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Douglas Adams: The Ends of the Earth
David's respect and admiration of his subject's genius and wit infuse with the narration. The asides, consisting of a full cast reading from his works, are standout bits of fun...this is worth a listen for anyone interested in the mind behind the cult-classic works."" —Booklist
A celebration of the startling wit and unexpected wisdom of the legendary science fiction author, featuring readings of Douglas Adams’s work, rare archival audio, plus interviews with his most famous friends and fans reflecting on the late author’s legacy.
Douglas Adams, the legendary author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency is one of the most beloved authors of all time. Twenty-five years after his death, his books continue to be read by new generations and his creations along with his ultimate answer to life, the universe, and everything being “42,” have seeped deep into public consciousness.
Adams was also someone who thought deeply about the biggest problems in the world, from the internet, to artificial intelligence, to space exploration, politics, and conservation—he was a sharp critic and a profoundly disruptive thinker of the way we do things.
When Adams passed away in 2001, he left behind a treasure trove of recordings from his personal archive—many of which have never been heard before. Now, thanks to the Adams Estate, for the first time, these rare materials are available to his fans and are featured in Douglas The Ends of the Earth. Along with interviews with some of his personal friends, collaborators, and admirers, including actors and comedians like Stephen Fry, David Baddiel, Griff Rhys Jones, Sanjeev Bhaskar, and zoologists Lucy Cooke and Mark Carwardine, this archival material combined with readings and reenactments of his work come together to form an immersive journey through the mind of one of the most beloved and visionary writers of our time.
This celebration of Adams’s work reveals a side of his genius that has never been heard before. The result is a truly one-of-a-kind audiobook that offers fans a deeper connection to Douglas Adams while showcasing his timeless genius.
Written and narrated by Arvind Ethan David, Adams’s former protégé and chart-topping Audible author, this is a must-listen for fans old and new and is a celebration of a mind that continues to inspire and challenge us all.
A celebration of the startling wit and unexpected wisdom of the legendary science fiction author, featuring readings of Douglas Adams’s work, rare archival audio, plus interviews with his most famous friends and fans reflecting on the late author’s legacy.
Douglas Adams, the legendary author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency is one of the most beloved authors of all time. Twenty-five years after his death, his books continue to be read by new generations and his creations along with his ultimate answer to life, the universe, and everything being “42,” have seeped deep into public consciousness.
Adams was also someone who thought deeply about the biggest problems in the world, from the internet, to artificial intelligence, to space exploration, politics, and conservation—he was a sharp critic and a profoundly disruptive thinker of the way we do things.
When Adams passed away in 2001, he left behind a treasure trove of recordings from his personal archive—many of which have never been heard before. Now, thanks to the Adams Estate, for the first time, these rare materials are available to his fans and are featured in Douglas The Ends of the Earth. Along with interviews with some of his personal friends, collaborators, and admirers, including actors and comedians like Stephen Fry, David Baddiel, Griff Rhys Jones, Sanjeev Bhaskar, and zoologists Lucy Cooke and Mark Carwardine, this archival material combined with readings and reenactments of his work come together to form an immersive journey through the mind of one of the most beloved and visionary writers of our time.
This celebration of Adams’s work reveals a side of his genius that has never been heard before. The result is a truly one-of-a-kind audiobook that offers fans a deeper connection to Douglas Adams while showcasing his timeless genius.
Written and narrated by Arvind Ethan David, Adams’s former protégé and chart-topping Audible author, this is a must-listen for fans old and new and is a celebration of a mind that continues to inspire and challenge us all.
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Published June 24, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
July 5, 2025
I turned 42 this year, so it seemed like a good time to revisit Adams's work, which I read and liked a lot as a preteen. This book seemed like a good fit, and just like the other Pushkin audiobooks (like Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon), it's a very well-made production, sitting comfortably between a narrative podcast and a "real" book.
