not sure why Davies included, a couple of things I didn't appreciate as much as I should've (some older British pop culture references/names that I'm too American to get/recognize). But by and large, I was captivated and entertained. I bet Davies had a blast compiling this and it couldn't have been easy cutting some material (although I bet there was a bunch that he wondered why anyone hung onto in the first place).
While I (semi-) joked about the Dirk Gently and Last Chance to See chapters being too short, they really were the most interesting to me. I've read many, many things about THHGTTG over the years, and have seen a good amount about his career and education before then. but I've come across very little about these others—so I learned more, got more insight, and whatnot. I really could've read chapters that were three times as long on both counts.
Truth be told, the book could've been three times as long and I'd have been happy, too. Sure, you'd need a weightlifting belt to carry it around that way, so maybe it's best that Davies stopped when he did.
You need to read Adams thoughts on the future of books—specifically ebooks. Other than the amount of money going to authors...he nailed it. You get great insight into how his mind worked by seeing early drafts (and the way he'd write to himself to keep going when it got difficult).
I found this to be mind-bogglingly delightful. Which is pretty much what I expected, true. But there's expecting to appreciate a book and then getting to experience it and discover that you were right. It's is kind of a doubling of pleasure.
If you're a fan of Adams, you're going to find at least one thing here that will interest you more than you anticipated. If you're a big fan of Adams, you're in for a treat. He was the hoopiest of hoopy froods, and this book gives you a glimpse into just how hoopy that is.
Disclaimer: I contributed to the crowd-funding to get this book published (my name's right there on p. 314), so who knows if that makes me biased. But then again...when am I not?
---
WHAT'S 42: THE WILDLY IMPROBABLY IDEAS OF DOUGLAS ADAMS, ANYWAY?
from The Publisher:
When Douglas Adams died in 2001, he left behind 60 boxes full of notebooks, letters, scripts, jokes, speeches and even poems. In 42, compiled by Douglas’s long-time collaborator Kevin Jon Davies, hundreds of these personal artefacts appear in print for the very first time.
Douglas was as much a thinker as he was a writer, and his artefacts reveal how his deep fascination with technology led to ideas which were far ahead of their time: a convention speech envisioning the modern smartphone, with all the information in the world living at our fingertips; sheets of notes predicting the advent of electronic books; journal entries from his forays into home computing – it is a matter of legend that Douglas bought the very first Mac in the UK; musings on how the internet would disrupt the CD-Rom industry, among others.
42 also features archival material charting Douglas’s school days through Cambridge, Footlights, collaborations with Graham Chapman, and early scribbles from the development of Doctor Who, Hitchhiker’s and Dirk Gently. Alongside details of his most celebrated works are projects that never came to fruition, including the pilot for radio programme They’ll Never Play That on the Radio and a space-inspired theme park ride.
Douglas’s personal papers prove that the greatest ideas come from the fleeting thoughts that collide in our own imagination, and offer a captivating insight into the mind of one of the twentieth century’s greatest thinkers and most enduring storytellers.
A FEW SHORT-COMINGS (only one of which is of any substance)
Not every piece of handwriting is transcribed—and no, I'm not referring to the more than a dozen examples of his signature (an interesting evolution to be sure). The majority of bits of handwriting are printed under, next-to, or following to make them legible. But not all—and there are a few things that I can't quite suss out. And if you'd ever seen my handwriting, you'd know that I can figure out what a lot of messy writing says.
The other drawbacks are that the chapters covering Dirk Gently (in the various books) and The Last Chance to See (radio program and book) are too short. I could've used twice the material on both of those.
I DIDN'T EXPECT TO GET MISTY-EYED
Throughout the book are letters written by people who knew Adams to him, describing their relationship, what he meant to them, and how his death affected them. The first one, by Stephen Fry, is used as the foreword and threw me—I didn't realize I was going to have an emotional experience while reading the book.
These were wonderful and heartfelt and make the reader feel close to someone they've only admired from afar. Sure, it's a parasocial relationship at best (for almost everyone who reads the book), but especially reading those letters, it feels far less "para."
AN OVERLY SPECIFIC SUGGESTION
Do not read this book while recovering from abdominal surgery.
It is large (8.5" X 11.9" X 1.2"). For a book, it is heavy (roughly 4 pounds). There is no comfortable way to hold this book while reclining if you cannot rest it on your stomach.
That said, the large size, the high-quality paper, and the full-color pages are a wonderful way to present this material, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT 42: THE WILDLY IMPROBABLY IDEAS OF DOUGLAS ADAMS,?
So, really, at this point, should I be allowed to rate books related to Douglas Adams? Probably not. But, this is my blog, so I get to set the rules.
There were some things that I'm not sure why Davies included, a couple of things I didn't appreciate as much as I should've (some older British pop culture references/names that I'm too American to get/recognize). But by and large, I was captivated and entertained. I bet Davies had a blast compiling this and it couldn't have been easy cutting some material (although I bet there was a bunch that he wondered why anyone hung onto in the first place).
