Douglas Adams, author of the
increasingly misnamed Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Trilogy, died yesterday of a heart attack, at the age
of 49. This was a great surprise to him, as he had
plans which couldn't be canceled, and now somehow still
are. The guide entry for "heart attack" will be
changed from the somewhat misleading "Mostly harmless." to
the more accurate "Possibly harmful."
His Hitchhiker's Guide books are among the
funniest written on this planet. The mice would be
proud. The Hitchhiker's Guide started out as a series
of five books ('
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy',
'
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe',
'
Life, the Universe, and Everything',
'
So Long and Thanks for All the Fish', and
'
Mostly Harmless') but was re-written several
times into a radio series, a television series (albeit
short-lived), a computer game, a web site,
another web
site based on the Earth edition of the Guide,
and a stage play. Adams also wrote several other
novels as well as some text adventures for
Infocom. The man certainly knew how to suck as
much profit out of a single idea as he
could.
Even Altavista.com's
famed "Babelfish Translator"
was named after the babel fish
that allowed one to understand other languages in the
Hitchhiker's Guide (of course, both are also referencing
the Tower of Babel, of Bible fame, which was destroyed
after God made each of the workers speak a different
language, and thus were unable to communicate with each
other causing the destruction of the tower).
Adams leaves behind his wife Jane, his daughter
Polly, and millions of fans worldwide whom will be thumbing
it aboard passing Vogon Construction Ships for years to
come. Raise up your Pan-Galactic Gargleblaster
tonight and offer a toast to Douglas Adams.
So long, Douglas, and thanks for all the
books.