If ever there was a book that deserves the term "hagiography", this is it. Every. Single. Chapter we get told, that Douglas Adams was a genius on all fronts, his flaws were merely lovable quirks, he was amazing at everything he touched, he was such a great thinker that everyone else paled around him. The parts of the book that explore his thoughts and notions are actually interesting, but they would be even more so, if the whole stance of the book wasn't so overtly rose-colored. It's also a fool's errand to keep imagining what he might have done, how he might have influenced the world, had he not died in 2001, but the book keeps doing it, even as its conclusion.
If ever there was a book that deserves the term "hagiography", this is it. Every. Single. Chapter we get told, that Douglas Adams was a genius on all fronts, his flaws were merely lovable quirks, he was amazing at everything he touched, he was such a great thinker that everyone else paled around him. The parts of the book that explore his thoughts and notions are actually interesting, but they would be even more so, if the whole stance of the book wasn't so overtly rose-colored. It's also a fool's errand to keep imagining what he might have done, how he might have influenced the world, had he not died in 2001, but the book keeps doing it, even as its conclusion.
June 30, 2025
This book had a lot of potential, but it really seems to struggle to articulate itself. I want to start with the positives, because, on paper, this book could have been absolutely brilliant:
- I liked the concept a lot. The fact that it's not an account of his life, but an account of his work and life philosophy is refreshing and fun.
- The audiobook format works incredibly well, for the most part - it makes it feel like a documentary podcast crossed with an interview series.
- Speaking of which, the interviews are (mostly) fun and relevant. Hearing from the people closest to Douglas Adams was incredibly interesting, and they did a good job of finding people who knew his work or who were experts on that chapter's topics (like politics or economics), which made for a lot of interesting (if often tenuous) connections. I also greatly enjoyed the never-before-shared clips from Douglas Adams' various talks and presentations.
- The addition of voice-acted book passages worked really well. I would buy a Dirk Gently audiobook read out by Sam Barnett in a heartbeat.
- The sound design worked well to accentuate certain moments, and, in my opinion, wasn't that distracting (though I do listen to a lot of audio drama, so I might be biased here).
Unfortunately, I found it a strangely frustrating listen, and after some thinking, I managed to narrow it down to just three points:
Firstly, it doesn't quite know what it's trying to be. The structure is confusing, both within chapters and between chapters - things that I think should be asides are added in the chapters and vice versa (and, my goodness, are there a lot of asides and appendices). While I think almost all of the interview material that's in it is important, I don't think dividing up the chapters per topic is helpful, and sometimes the logic gets hard to follow when we're making leaps like "Douglas Adams didn't just satirise the people on the right - look, he makes fun of philosophers! He's mocking both ends of the political spectrum!", especially when we are literally in the middle of a book on Douglas Adams' life philosophy.
Additionally, Arvind Ethan David is constantly trying to tie these topics back into current events, leading to incredibly jarring mentions of people like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Donald Trump. While I appreciate that they're discussed fairly negatively, I still don't see why they should be in this book on Douglas Adams' life philosophies at all. I understand that Elon Musk has done some H2G2-related things, but speculation on why he might like H2G2 (despite H2G2 making fun of people like him) doesn't interest me in the slightest - I'm not here for that. I think those tangents would've worked much better as asides, or even just as articles on Substack or Medium.
Secondly, the book has a very strange tone, which (thankfully) peaks in chapter 5 (titled ), whereby 'we' are all idiots, and Douglas Adams is constantly called a 'genius'. (I honestly think you could make an incredibly lethal drinking game out of this.)
This is something I simply disagree with Arvind Ethan David on - yes, Douglas Adams was incredibly witty and very good at social commentary, but I never got the impression that he was fully above it. I am reminded of an exchange in one of the H2G2 books, which goes something like "I'd rather be happy than right." "And, are you?" "No, that's where it all falls apart." Of course he knew it was better not to argue, and to just know that you are correct, but he also knew that that wasn't how emotions worked. I feel like a lot of Douglas Adams' work is great because it's so relatable, and that is because he was a regular person like the rest of us.