While I (semi-) joked about the Dirk Gently and Last Chance to See chapters being too short, they really were the most interesting to me. I've read many, many things about THHGTTG over the years, and have seen a good amount about his career and education before then. but I've come across very little about these others—so I learned more, got more insight, and whatnot. I really could've read chapters that were three times as long on both counts.
Truth be told, the book could've been three times as long and I'd have been happy, too. Sure, you'd need a weightlifting belt to carry it around that way, so maybe it's best that Davies stopped when he did.
You need to read Adams thoughts on the future of books—specifically ebooks. Other than the amount of money going to authors...he nailed it. You get great insight into how his mind worked by seeing early drafts (and the way he'd write to himself to keep going when it got difficult).
I found this to be mind-bogglingly delightful. Which is pretty much what I expected, true. But there's expecting to appreciate a book and then getting to experience it and discover that you were right. It's is kind of a doubling of pleasure.
If you're a fan of Adams, you're going to find at least one thing here that will interest you more than you anticipated. If you're a big fan of Adams, you're in for a treat. He was the hoopiest of hoopy froods, and this book gives you a glimpse into just how hoopy that is.
Disclaimer: I contributed to the crowd-funding to get this book published (my name's right there on p. 314), so who knows if that makes me biased. But then again...when am I not?
August 31, 2023
This is a hard book to review. Though written chronologically it is not a biography as such. Contains plenty of pictures it is not a graphic memoir. Though I read from start to finish like a normal book the size of the print edition makes it not the ideal book to sit on your lap. It could be called a coffee table book. I glad I read the print edition as I think some of the hand written notes etc. would be hard to decipher if read electronically.
I first became aware of Douglas through the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy Trilogy, which is four or maybe more books. Anyway I've read four and really enjoyed them.
What grabbed me about this book was, through the aid of hand written notes is the growth of Douglas as comedic writer and even more importantly an inquiring mind. He wasn't afraid to challenge convention and had a willingness to think outside the box.
Another thing I didn't know Douglas had written for DR. Who and collaborated with Graham Chapman, of Monty Python fame. When Douglas died in 2001 I think we lost someone who was just reaching the peak of his powers. A book I will continue dipping in and out of, because I'm sure it will keep on offering. If you are thinking getting this book, I would recommend the print edition.
I first became aware of Douglas through the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy Trilogy, which is four or maybe more books. Anyway I've read four and really enjoyed them.
What grabbed me about this book was, through the aid of hand written notes is the growth of Douglas as comedic writer and even more importantly an inquiring mind. He wasn't afraid to challenge convention and had a willingness to think outside the box.
Another thing I didn't know Douglas had written for DR. Who and collaborated with Graham Chapman, of Monty Python fame. When Douglas died in 2001 I think we lost someone who was just reaching the peak of his powers. A book I will continue dipping in and out of, because I'm sure it will keep on offering. If you are thinking getting this book, I would recommend the print edition.
September 12, 2023
Douglas Adams was a genius. That’s not just my opinion, it is a widely established fact that can be verified by anyone who has ever read any of his books. As I have, multiple times each, the last time being earlier this year when I went through the entire The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy trilogy in five parts on audiobook for the umpteenth time. And I enjoyed it just as much as I did the first time I read it more that 30 years ago. He is one of my go-to authors when I just want to listen to something that is going to cheer me up.
This is a coffee table book that is a collection of photographs, musings, scraps of writing, diary entries, poems, letters, old scripts etc. that throw an unrivalled insight into the mind of the man behind the books that I love so much. It’s like being able to open Douglas Adams’ skull and take a peek inside at his brain and see what made him tick. And it’s every bit as mad, confused and brilliant as you might have imagined, even more so, in fact.
This isn’t the kind of book you would normally sit down and read through from cover to cover like a novel. It’s a book to dip in and out of, riffle through and find the bit that draws you in today, flip through in an idle moment and then become engrossed. I did, however, read through the book from cover to cover over the course of a weekend for the purpose of writing this review and it was an illuminating experience, because I came away with a very deep sense of familiarity with the man, and the same feeling of immense loss that I felt when I first heard that he had died, an abiding grief at everything the world would now never get to experience from that unusual and unique mind.
A couple of things really struck me having gone through the book in this way. Firstly, the overwhelming love and affection that all of the people who met and worked with him felt for him oozes from the pages. Despite the fact it must have been deeply frustrating to have to deal with someone so notorious for missing deadlines and working right up to the last minute, clearly he was very highly regarded by his friends and colleagues. And what friends and colleagues they were. The cast of supporting characters in the book is a who’s who of British comedy and writing talent. Secondly, it was the singularly relatable lack of confidence in his own abilities that came across from the particularly personal items included in the book. I was hosting a group of writers and a tutor at my house over the weekend as I read this and I kept (very annoyingly for her I am sure) reading bits of the book aloud to the tutor which illuminated Adams’ self doubt about his own work. It made me feel comforted as a writer that someone of Adams’ undoubted talent was so unsure in himself.
