Douglas Adams

Douglas Adams is one of my all-time favorite authors. I was crushed the morning my dad woke me up to tell me that he had died, and I still catch myself getting a bit teary over it every now and then. Next month, it will be ten years since his death.

He wrote The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a book I have no fewer than four copies of, and he wrote the rest of "trilogy" to go with it: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Life, the Universe and Everything,
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, and Mostly Harmless. You can actually get all of these books, as well as a sixth installment, in The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which is the book I brought with me on the sixteen-hour flight when I moved from Texas to Germany at the beginning of 2010. I giggled the whole time I read, which got me furtive glances from the other passengers, but he's just that funny.

He also wrote Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul. Posthumously, The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time was published, though I must confess that I've never read it (because I'm sure that if I do, I'll really truly believe he's gone, and I'm not willing to believe that).

I tell my parents and friends frequently that I'd like to be like Douglas Adams when I grow up. His writing is wonderfully full and quirky and funny and interesting and thought-provoking. I truly cannot read any of the Hitchhiker's books without laughing out loud through most of them. "42" is my go-to answer when I don't know the real answer. I have actually had the "perfectly normal beast" conversation with my mother. (Twice.)

If you have even a vague interest in science fiction or humor, Douglas Adams is a must-read. You won't be sorry.