No doubt there's more than a few people here who will be both shocked and saddened to hear of Douglas Adams' death following a major heart attack yesterday at the age of 49.

Very unfortunate; the world has lost a real original.


One of the few remaining Mk1 owners... #00015

Oh my God, there are no words.

___________
Tony Fabris

Wow.

THGTTG is one of the best series of books ever created. It is the only set of books that I have gotten so much enjoyment out of, I have read them probably over 30 times. Douglas Adams was a visionary before his time, and he is going to be missed by millions around the world.

It is a sad, sad day.

/me goes to get his leatherbound edition to reread to commemorate his passing.

(O|||||O)

I have never been so happy when reading a book than when reading the sequels of The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy.. He was an ingenious writer, my respects.

When I heard on the news about his death, my first thought was
"But he isn't that old!" When they mentioned his age I just shook my
head... way too young...

/Michael - with the first episode of THHGTTG playing on the empeg

Opinions expressed in this email may contain up to 42% water by weight, and are mine. All mine.

As someone on BBC put it, So long and thanks for all the books!

Dragi "Bonzi" Raos
Zagreb, Croatia
Q#5196, MkII#80000376, 18GB green

Yes, I've seen that expression somewhere and I don't like it.
Particularly because what has made Mr Adams so famous is
The Hithchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which is a radio-play that was later turned into books (plus a computer game and a TV series). And lately, his Starship Titanic, Which is a computer game, and which is also later written into a novel (By Terry Jones if I rememeber correctly)

Mr. Adams has also written other books, but not as famous.

Yours humbly
Jan Marius Evang

and thanks for all the books!

Thanks to the fishes, you mean . . .

Henno
mk2 6 nr 6

Mr. Adams has also written other books, but not as famous.

The Hitchiker'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
Mostly Harmless
Young Zaphod Plays It Safe (a story in hardcover edition of all five novels)

The Meaning of Liff (and the expanded version, The Deeper Meaning of Liff)

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
The Long Dark Tea-Time of Soul

Last Chance to See

Read them all!

Dragi "Bonzi" Raos
Zagreb, Croatia
Q#5196, MkII#80000376, 18GB green

I've read:

The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Twice)
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (Twice)
Life, the Universe and Everything (Twice)
So long, and Thanks for All the Fish
Mostly Harmless
Young Zaphod Plays It Safe

My favorite Douglas Adams passage is the one in The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy about the sperm whale and the flower pot that spontaneously come into existance miles above the earth's surface. Anybody remember that one?

- John

[ johnmcd3 - funding for my empeg purchace: 80% complete ]

My favorite Douglas Adams passage is the one in The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy about the sperm whale and the flower pot that spontaneously come into existance miles above the earth's surface. Anybody remember that one?

Yes. Better than you, it seems. It was above Magrathea's surface.


___________
Tony Fabris

He was a hoopy frood, indeed, and will most definitely be missed. His books helped me survive Jr High School with my sense of irony intact. (For fans, I recommend Neil Gaiman's somewhat-dated but still fun Don't Panic.)

"There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.

There is another which states that this has already happened."

Bye, Doug. So long, and thanks...

______________
Empeg Mk. 2 #626, 18Gb blue | Kenwood KMD-X92. 2000 VW Passat wagon.

Something like this...


"Another thing that got forgotten was the fact that against all
probability a sperm whale had suddenly been called into existence
several miles above the surface of an alien planet.

And since this is not a naturally tenable position for a whale,
this poor innocent creature had very little time to come to terms
with its identity as a whale before it then had to come to terms
with not being a whale any more.

This is a complete record of its thoughts from the moment it
began its life till the moment it ended it.

Ah ... ! What's happening? it thought.

Er, excuse me, who am I?

Hello?

Why am I here? What's my purpose in life?

What do I mean by who am I?

Calm down, get a grip now ... oh! this is an interesting
sensation, what is it? It's a sort of ... yawning, tingling

sensation in my ... my ... well I suppose I'd better start
finding names for things if I want to make any headway in what
for the sake of what I shall call an argument I shall call the
world, so let's call it my stomach.

Good. Ooooh, it's getting quite strong. And hey, what's about
this whistling roaring sound going past what I'm suddenly going
to call my head? Perhaps I can call that ... wind! Is that a good
name? It'll do ... perhaps I can find a better name for it later
when I've found out what it's for. It must be something very
important because there certainly seems to be a hell of a lot of
it. Hey! What's this thing? This ... let's call it a tail - yeah,
tail. Hey! I can can really thrash it about pretty good can't I?
Wow! Wow! That feels great! Doesn't seem to achieve very much but
I'll probably find out what it's for later on. Now - have I built
up any coherent picture of things yet?

No.

Never mind, hey, this is really exciting, so much to find out
about, so much to look forward to, I'm quite dizzy with
anticipation ...

Or is it the wind?

There really is a lot of that now isn't it?

And wow! Hey! What's this thing suddenly coming towards me very
fast? Very very fast. So big and flat and round, it needs a big
wide sounding name like ... ow ... ound ... round ... ground!
That's it! That's a good name - ground!

I wonder if it will be friends with me?

And the rest, after a sudden wet thud, was silence.

Curiously enough, the only thing that went through the mind of
the bowl of petunias as it fell was Oh no, not again. Many people
have speculated that if we knew exactly why the bowl of petunias
had thought that we would know a lot more about the nature of the
universe than we do now."


From the 18th Chapter of HHGTTG by Douglas Adams. Now I am going to have to go reread the book. DNA has always been one of my favorite authors, his death is a huge loss.

-Mike

I've read:

The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Twice)

Twice? TWICE? I ended up destroying my first copy through sheer overreading, and my current copy is now a bit dog-eared too.

Everyone should read the radio series script books, BTW. Several bits got cut or shortened to fit the radio timeslot, including one of my favourite lines, Arthur in Milliways saying "So you mean the Universe doesn't end with a bang but with a Wimpy?"

Peter