This book would make a perfect gift for any fan of Douglas Adams, something they will revel in and treasure. I am extremely jealous of Kevin Jon Davies having had such unfettered access to the Adams’ archive but he has done a magnificent job of collating a gem of a book here which throws such illumination on the life, work and mind of a man who has brought so much joy to the lives of so many. I am going through a tricky time at the moment and, being able to dip in and out of the mind of Douglas Adams has given me pleasure and comfort in the same way as reading his work always has since I first discovered it as a teenager. A wonderful achievement.
This is a coffee table book that is a collection of photographs, musings, scraps of writing, diary entries, poems, letters, old scripts etc. that throw an unrivalled insight into the mind of the man behind the books that I love so much. It’s like being able to open Douglas Adams’ skull and take a peek inside at his brain and see what made him tick. And it’s every bit as mad, confused and brilliant as you might have imagined, even more so, in fact.
This isn’t the kind of book you would normally sit down and read through from cover to cover like a novel. It’s a book to dip in and out of, riffle through and find the bit that draws you in today, flip through in an idle moment and then become engrossed. I did, however, read through the book from cover to cover over the course of a weekend for the purpose of writing this review and it was an illuminating experience, because I came away with a very deep sense of familiarity with the man, and the same feeling of immense loss that I felt when I first heard that he had died, an abiding grief at everything the world would now never get to experience from that unusual and unique mind.
A couple of things really struck me having gone through the book in this way. Firstly, the overwhelming love and affection that all of the people who met and worked with him felt for him oozes from the pages. Despite the fact it must have been deeply frustrating to have to deal with someone so notorious for missing deadlines and working right up to the last minute, clearly he was very highly regarded by his friends and colleagues. And what friends and colleagues they were. The cast of supporting characters in the book is a who’s who of British comedy and writing talent. Secondly, it was the singularly relatable lack of confidence in his own abilities that came across from the particularly personal items included in the book. I was hosting a group of writers and a tutor at my house over the weekend as I read this and I kept (very annoyingly for her I am sure) reading bits of the book aloud to the tutor which illuminated Adams’ self doubt about his own work. It made me feel comforted as a writer that someone of Adams’ undoubted talent was so unsure in himself.
This book would make a perfect gift for any fan of Douglas Adams, something they will revel in and treasure. I am extremely jealous of Kevin Jon Davies having had such unfettered access to the Adams’ archive but he has done a magnificent job of collating a gem of a book here which throws such illumination on the life, work and mind of a man who has brought so much joy to the lives of so many. I am going through a tricky time at the moment and, being able to dip in and out of the mind of Douglas Adams has given me pleasure and comfort in the same way as reading his work always has since I first discovered it as a teenager. A wonderful achievement.
August 29, 2023
The book:
When Douglas Adams passed away suddenly in 2001, he left behind legions of dedicated fans of his clever, surreal and downright hilarious writing. But he also left 60 boxes of personal papers, including notebooks, scripts, letters and other memorabilia spanning his life and work. Editor Kevin Jon Davies has spent 2 years painstakingly going through this wealth of material, and the result is “42: The Wildly Improbable Ideas of Douglas Adams” — a treasure-trove of details for Adams fans old and new.
My thoughts:
My first introduction to Douglas Adams’s work was the 1981 television incarnation of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy — first through repeats (I wasn’t quite born when it first aired!), then through my Dad’s VHS boxset, and in recent years via streaming. The TV show led me to the book series, with my well-worn quadrilogy being supplemented with the fifth instalment when I got the paperback in 1993. I find these books so funny (even now I can’t work out a restaurant bill without thinking of bistromathics!), and I’m sure the concept of a million-page electronic book was a catalyst for my enthusiasm for the Kindle!
I also enjoyed the Dirk Gently novels when I first read them, although less so than Hitchhiker’s (nothing could quite reach those heights). However, on a recent re-read, inspired by the present book, I’ve enjoyed these very much, and have new-found respect for Gently’s creative invoicing!
In later years (finding myself at work with access to the internet all day) I became a fan of the h2g2 website (which was a sort of early Wikipedia), founded by Adams in 1999, and at the time I found it, run by the BBC (~2003).
So Adams’s work, and Hitchhiker’s in particular, feels like it has been with me for a long time, in various forms. I was therefore delighted to hear about the publication of “42: The Wildly Improbably Ideas of Douglas Adams”. This collection of papers from Adams, much of it in his own handwriting, is an absolute delight. Arranged in roughly chronological order, from Adams’s school years (an early school report describes his writing as “quite good”), through university and on to the world of making a living from his writing. The material includes photocopied extracts from Adams’s notebooks, an interesting quirk of which is how he writes his notes as a conversation with himself: “So, where are we then? At the beginning of another brand new day and no further forward. Terrific.”