It's never a good sign when you're listening to an audiobook about one of your favourite authors and you start to have thoughts like "well, he wasn't that great..." just because the audiobook keeps repeating it. We already know he was a clever, thoughtful guy, otherwise we wouldn't be buying this book!
Because 'we' are all not as smart as Douglas Adams, Arvind Ethan David also consistently makes assumptions about the reader that I simply disagree with, most notably saying that "[w]e can't read a book, entertain our children, cook a meal or navigate to our destination" without internet access, suggesting that "our parents' generation" can read a map (Arvind Ethan David is 50 years old, surely he can read a map!) and prefacing the chapters on politics and economics by adding a disclaimer not to draw conclusions immediately and stop reading, as if I was planning on doing that.
And finally, its inclusion of Max Landis. He appears four times throughout the book:
Max Landis is introduced as working with Arvind Ethan David on the Netflix show and working on the Dirk Gently comics (which they collaborated on), and is called a "big and sometimes controversial character, with a pretty healthy ego." I find this a remarkable way to say "man who has been accused of abuse by many women."
He feels incredibly out of place every time he pops up. While every other speaker (including Arvind Ethan David, who introduces each clip) is calm and manages to get their point across clearly, he seems to hop wildly between ideas and conclusions, loudly and swearily (describing Douglas Adams' work as telling "the craziest fuckin' story you ever heard" or describing Arthur Dent as "not doing shit") seemingly saying whatever comes to mind ("now that I think about it...").
His inclusion in this project left a sour taste in my mouth. The way I perceived it, he would come in at unpredictable moments to scream his disjointed thoughts at the listener for two minutes, only to be almost immediately ignored again. I simply do not care about Max Landis' opinions on Elon Musk's opinions on Douglas Adams. The only time I think his appearance is even remotely justifiable is in the final appendix, when discussing adaptations - he could (and, in my opinion, should) easily have been omitted from all other chapters. I know the two of them are friends, but I suspect not mentioning him as a guest on the Kickstarter page (he was originally supposed to have an hour of bonus interview content, which was, thankfully, never released) was fully intentional.
Overall, I think the audiobook had a great premise. I enjoyed the format and I enjoyed the interviews. The clips of Douglas Adams were great additions, and I especially enjoyed the chapter about his activism with regards to conservation. Unfortunately, I have to agree with the current top review and say that the editors should've protected the tone & structure more and that the inclusion of Max Landis really brings down the whole thing. I truly believe that this book could've been a 5-star listen, had it been well-structured and not included Max Landis. Unfortunately, as it stands, I believe it to be a 3-star book on structure/tone alone, with Max Landis bringing that number down even further (though I would have been inclined to give it 4 stars, had he not been included, as I am a big Douglas Adams fan). It's a shame that it had to be this way.
- I liked the concept a lot. The fact that it's not an account of his life, but an account of his work and life philosophy is refreshing and fun.
- The audiobook format works incredibly well, for the most part - it makes it feel like a documentary podcast crossed with an interview series.
- Speaking of which, the interviews are (mostly) fun and relevant. Hearing from the people closest to Douglas Adams was incredibly interesting, and they did a good job of finding people who knew his work or who were experts on that chapter's topics (like politics or economics), which made for a lot of interesting (if often tenuous) connections. I also greatly enjoyed the never-before-shared clips from Douglas Adams' various talks and presentations.
- The addition of voice-acted book passages worked really well. I would buy a Dirk Gently audiobook read out by Sam Barnett in a heartbeat.
- The sound design worked well to accentuate certain moments, and, in my opinion, wasn't that distracting (though I do listen to a lot of audio drama, so I might be biased here).
