Don't Panic: Douglas Adams & The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

by Neil Gaiman

Hitchhiker’s does not have any real political significance, there is a theme there of the ubiquity of bureaucracy and paranoia rampant throughout the universe.

I get the advantages of being famous with none of the disadvantages. It’s startling when somebody does recognise me—I feel slightly vulnerable when it occurs. I can understand why writers take a pseudonym. It’s strange having an existence in other people’s minds which has little to do with you.

Dear Mr Adams, You’re weird. Or at least your writing is weird. That’s okay by me. I’m a little weird myself. If you are really one of those terribly dull people who just write weird please keep it a secret, I hate being disillusioned…

I think online publishing is the most exciting new area to be working in. It’s rather like being in the film industry in about 1905, when the whole industry is actually being invented around you, and every idea you have is a new one. — Douglas Adams, MSN webchat, July 1995.

The problem with text-to-speech at the moment is not that it doesn’t work. It actually does work, but it becomes very, very tiresome on the ear after a while, simply because it’s not natural speech rhythms and all the characters tend to end up sounding like either Stephen Hawking or a semi-concussed Scandinavian.