Also included are school reports, part of Adam’s dissertation, scripts, posters, photos and more. And interspersed with this is new material from several of Adams’s close friends and collaborators (including a foreword from Stephen Fry), written in the form of a letter to Douglas himself, giving a touching insight into the high regard he was held in by them all. This is a book that can be read in order or dipped into as the mood takes you. Overall it is a great insight into a fascinating man, and something I’m sure I’ll come back to time and again.
When Douglas Adams passed away suddenly in 2001, he left behind legions of dedicated fans of his clever, surreal and downright hilarious writing. But he also left 60 boxes of personal papers, including notebooks, scripts, letters and other memorabilia spanning his life and work. Editor Kevin Jon Davies has spent 2 years painstakingly going through this wealth of material, and the result is “42: The Wildly Improbable Ideas of Douglas Adams” — a treasure-trove of details for Adams fans old and new.
My thoughts:
My first introduction to Douglas Adams’s work was the 1981 television incarnation of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy — first through repeats (I wasn’t quite born when it first aired!), then through my Dad’s VHS boxset, and in recent years via streaming. The TV show led me to the book series, with my well-worn quadrilogy being supplemented with the fifth instalment when I got the paperback in 1993. I find these books so funny (even now I can’t work out a restaurant bill without thinking of bistromathics!), and I’m sure the concept of a million-page electronic book was a catalyst for my enthusiasm for the Kindle!
I also enjoyed the Dirk Gently novels when I first read them, although less so than Hitchhiker’s (nothing could quite reach those heights). However, on a recent re-read, inspired by the present book, I’ve enjoyed these very much, and have new-found respect for Gently’s creative invoicing!
In later years (finding myself at work with access to the internet all day) I became a fan of the h2g2 website (which was a sort of early Wikipedia), founded by Adams in 1999, and at the time I found it, run by the BBC (~2003).
So Adams’s work, and Hitchhiker’s in particular, feels like it has been with me for a long time, in various forms. I was therefore delighted to hear about the publication of “42: The Wildly Improbably Ideas of Douglas Adams”. This collection of papers from Adams, much of it in his own handwriting, is an absolute delight. Arranged in roughly chronological order, from Adams’s school years (an early school report describes his writing as “quite good”), through university and on to the world of making a living from his writing. The material includes photocopied extracts from Adams’s notebooks, an interesting quirk of which is how he writes his notes as a conversation with himself: “So, where are we then? At the beginning of another brand new day and no further forward. Terrific.”
Also included are school reports, part of Adam’s dissertation, scripts, posters, photos and more. And interspersed with this is new material from several of Adams’s close friends and collaborators (including a foreword from Stephen Fry), written in the form of a letter to Douglas himself, giving a touching insight into the high regard he was held in by them all. This is a book that can be read in order or dipped into as the mood takes you. Overall it is a great insight into a fascinating man, and something I’m sure I’ll come back to time and again.
October 1, 2023
I don't think there will be anyone who hasn't heard of, watched, listened to or read something by or whose life hasn't been touched by Douglas Adams!
I am a huge fan and was so excited to start reading and exploring this book.
This is a whopper of a book and quite honestly won't fit on any of my bookshelves.
But the great thing is, is that this is so fascinating and so packed with detail, it will be staying out on my coffee table for quite some time - it's already become a great talking point.
We explore Douglas' life, loves and work right from school age, through university and beyond throughout his many successes in his career.
There are so many photos, copies of letters, memorabilia and his own notebooks packed into this book, that it is impossible to take every little detail in on the first look and I can see that I'll be coming back to this many an evening to go over some of the chapters and explore more of the intricacies of the notebooks and scripts here.
Having grown up with a brother with very similar sci-fi interests - this has also been my life and similarly passed on to my children too, so Hitchhiker's Guide and Dr Who are still firm favourites in our house. It's amazing to see them both still running/showing after so many years and just proves the absolute genius of Adams.
I love everything about this book - but particularly enjoy seeing the behind the scenes photos and early script notes.
But also really loved the "Dear Douglas" letters from his friends and colleagues which I found really emotional and touching.
I cannot recommend this book enough - for anyone even vaguely interested in Sci-Fi or any of the many things that Douglas put his hand to over his short life - this is a must buy worthy investment and thoroughly fascinating read for all.
I am a huge fan and was so excited to start reading and exploring this book.
This is a whopper of a book and quite honestly won't fit on any of my bookshelves.
But the great thing is, is that this is so fascinating and so packed with detail, it will be staying out on my coffee table for quite some time - it's already become a great talking point.
We explore Douglas' life, loves and work right from school age, through university and beyond throughout his many successes in his career.