Unfortunately, I found it a strangely frustrating listen, and after some thinking, I managed to narrow it down to just three points:
Firstly, it doesn't quite know what it's trying to be. The structure is confusing, both within chapters and between chapters - things that I think should be asides are added in the chapters and vice versa (and, my goodness, are there a lot of asides and appendices). While I think almost all of the interview material that's in it is important, I don't think dividing up the chapters per topic is helpful, and sometimes the logic gets hard to follow when we're making leaps like "Douglas Adams didn't just satirise the people on the right - look, he makes fun of philosophers! He's mocking both ends of the political spectrum!", especially when we are literally in the middle of a book on Douglas Adams' life philosophy.
Additionally, Arvind Ethan David is constantly trying to tie these topics back into current events, leading to incredibly jarring mentions of people like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Donald Trump. While I appreciate that they're discussed fairly negatively, I still don't see why they should be in this book on Douglas Adams' life philosophies at all. I understand that Elon Musk has done some H2G2-related things, but speculation on why he might like H2G2 (despite H2G2 making fun of people like him) doesn't interest me in the slightest - I'm not here for that. I think those tangents would've worked much better as asides, or even just as articles on Substack or Medium.
Secondly, the book has a very strange tone, which (thankfully) peaks in chapter 5 (titled ), whereby 'we' are all idiots, and Douglas Adams is constantly called a 'genius'. (I honestly think you could make an incredibly lethal drinking game out of this.)
This is something I simply disagree with Arvind Ethan David on - yes, Douglas Adams was incredibly witty and very good at social commentary, but I never got the impression that he was fully above it. I am reminded of an exchange in one of the H2G2 books, which goes something like "I'd rather be happy than right." "And, are you?" "No, that's where it all falls apart." Of course he knew it was better not to argue, and to just know that you are correct, but he also knew that that wasn't how emotions worked. I feel like a lot of Douglas Adams' work is great because it's so relatable, and that is because he was a regular person like the rest of us.
It's never a good sign when you're listening to an audiobook about one of your favourite authors and you start to have thoughts like "well, he wasn't that great..." just because the audiobook keeps repeating it. We already know he was a clever, thoughtful guy, otherwise we wouldn't be buying this book!
Because 'we' are all not as smart as Douglas Adams, Arvind Ethan David also consistently makes assumptions about the reader that I simply disagree with, most notably saying that "[w]e can't read a book, entertain our children, cook a meal or navigate to our destination" without internet access, suggesting that "our parents' generation" can read a map (Arvind Ethan David is 50 years old, surely he can read a map!) and prefacing the chapters on politics and economics by adding a disclaimer not to draw conclusions immediately and stop reading, as if I was planning on doing that.
And finally, its inclusion of Max Landis. He appears four times throughout the book:
Max Landis is introduced as working with Arvind Ethan David on the Netflix show and working on the Dirk Gently comics (which they collaborated on), and is called a "big and sometimes controversial character, with a pretty healthy ego." I find this a remarkable way to say "man who has been accused of abuse by many women."
He feels incredibly out of place every time he pops up. While every other speaker (including Arvind Ethan David, who introduces each clip) is calm and manages to get their point across clearly, he seems to hop wildly between ideas and conclusions, loudly and swearily (describing Douglas Adams' work as telling "the craziest fuckin' story you ever heard" or describing Arthur Dent as "not doing shit") seemingly saying whatever comes to mind ("now that I think about it...").
His inclusion in this project left a sour taste in my mouth. The way I perceived it, he would come in at unpredictable moments to scream his disjointed thoughts at the listener for two minutes, only to be almost immediately ignored again. I simply do not care about Max Landis' opinions on Elon Musk's opinions on Douglas Adams. The only time I think his appearance is even remotely justifiable is in the final appendix, when discussing adaptations - he could (and, in my opinion, should) easily have been omitted from all other chapters. I know the two of them are friends, but I suspect not mentioning him as a guest on the Kickstarter page (he was originally supposed to have an hour of bonus interview content, which was, thankfully, never released) was fully intentional.
