The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy at 30

Although the story was first composed as a radio script, the novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was published 30 years ago today. Fans in Britain are marking the occasion by wearing dressing gowns and carrying towels. Chris Irvine writes in The Daily Telegraph:

Hitchcon’09, the fans' convention at the Royal Festival Hall contained a spacesuit worn by a Vogon, the galactic galaxy's bureaucrats notorious for their aggressive manner and terrible poetry, as well as Adams' bath, where the author, who died in 2001, claimed to have some of his best ideas.[...]

The Hitchhiker books began as a Radio 4 comedy show in 1978. Adams then adapted the radio series to create the initial book, completing four more instalments over the next 20 years. He died of a heart attack in 2001, which writing The Salmon of Doubt, published post humously.


Link via GeekDad | Image: Random House

I first read the series when I was about ten years old. At the time I had no idea what a "dressing gown" was to the Brits; I'd always imagined Arthur running around in a woman's formal gown.
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It really was a letdown when the movie failed to capture one iota of the fun inherent in every page of that five part trilogy.

If you haven't experienced the brilliance yet, do yourself a favor and pick up that book immediately, and make sure you remember to bring a towel.
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It's probably difficult to capture Douglas Adams' wits in movie format - I thought the movie was a hoot (worth the ticket at least), but my friend who had never read the book didn't get it at all.
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I was very much a fan of all five books, though I must say that I didn't originally like Life, the Universe, and Everything. It was much slower-paced than I normally enjoy, but after re-reading it, it fits in well with the other four.
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