There are so many photos, copies of letters, memorabilia and his own notebooks packed into this book, that it is impossible to take every little detail in on the first look and I can see that I'll be coming back to this many an evening to go over some of the chapters and explore more of the intricacies of the notebooks and scripts here.
Having grown up with a brother with very similar sci-fi interests - this has also been my life and similarly passed on to my children too, so Hitchhiker's Guide and Dr Who are still firm favourites in our house. It's amazing to see them both still running/showing after so many years and just proves the absolute genius of Adams.
I love everything about this book - but particularly enjoy seeing the behind the scenes photos and early script notes.
But also really loved the "Dear Douglas" letters from his friends and colleagues which I found really emotional and touching.
I cannot recommend this book enough - for anyone even vaguely interested in Sci-Fi or any of the many things that Douglas put his hand to over his short life - this is a must buy worthy investment and thoroughly fascinating read for all.
December 31, 2023
One for serious Douglas Adams aficionados. I loved the section on technology, with his notes from talks and ideas.
July 13, 2024
Interesting insight into Adams and his delightful works, but one mainly for the keenest of Douglas Adams fans
December 17, 2023
I actually finished this a few days ago -- I think it was the 12th, the day I started the Railroad Bill book. But anyway...
I'm not exactly a Douglas Adams superfan. I don't read his books once per year or anything like that. I did, however, devour them when I discovered them back in the day. The Hitchhiker's series, the Dirk Gently series, I watched the TV and film adaptations of these works, I even read "Last Chance to See." I loved me some Douglas Adams, and I felt it was a great loss to the world when a heart attack stole him away at the relatively tender age of 49, more than 20 years ago.
What I didn't know then, but I learned from reading this book, is that the books that I so voraciously tore through in my younger days did NOT come easy to Douglas Adams. He was an intensely creative guy who really struggled to put any of his ideas into book form. The finished products he put out were deceptively well-done -- they seemed flawless at the time, but now I know how long he labored to get those fairly slim volumes to press.
This book gives great insights into the creative process of a man who was able to be an inspiration to others despite his own difficulties dealing with deadlines, publisher demands, and even just the writing process. You'll get to look at pages of early drafts, some typed and some handwritten, often with multiple false starts and almost always with text crossed out, replaced between the lines or in the margins, and even then he often scrapped the prose that he put together. It also gives a rare look into what inspired him, even going back to his school days and his early writings (often for performance, which in fact Hitchhiker's was originally -- I didn't learn until much later that those books started out as radio teleplays and only afterward did he put them into novel format). I'm not a Doctor Who fan, but it was interesting to see how he had devised a plot for a Doctor Who story but was turned away, only later being able to go back and make his case for inclusion in that series.
If you're a Douglas Adams fan, you'll be interested in what's contained in this book, even if you just flip around and get a taste of what's there. I will tell you this, though, and it's not a spoiler: Before you start trying to read the handwritten pages reproduced in this book, check to see if there's a transcription close by. You'll save yourself a lot of time by reading transcribed versions of these pages.
I'm not exactly a Douglas Adams superfan. I don't read his books once per year or anything like that. I did, however, devour them when I discovered them back in the day. The Hitchhiker's series, the Dirk Gently series, I watched the TV and film adaptations of these works, I even read "Last Chance to See." I loved me some Douglas Adams, and I felt it was a great loss to the world when a heart attack stole him away at the relatively tender age of 49, more than 20 years ago.
What I didn't know then, but I learned from reading this book, is that the books that I so voraciously tore through in my younger days did NOT come easy to Douglas Adams. He was an intensely creative guy who really struggled to put any of his ideas into book form. The finished products he put out were deceptively well-done -- they seemed flawless at the time, but now I know how long he labored to get those fairly slim volumes to press.
This book gives great insights into the creative process of a man who was able to be an inspiration to others despite his own difficulties dealing with deadlines, publisher demands, and even just the writing process. You'll get to look at pages of early drafts, some typed and some handwritten, often with multiple false starts and almost always with text crossed out, replaced between the lines or in the margins, and even then he often scrapped the prose that he put together. It also gives a rare look into what inspired him, even going back to his school days and his early writings (often for performance, which in fact Hitchhiker's was originally -- I didn't learn until much later that those books started out as radio teleplays and only afterward did he put them into novel format). I'm not a Doctor Who fan, but it was interesting to see how he had devised a plot for a Doctor Who story but was turned away, only later being able to go back and make his case for inclusion in that series.
If you're a Douglas Adams fan, you'll be interested in what's contained in this book, even if you just flip around and get a taste of what's there. I will tell you this, though, and it's not a spoiler: Before you start trying to read the handwritten pages reproduced in this book, check to see if there's a transcription close by. You'll save yourself a lot of time by reading transcribed versions of these pages.
