h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I read a lot but cant say I have ever actually laughed out loud at the written word. Or at least hadn't until the bit with Marvin in the corridor. He is the only author I have ever read more than once and each time I still laugh out loud. I'll never get to meet him now but his legacy is timeless and just hearing the name will always bring a smile to my face and a longing to pick up one of his books.

Just think of the conversation between Douglas and St Peter at the Pearly gates, I must ask him when (if) I get there.

God bless

hear, hear, alchemist.

*hugs*

When I first read HHGG I realised that the Universe I saw was seen by at least one other person.
DNA then went on to introduce me, through this site to many others.

Thank you.

Douglas Adams was a giant amongst men. There are a great many funny men. There are people who can make me, if I am in the mood, laugh. There are people who can make me laugh if I am not in the mood. There are few people in the world who can lift me from the depths of depression and make me roll around the floor laughing. DNA was one such person.

My first experience of this was the subtle quote:
"Ford, you're turning into a penguin. Stop it."
Don't ask why this forced me into paroxysms of laughter at the tender age of 10, or why it still brings a smile to my world-weary face. But it does, and did, and will probably until the day I die.

It saddens me that now there really is no more where that came from. Whatever people will say or not about DNA, he was a genius. He _was_ a genius. He was a _genius_. I don't think I can emphasise this enough. Many people who sit in overstuffed chairs in universities may, and likely will, dismiss him as populist, or dismiss him because he never followed trends of literary fashions, was never modern, postmodern, post-postmodern. He was Douglas Adams. He made people laugh. He poked fun at life, the universe and everything. He sometimes convinced you it wasn't as bad as it was, and at other times he told you how to ride the wave of awfulness that was life and laugh at it for being so silly and taking itself so seriously. In short, he lifted the lid on life and sprinkled fairy dust into it for a few short books.

There does not seem to be enough gravitas in a simple "he will be missed." How much he will be missed is almost indescribable in writing. He was an asset to the human race, plain and simple. I do not know nor hope to guess what he is doing now, on the other side. All that I know is, right here, right now, he is gone, and we are here. It is unfair of him to do this to us, and deny us more of his brain. But, he gave so much, and now we must take it and work with it, cherish it, swat flies with it, bury it in the ground for three months and recycle it as firelighters. Whatever. Build a bridge, move a mountain, write a book. Paper aeroplanes, mountains of cheese, small collections of dried noodles. And a sparrow.

I'm all schmaltzy! Buddha on a scooter, anyone would think that I weren't talking about a simple writer of science fiction, that I were instead talking about someone who created whole worlds..... oh yeah...

I can't stop talking about my appreciation for DNA, it seems. It's flowing out of me. I'm going to stop now before I produce enough repetitive drivel to crash the beeb's server.

This is me stopping.

To his family, friends, relatives, anyone else really cut up by this loss, I offer a hand of friendship and a cup of a substance almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea. It is the best I can do; unlike some, I am but mortal.

My abiding memory started at the first page when I found myself laughing at the "Yellow" sequence, and it just got better and better.
From the bottom of my heart, to the family, this is a sad loss to me as an ordinary man who enjoyed Douglas's works.
As part of this h2g2 fellowship, I feel we have lost our Guide.
Shine on you crazy diamond.

David Ringland.
Larne, Co. Antrim,
Northern Ireland.

My abiding memory started at the first page when I found myself laughing at the "Yellow" sequence, and it just got better and better.
From the bottom of my heart, to the family, this is a sad loss to me as an ordinary man who enjoyed Douglas's works.
As part of this h2g2 fellowship, I feel we have lost our Guide.
Shine on you crazy diamond.

David Ringland.
Larne, Co. Antrim,
Northern Ireland.

Douglas was an advocate and active proponent of progress. Today I have learnt that there are two elements to this inexorable flow.

The first can be seen by h2g2 itself. Using the technology of the internet to further ourselves and what we understand about life, the universe and everything.

The second is that with progress comes change and with change comes history, and with history comes the passing of what is into what was.

So it is with Douglas. Others have imitated but none have surpassed his unique wit and vision. He will be missed because he didn't just write the Guide, he was the Guide.

He will live on through his work and in our memories. Now, more than ever, I hope h2g2 will become a monument to the man as well as what someday will become known across the galaxy as the Very First Guide.

Douglas is gone. It is up to us fulfill his dream now. The task is daunting but as he always told us - Don't Panic.

Q.

Great Zarquon:
I am listening to the show while absorbing the display of love, here, and hit the 'tea' moment just while reading:

To his family, friends, relatives, anyone else really cut up by this loss, I offer a hand of friendship and a cup of a substance almost, but not quite, entirely unlike
tea. It is the best I can do; unlike some, I am but mortal.

... Well, there are a lot of us, here, and there will be a lot of meaningless coincinences (Eris rules over this entire event, and shows her darker side in so doing).

"-wow, it's A Biggie, gonna take a little time to work out-"

coincidence .. . . . or design . . ? Hmmmmm...

Spooked me out.