Overall, I think the audiobook had a great premise. I enjoyed the format and I enjoyed the interviews. The clips of Douglas Adams were great additions, and I especially enjoyed the chapter about his activism with regards to conservation. Unfortunately, I have to agree with the current top review and say that the editors should've protected the tone & structure more and that the inclusion of Max Landis really brings down the whole thing. I truly believe that this book could've been a 5-star listen, had it been well-structured and not included Max Landis. Unfortunately, as it stands, I believe it to be a 3-star book on structure/tone alone, with Max Landis bringing that number down even further (though I would have been inclined to give it 4 stars, had he not been included, as I am a big Douglas Adams fan). It's a shame that it had to be this way.
June 17, 2025
This audiobook had a lot going for it: Full access to Douglas' archives at St. John's college in Cambridge, interviews with Douglas' friends and colleagues such as Stephen Fry, Griff Rhys Jones and Mark Carwardine, as well as experts in the fields he was interested in, and to top it all off, a brilliant actor in Samuel Barnett performing extracts from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, reprising his TV role as Dirk Gently by reading segments from the Dirk novels, and even reading out Douglas' essays and articles in character as the great man.
Very sadly, all of these positives are completely overshadowed by Arvind Ethan David's decision to interview Hollywood screenwriter Max Landis, a man who was very credibly and very publicly accused of sexual assault, harassment, and rape, and as showrunner on the American Dirk Gently adaptation (A job which Arvind hired him for by the way) there are multiple accounts of Landis being abusive and coercive towards the cast and crew. Landis is brought in at the end of the chapter on the internet to deliver a "gotcha" to Elon Musk, and even more bafflingly he appears in the penultimate chapter on religion, in which he rambles about the nihilism that he gets from Douglas' work and compares it to that of J.K. Rowling. It's no coincidence that these are the two worst chapters. The appendix at the end, where Landis is invited to do a kind of victory lap in which he explains in detail why his approach to adapting Dirk Gently was the right one, is also incredibly ego-driven and self-aggrandising. I really don't understand why Arvind decided to inflict this upon us, and why none of the editors at Pushkin advised against this.
If you skip the last 6 and a half minutes of chapter 3, all of chapter 8, and the appendix, it's a decent listen. Chapter 4 on Last Chance to See and animal conservation is very moving, and Chapters 5 through 7 are a trilogy on politics, economics, and governance with great insights from Professors Brian Klass and Hadrim Chang. Had Landis not been included, I would have gladly given it four stars. But given the platforming of a despicable figure whom Douglas would never have tolerated in a million years, I cannot in good conscience recommend this audiobook. One bad apple spoils the barrel.
Very sadly, all of these positives are completely overshadowed by Arvind Ethan David's decision to interview Hollywood screenwriter Max Landis, a man who was very credibly and very publicly accused of sexual assault, harassment, and rape, and as showrunner on the American Dirk Gently adaptation (A job which Arvind hired him for by the way) there are multiple accounts of Landis being abusive and coercive towards the cast and crew. Landis is brought in at the end of the chapter on the internet to deliver a "gotcha" to Elon Musk, and even more bafflingly he appears in the penultimate chapter on religion, in which he rambles about the nihilism that he gets from Douglas' work and compares it to that of J.K. Rowling. It's no coincidence that these are the two worst chapters. The appendix at the end, where Landis is invited to do a kind of victory lap in which he explains in detail why his approach to adapting Dirk Gently was the right one, is also incredibly ego-driven and self-aggrandising. I really don't understand why Arvind decided to inflict this upon us, and why none of the editors at Pushkin advised against this.
If you skip the last 6 and a half minutes of chapter 3, all of chapter 8, and the appendix, it's a decent listen. Chapter 4 on Last Chance to See and animal conservation is very moving, and Chapters 5 through 7 are a trilogy on politics, economics, and governance with great insights from Professors Brian Klass and Hadrim Chang. Had Landis not been included, I would have gladly given it four stars. But given the platforming of a despicable figure whom Douglas would never have tolerated in a million years, I cannot in good conscience recommend this audiobook. One bad apple spoils the barrel.