September 15, 2023
When Douglas Adams died in 2001, he left behind 60 boxes full of notebooks, letters, scripts, jokes, speeches and even poems. In 42, compiled by Douglas’s long-time collaborator Kevin Jon Davies, hundreds of these personal artefacts appear in print for the very first time. Douglas was as much a thinker as he was a writer, and his artefacts reveal how his deep fascination with technology led to ideas which were far ahead of their time: a convention speech envisioning the modern smartphone, with all the information in the world living at our fingertips; sheets of notes predicting the advent of electronic books; journal entries from his forays into home computing – it is a matter of legend that Douglas bought the very first Mac in the UK; musings on how the internet would disrupt the CD-Rom industry, among others. 42 also features archival material charting Douglas’s school days through Cambridge, Footlights, collaborations with Graham Chapman, and early scribbles from the development of Doctor Who, Hitchhiker’s and Dirk Gently. Alongside details of his most celebrated works are projects that never came to fruition, including the pilot for radio programme They’ll Never Play That on the Radio and a space-inspired theme park ride. Douglas’s personal papers prove that the greatest ideas come from the fleeting thoughts that collide in our own imagination, and offer a captivating insight into the mind of one of the twentieth century’s greatest thinkers and most enduring storytellers.
September 5, 2023
I first read the trilogy of five that is The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy many years ago. I loved the humour and surreal ideas and have been a fan ever since. So, when I saw this book, I was intrigued to find out more about the man behind the masterpiece.
This stunning, full colour, hardback is set out roughly chronologically and takes us on a journey from Adams’ schooldays, time at Cambridge, early successes and fame, to his ideas about the future.
Not so much a biography, this is more a carefully curated glimpse into the life and ‘wildly improbable’ ideas of Adams through his own notes, essays, scripts, letters, school reports and much more.
Much of the book is made up of facsimiles of Adam’s own handwriting, some of which are transcribed, along with notes and information for context. It’s also full of photos and images which make it very visually appealing too.
One feature I found very touching was the letters that have been written by friends, addressed to Adams as if he were still around to read them. The foreword is written in this style by Stephen Fry. I learned that this pair were good friends, who both had a fascination for technology and were the first two people in Europe to buy a Mac.
The is a fascinating read, which can easily be dipped in and out of, but for any fans, I think it will be unputdownable.
This stunning, full colour, hardback is set out roughly chronologically and takes us on a journey from Adams’ schooldays, time at Cambridge, early successes and fame, to his ideas about the future.
Not so much a biography, this is more a carefully curated glimpse into the life and ‘wildly improbable’ ideas of Adams through his own notes, essays, scripts, letters, school reports and much more.
Much of the book is made up of facsimiles of Adam’s own handwriting, some of which are transcribed, along with notes and information for context. It’s also full of photos and images which make it very visually appealing too.
One feature I found very touching was the letters that have been written by friends, addressed to Adams as if he were still around to read them. The foreword is written in this style by Stephen Fry. I learned that this pair were good friends, who both had a fascination for technology and were the first two people in Europe to buy a Mac.
The is a fascinating read, which can easily be dipped in and out of, but for any fans, I think it will be unputdownable.
September 23, 2024
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy entered my life with what I now know was the first full repeat of the series, in late 1978, when I was aged 11. For the following twenty years, when a new Douglas Adams book appeared, I had to read it, and when a new Douglas Adams radio series was aired, I had to hear it (I confess that I wasn't so keen on the TV series). Dirk Gently remains one of my favourite books, and I fear that I could recite much of the script of the first radio series of H2G2. Adams' death in 2001 was both shockingly premature, but meant so much that could have been written never was.
Kevin Jon Davies is therefore to be thanked and congratulated for having gone through the mass of papers and files that Adams left with us, in order to draw out this fascinating selection of snippets. Page after page of copies from his school reports, photos, scripts, letters, talks, etc. Each one gives a new insight and a different perspective on Adams, leaving the reader ever more amazed at the way this gifted but challenged writer ever managed to produce anything at all, and that what he did produce was so often of such intense brilliance, wit, and insight. Inevitably, a number of the chapters felt far too short, but that was unavoidable, as the book is still a hefty tome. Worth every minute spent reading it.
Kevin Jon Davies is therefore to be thanked and congratulated for having gone through the mass of papers and files that Adams left with us, in order to draw out this fascinating selection of snippets. Page after page of copies from his school reports, photos, scripts, letters, talks, etc. Each one gives a new insight and a different perspective on Adams, leaving the reader ever more amazed at the way this gifted but challenged writer ever managed to produce anything at all, and that what he did produce was so often of such intense brilliance, wit, and insight. Inevitably, a number of the chapters felt far too short, but that was unavoidable, as the book is still a hefty tome. Worth every minute spent reading it.
September 7, 2023
For the lovers of The Hitchhiker´s Guide to the Galaxy, 42 Wildly Improbably Ideas of Douglas Adams reveals to the public for the first time since the passing of the author completely novel ideas, memories and notebooks. Edited by Kevin Jan Davies, a long-time collaborator, the book opens with a foreword of Stephen Fry with whom he shared the passion for latest technology and high-smart tech. At the death of Adams, in 2001, we were far from the current social media and high-tech outburst and he would have been delighted to be part of this new world in the making, mentions Fry.
