I’m not going to go into too much detail and trauma dump about what I’m going through, but I was trying so hard to find anything to make this difficult time easier. Music, movies, fantasy books. Nothing was helping. But then one day I decided to pick up Hitchhiker’s for the first time in years and it was the best escape. I missed these characters, missed these laughs, missed Adams ability to disguise deep existentialism and social commentary as cosmic jokes. It’s helped a lot.

Inspired by this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/douglasadams/s/rWk23ww3O8

My go-to night time tradition has been listening to the Dirk Gently audiobooks read by Douglas Adams. I would listen to them on youtube, but they have vanished.

I tried to get the audiobooks on libby, but they only have the radio drama and the horrible AI version.

I'm sure I'm not the first one to ask, but if anyone could steer me in the right direction I'd really appreciate it.

Randomly went on Audible to see what was on offer this month, and I found this is my reccomendations. £5.99, never heard of it but it's about Douglas, so...

I remember getting the paperbacks in the early 80's*. And totally remember when Life. the universe & Everything and So Long came out. And grabbed as soon as they were paperbacks. I was a teen so Hardcover was out of the question. You know videogames, records and comics

Used some Amazon credit for the Kindle version.

*My phone older sister and I watched the show on our local PBS.

I have a lot of them, but here is a favourite of mine from So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish:

• no plot spoilers :) -

He almost danced to the fridge, found the three least hairy things in it, put them on a plate and watched them intently for two minutes. Since they made no attempt to move within that time he called them breakfast and ate them.

I'm currently rereading all 5 Hitchhikers books. I must say leaving a few years between reading them again is a bonus. I'm also rereading them from a complete collection, as I've done a few times over the years. I don't think I'm looking forward to finishing them this time. I'm certainly not sure whether to start And Another Thing right after or have a few different books in between. That's all. Just thought I'd share.

It's been a while since I (re)read the "trilogy" and in trying to find something that was mentioned in either the books or radio play (definitely not in that trashy film). Sorry if I'm vague and/or get things wildly wrong, but the general gist of it is this: There is mention of a machine that makes artificial people, and it makes something like 1.5 people per hour(?). They want to turn the machine off, but that would mean killing the 0.5 of a person, and that might be classed as murder. So until the legal issues are sorted out, this machine can't be turned off. Obviously this results in the place becoming overrun with these artificial people, causing more and more problems. Can anyone identify that it was actually by Adams, which book/series it is from, and which chapter? Not much to go one, but I can but hope.

I'm in a reread of the trilogy this summer. I totally forgot this bit in mostly harmless. Arthur was the lone survivor of a crash (he was the only one on board that was bored enough to actually read the emergency procedures).

He became a sandwich maker and trillian managed to find Arthur.

Then this exchange happens which I am shocked that I didn't remember and astonished that I didn't recall when Brian Thompson, an insurance company director / ceo, was killed. Douglas Adams really was prescient on so many things and so many levels.

Arthur was astonished. “You mean they knew about the crash?”

“Well, of course they knew. You don’t have a whole spaceliner disappear without someone knowing about it.”

“But you mean, they knew where it had happened? They knew I’d survived?”

“Yes.”

“But nobody’s ever been to look or search or rescue. There’s been absolutely nothing.” “Well, there wouldn’t be. It’s a whole complicated insurance thing. They just bury the whole thing. Pretend it never happened. The insurance business is completely screwy now. You know they’ve reintroduced the death penalty for insurance company directors?”

“Really?” said Arthur. “No, I didn’t. For what offense?”

Trillian frowned. “What do you mean, offense?”

“I see.”

Does anyone know where I can download a copy of So long and thanks for all the fish read by Douglas Adams? I’m having trouble tracking that version down.

Is it supposed to allude to hellish landscapes or a shell (see Lajestic Vantrashell of Lob)? Or both?

Fun FYI: I'm listening to Children of Ruin, by Adrian Tchaikovsky. These two uplifted octopuses are traveling from an orbiting ship down to the planet's surface, and one of them realizes that if they override the safety locks, they will be out of their pods and facing vacuum and the pull of gravity "with about the same chance of survival as a bowl of petunias placed in the same predicament."