August 22, 2025
This is a must read for fans of Douglas Adams and The Hitchhiker's Guide! Very short and simple to read but jam packed with resepect and admiration for Douglas Adams, his creative style, philosophies, and work. David demonstates an extremely strong admiration for Adams, by the end I was greatly inspired by both authors and itching to pick up my pen and just write, write, write. The book is uplifted by David's personal connections to Adams and full of life-long research of both Adam's published works and analysis of Adam's day to day thoughts and opinions.
Reading this book makes Adam's premature death even more tragic; you find yourself wishing that the man got to see our life with the internet, AI, and hyper-digitalized lifestyles. Through the Hitchhiker's Guide series Adams creates and predicts many forms of technology that-while our society doesn't give him enough credits for the concepts-have become reality for us. His cynical nature is something that many people lack regarding the seriousness of a digitalized world however through this book David expertly explores and explains how Adams's cynical nature was not one that was afraid of the future instead one that wished to influence and regulate the sense of community and togetherness that the likes of social media can bring.
Highly recommend reading if you are a fan of The Hitchhiker's Guide, any of Adams's other works, technological advancements, or a writer yourself! Perhaps you'll even discover the answer to Life, The Universe, and Everything!
Reading this book makes Adam's premature death even more tragic; you find yourself wishing that the man got to see our life with the internet, AI, and hyper-digitalized lifestyles. Through the Hitchhiker's Guide series Adams creates and predicts many forms of technology that-while our society doesn't give him enough credits for the concepts-have become reality for us. His cynical nature is something that many people lack regarding the seriousness of a digitalized world however through this book David expertly explores and explains how Adams's cynical nature was not one that was afraid of the future instead one that wished to influence and regulate the sense of community and togetherness that the likes of social media can bring.
Highly recommend reading if you are a fan of The Hitchhiker's Guide, any of Adams's other works, technological advancements, or a writer yourself! Perhaps you'll even discover the answer to Life, The Universe, and Everything!
July 31, 2025
Not a biography, it’s an attempt to track Adams’ ideas/philosophy over time. It’s audiobook-only because it uses a bunch of archival audio of his speeches, many of which were apparently never digitized or even heard until now. Written and compiled by a former collaborator and authorized adapter of his work.
The main thesis is that Adams wasn’t just a great voice in comedy or sci-fi, but that he was an actual genius, and if he would have been recognized as a visionary thought leader/futurist if he had lived past his 2001 heart attack. The author makes his case with varying success, using examples primarily from Adams’ lesser-known non-fiction. The chapters on writing and explaining the world via satire/humor are basically gimmes. The chapters on Adams’ burgeoning work on conservation and developing the early internet are the most interesting of the book, and really make the case that he could have been a global voice in those areas. The book bogs down in a trio of chapters about politics, economics, and governance, where there isn’t enough evidence of Adams’ real non-satirical ideas so it’s a lot of speculation and loose associations. There’s a cool appendix comparing different versions of adaptations of Adams’ work (translations, screen adaptations including by Adams himself). Interspersed are “asides” that are funny and unique bits of writing/audio that the author found in the archives that don’t fit in the main thesis but are very entertaining. It’s majority good, and at only 6.5 hours I think very worth the listen, but probably falls short of its lofty goal if you’re not already an Adams fan.
The main thesis is that Adams wasn’t just a great voice in comedy or sci-fi, but that he was an actual genius, and if he would have been recognized as a visionary thought leader/futurist if he had lived past his 2001 heart attack. The author makes his case with varying success, using examples primarily from Adams’ lesser-known non-fiction. The chapters on writing and explaining the world via satire/humor are basically gimmes. The chapters on Adams’ burgeoning work on conservation and developing the early internet are the most interesting of the book, and really make the case that he could have been a global voice in those areas. The book bogs down in a trio of chapters about politics, economics, and governance, where there isn’t enough evidence of Adams’ real non-satirical ideas so it’s a lot of speculation and loose associations. There’s a cool appendix comparing different versions of adaptations of Adams’ work (translations, screen adaptations including by Adams himself). Interspersed are “asides” that are funny and unique bits of writing/audio that the author found in the archives that don’t fit in the main thesis but are very entertaining. It’s majority good, and at only 6.5 hours I think very worth the listen, but probably falls short of its lofty goal if you’re not already an Adams fan.