The book outlines important moments in the life of Douglas Adams: notes, diary entries, poems, photographs etc. The archives, many of them handwritten, are based on the documents inclulded in the almost 60 boxed recovered upon the author´s death. Published in this edited version for the first time, they provide valuable details about Adams´ life and career but also about the environment where this important thinker grew up and created.
Published with annotations and explanations for the reader, the book can be also used as an example of memoir and memorialistic documents in general.
Diclaimer: Book offered as part of a book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own
The book outlines important moments in the life of Douglas Adams: notes, diary entries, poems, photographs etc. The archives, many of them handwritten, are based on the documents inclulded in the almost 60 boxed recovered upon the author´s death. Published in this edited version for the first time, they provide valuable details about Adams´ life and career but also about the environment where this important thinker grew up and created.
Published with annotations and explanations for the reader, the book can be also used as an example of memoir and memorialistic documents in general.
Diclaimer: Book offered as part of a book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own
November 25, 2023
Not at all what I expected.
First of all let me say that this is a big book. Big and heavy. So if, like me, you enjoy reading in bed you must prepare some sort of catch mechanism in case you fall asleep. I was nearly crushed on several occasions. A coffee table book, in that it is the size of a small coffee table.
That said, I was expecting much more of a biography of Douglas Adams woven around artifacts from his archive. Much like Jarvis Cocker's excellent Good Pop, Bad Pop. What I actually got was more like an art book presenting those artifacts directly on the page with small amounts of explanation. Which is no bad thing and is actually incredibly interesting for the most part.
It loses a star because some of it is sadly unreadable, either because it is handwriting that is not transcribed, or it's very small. I'm old so I have to hold the book closer to my face, which as mentioned above is a dangerous pursuit.
I particularly enjoyed the last few sections which detail unmade TV shows, but it's all of great interest if you're a Douglas Adams fan. And if you're not you can safely ignore it anyway.
First of all let me say that this is a big book. Big and heavy. So if, like me, you enjoy reading in bed you must prepare some sort of catch mechanism in case you fall asleep. I was nearly crushed on several occasions. A coffee table book, in that it is the size of a small coffee table.
That said, I was expecting much more of a biography of Douglas Adams woven around artifacts from his archive. Much like Jarvis Cocker's excellent Good Pop, Bad Pop. What I actually got was more like an art book presenting those artifacts directly on the page with small amounts of explanation. Which is no bad thing and is actually incredibly interesting for the most part.
It loses a star because some of it is sadly unreadable, either because it is handwriting that is not transcribed, or it's very small. I'm old so I have to hold the book closer to my face, which as mentioned above is a dangerous pursuit.
I particularly enjoyed the last few sections which detail unmade TV shows, but it's all of great interest if you're a Douglas Adams fan. And if you're not you can safely ignore it anyway.
June 26, 2025
For those of us who love DNA and all that he created here is a little treasure trove of his mind. But there is a need for a certain amount of love in order to really care about the handwritten scratches of things that turned into the great works that we are really inspired by.
Great bits of much greater projects are shown here (an amazing idea for a sweeping Sci-Fi Drama covering the whole of human history as we reach out into the stars for one) but only given as much time as the history of his early writing for university humour groups.
Too many pages are given to reproducing exact pages of his notebooks or that kind of thing when the images could be shown and the space taken up with better transcripts of the whole thing.
But that' not really what this book is for. It's for those of us that want the scraps of a genius, to give us some sight of him that we didn't quite have before.
Which is still pretty awesome.
Great bits of much greater projects are shown here (an amazing idea for a sweeping Sci-Fi Drama covering the whole of human history as we reach out into the stars for one) but only given as much time as the history of his early writing for university humour groups.
Too many pages are given to reproducing exact pages of his notebooks or that kind of thing when the images could be shown and the space taken up with better transcripts of the whole thing.
But that' not really what this book is for. It's for those of us that want the scraps of a genius, to give us some sight of him that we didn't quite have before.
Which is still pretty awesome.
August 28, 2023
I liked this book. In goodreads terms that corresponds to a 3-3.5-star "I liked it" rating. That said, I suspect this positive-yet-not-overly-ecstatic view to be closely connected to the fact that I read the book on a 7" e-ink screen, where the handwritten/typed facsimiles are fairly hard (if not downright impossible) to read. Luckily, selected bits have been transcribed for the readers enjoyment and appreciation and Kevin Jon Davies does bring everything nicely together while providing enough of a peek into Douglas Adams' wildly improbable ideas to satisfy even the above-average fan.
Can't wait to go back and have a closer look at the facsimiles and photos in more detail once my copy of the hardback arrives. At which point, this review will probably be moved to the printed edition and bumped to 4 stars (aka "I really liked it", on the goodreads scale).
Can't wait to go back and have a closer look at the facsimiles and photos in more detail once my copy of the hardback arrives. At which point, this review will probably be moved to the printed edition and bumped to 4 stars (aka "I really liked it", on the goodreads scale).
May 23, 2024
One for the superfans
This book of Douglas Noel Adams ephemera won't be for people looking for unpublished Hitchhikers bits, although there are a few. Those looking for that should read Salmon of Doubt, which has quite a lot of good unpublished material.
And it's not for people looking for a coherent biography of Adams. Those people should read Don't Panic and The Frood.
But for those who have read those books and still want a bit more of DNA, 42 is an interesting read, bouncing along his lifespan from college through just hours before his death, collecting bits of scripts, notes to himself, letters to friends and associates and reminscences from his friends.
The physical book is gorgeous and a very satisfying artifact to read. Adams would almost certainly have been mortified by its existence, but it's a minor treasure trove for those who love him and his work.
This book of Douglas Noel Adams ephemera won't be for people looking for unpublished Hitchhikers bits, although there are a few. Those looking for that should read Salmon of Doubt, which has quite a lot of good unpublished material.
And it's not for people looking for a coherent biography of Adams. Those people should read Don't Panic and The Frood.
But for those who have read those books and still want a bit more of DNA, 42 is an interesting read, bouncing along his lifespan from college through just hours before his death, collecting bits of scripts, notes to himself, letters to friends and associates and reminscences from his friends.
The physical book is gorgeous and a very satisfying artifact to read. Adams would almost certainly have been mortified by its existence, but it's a minor treasure trove for those who love him and his work.
September 13, 2023
oh my this book was everything I hoped it would be, right down to the absolutely brilliant reference to the 42. I loved all the lost notes and references we got to see. The way we got to see
Inside the mind and life of Douglas Adams was excellent. There was so much to learn about him, his past and the wonderful thoughts he had and used to create the comedy and stories he did. It was also so lovely to have a moment to see inside the thoughts and feelings of those closest to him and even his past schooling. Honestly, I loved this book and every wee detail it shared. It was lovely and so worth every single page and minute spent reading.
Inside the mind and life of Douglas Adams was excellent. There was so much to learn about him, his past and the wonderful thoughts he had and used to create the comedy and stories he did. It was also so lovely to have a moment to see inside the thoughts and feelings of those closest to him and even his past schooling. Honestly, I loved this book and every wee detail it shared. It was lovely and so worth every single page and minute spent reading.
March 7, 2025
"
42: The Wildly Improbable Ideas of Douglas Adams
" е едно крайно интересно пътешествие в личния и творческия живот на незабравимия Дъглас Адамс: от ученическите му години, до преждевременната му кончина през 2001г. Не очаквайте обаче традиционната биография. Да, книгата следва хронологията на житейския му път, но (почти) всичко в нея е пресъздадено посредством обилно количество факсимилета на бележки, записки, дневници, сценарии, писма, есета, нахвърлени върху хартия мисли и множество фотографии, улавящи духа на Адамс. Сред страниците има и послания на някои от неговите познати и приятели, (това на Стивън Фрай, служи и за предговор).
Проектът е осъществен благодарение на Кевин Джон Дейвис, получил достъп до личния архив на писателя, съхраняван в неговата алма матер- колеж "Сейнт Джон", Кеймбридж.
Проектът е осъществен благодарение на Кевин Джон Дейвис, получил достъп до личния архив на писателя, съхраняван в неговата алма матер- колеж "Сейнт Джон", Кеймбридж.
September 8, 2023
Growing up listening then watching Hitchhiker's Guide, this was a book that I was looking forward to and I have to say It didn't disappoint me. This has been a really interesting read, I've read it over a period of time, keep going back to it. I never knew that he wrote 3 episodes of Dr Who, I thought he had only wrote one, these are the things that you will find it this great book It's not a book that you have to read page by page, you can dip in and out, as well as flick through, which I did when I first received it.
March 24, 2024
Pretty easy read of one of the best authors and visionaries ever to grace the planet. Mostly the book covers his letters and life throughout his career starting out with Dr. Who than his famous Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy and his travels to Africa and efforts to make people aware of the coming extinction of rare animal species. His death was early so he probably would have written many more great books.
May 10, 2024
While it is slightly depressing that Douglas Adams was a better writer as a teenager than I shall ever be, this insightful collection of essays, scripts, and ephemera shows of both his genius and his process. I appreciated both the big pictures of his original and often-handwritten documents, along with the transcribed version of his text.
September 21, 2024
If it hasn't been completely overhauled, then be warned that the ereader version of this book is unreadable. It depends too much on images with text on it, which the average ereader can't reproduce intelligibly. All that is left readable is some commentary on the images, which no longer makes sense.
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