August 16, 2025
Weirdly culty feeling. Do we worship Douglas Adams, the "radical atheist", because that's how this felt. Love the guy, but not that much.
June 15, 2025
This was spectacular. The interviews are great and the organization around different topics was really thought-provoking and timely. A deep dive into the philosophy of Douglas Adams. I particularly appreciated the stuff about politics and citizen assemblies since I've been reading a lot about this recently. A bit overproduced with the sounds in the background but that's easily ignored. Check it out!
August 19, 2025
This book was more hagiography than biography. Adams's flaws are painted over as character quirks. I believe flaws are what make a person interesting, and mostly why I would read a biography.
Set that aside and it is an entertaining read.
Set that aside and it is an entertaining read.
Read
September 22, 2025This audiobook production was amazing. In under seven hours, they talked a little bit about Douglas Adams, a little bit about science, science fiction, and comedy. A little bit about technology and conservation. A little bit about politics, economics, and the power of a good story. I happened to start listening to this just after I finished listening to Bitch by Lucy Cooke, and imagine my surprise when I heard her voice in this audiobook because it turns out she was inspired by Douglas Adams and his conservation work. Geek worlds colliding is one of my favorite things.
Mostly, this is a book about how Douglas Adams thought. There are quotes and speeches from Adams, and a lot of commentary from people who worked with him. This is not a balanced look at his life, and is unashamedly hagiographic. But it draws parallels from Adams’ work to things happening today in ways that helped me think about some things differently. One of the most interesting stories that I previously knew nothing about was the demonstrations in Taiwan. This was included to illustrate what Adams might have suggested as a way forward for democracy, and I was introduced to one of the leaders who emerged from that movement: Audrey Tang (https://time.com/6979012/audrey-tang-...).
In the end I felt galvanized—this brought back memories of reading Adams’ work, and it gave my brain a much-needed shake.
But after I was all done, I found I loved it so much that I took a moment to read through the one-star reviews. I do this as a way to check my excitement about any book (am I too excited about one part of this that I'm missing red flags? do I want to believe this even if it's not true? etc.). And I have to say my bubble was a bit burst. At several points, the author brings in Max Landis to speak about his involvement with Adams' work. I did not recognize this name at all, and kept picturing the Max Capricorn character from that Doctor Who Christmas special with Kylie Minogue. But Landis worked with the author on adapting Dirk Gently for film, and shortly thereafter was accused by multiple women of atrocious behavior. And while he has played a role in the way Adams' work has been presented to a modern audience, I probably didn't need to hear his voice.
Mostly, this is a book about how Douglas Adams thought. There are quotes and speeches from Adams, and a lot of commentary from people who worked with him. This is not a balanced look at his life, and is unashamedly hagiographic. But it draws parallels from Adams’ work to things happening today in ways that helped me think about some things differently. One of the most interesting stories that I previously knew nothing about was the demonstrations in Taiwan. This was included to illustrate what Adams might have suggested as a way forward for democracy, and I was introduced to one of the leaders who emerged from that movement: Audrey Tang (https://time.com/6979012/audrey-tang-...).
In the end I felt galvanized—this brought back memories of reading Adams’ work, and it gave my brain a much-needed shake.
But after I was all done, I found I loved it so much that I took a moment to read through the one-star reviews. I do this as a way to check my excitement about any book (am I too excited about one part of this that I'm missing red flags? do I want to believe this even if it's not true? etc.). And I have to say my bubble was a bit burst. At several points, the author brings in Max Landis to speak about his involvement with Adams' work. I did not recognize this name at all, and kept picturing the Max Capricorn character from that Doctor Who Christmas special with Kylie Minogue. But Landis worked with the author on adapting Dirk Gently for film, and shortly thereafter was accused by multiple women of atrocious behavior. And while he has played a role in the way Adams' work has been presented to a modern audience, I probably didn't need to hear his voice.
July 10, 2025
Fun, with lots of interesting interviews and snippets from speeches, but hagiographic - some of the leaps made to make Adams looks like a economics or political savant are silly. Part of the issue may be there wasn't enough material, so we end up listening to an interview with a Singaporean minister that has only the most tenuous of tenuous relationships to anything Adams ever said, and discussing Elon Musk's mental state.
As I said, fun, but often felt like a long podcast rather than a book
As I said, fun, but often felt like a long podcast rather than a book
August 9, 2025
3.5/5 Audible version. I enjoyed the discussion of Adams’ economic and political philosophy a great deal. I’m lukewarm on “Hitchhiker” overall and found the hagiographic fawning over it a bit much. However, he’s quite an inspiring figure who privileged curiosity and questioning above all. We could use much more of that in these days of counterfactuals and conspiracy theories. Fuck Trump, et al. Full fucking stop.
October 7, 2025
While this leans a bit more towards hagiography than biography, it was a solid discussion of Adams' philosophies and detailed takes of issues of our evolving world. It paints him as guardedly optimistic, yet clear-eyed about the challenges of our evolving relationship with technology and the world. There's a lot here for fans of Adams who sorely miss his wit and voice. May be me sentimentalizing, but felt like a candle beckoning in a dark night. YMMV.
Solid 4 / 5.
Solid 4 / 5.
July 23, 2025
3.5 A bit more political and current events topical, and less biographical than I had anticipated. Additionally much of the Douglas interview material is already available.
Still, it's a book about Douglas Adams, and that means it's got a significant chance to be funny, thoughtful, moving and inspiring... which it is.
Still, it's a book about Douglas Adams, and that means it's got a significant chance to be funny, thoughtful, moving and inspiring... which it is.
August 23, 2025
"Imagine all of this and, at the very centre of it, battling a blank page at his desk, his giant six foot five frame bent over the latest MacBook Pro, Douglas Adams wrestling with the world in all its complexity and richness and strangeness. Well, I don’t know about you, but that is a universe I rather wish we all lived in.”
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 3, 2025
Slow at times, with many digressions, it is sometimes hard to take applying the thoughts and practices of Douglas to a time just 25 years after his death and yet so vastly different. But knowing they were his conspirators and friends and coworkers gives it credence. Makes it worthwhile.
As a longtime fan I very much enjoyed listening to anecdotes about life experiences with Douglas as well.
As a longtime fan I very much enjoyed listening to anecdotes about life experiences with Douglas as well.
November 8, 2025
Insightful - now going to have to re-listen to Hitchhikers guide you to the universe.
I give it a 4.5 rounded up. the last line of the book of the dedication of the book brought a sweet tear to my eye.
I give it a 4.5 rounded up. the last line of the book of the dedication of the book brought a sweet tear to my eye.
July 12, 2025
brilliant collection of perspectives on douglas' philosophy of the universe brought together in the slick style of the original hitchhikers radio plays. a joy to listen to.
August 1, 2025
Great read with done pleasant surprises for those who have read much about the author already. Having just come out, it touches on a lot of current events.
September 4, 2025
If possible I would give more than 5 stars. I thoroughly enjoyed this journey into Douglas Adam’s beliefs and philosophical theories. I’m a lifelong fan of his work and this book captures his genius.
October 2, 2025
This book shows how semi-prophetic Douglas Adams was in his vision of the world, be it technology, environmentalism, political theory, anthropology, etc.
October 11, 2025
Reminded me of the joy of his writing, I'm going to have to get those books out again, put a sofa in the stairwell and read.
October 31, 2025
wonderful tribute to a great thinker
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