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

oh and:

Garrison Keiller (sp?) from NPR in the US

Rolh Dahl (again sp?) who wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Witches, and BFG to name a few.

My father was born in 1915 but he was more of the type to read the Satureay Evening Post. I think it was in college in 1966 that I was introduced to the New Yorker.

I believe that the author of "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them" and "Why Not Me?" is Al Franken (not the name sited in the early post). He's the putative founder of Air America, a radio netword selling the liberal line, in opposition to the omnipresent Rush Limbaugh.

I was surprised that Jules Feifer wasn't identified straight away. He was the wonderful cartoonist from the New Yorker.

SC

Has anyone mentioned R. Crumb? [Robert] The head comics artist? I'm not sure any more whether he did Mr Natural or not...I'd have to mount an archaeological expedition into my garage to find out...

From the swedish horizon;these are the ones I am familiar with:

Woody Allen
Truman Capote
Raymond Carver
Robert Crumb
Roald Dahl
E.L Doctorow
Nicole Krauss
Steve Martin
Vladimir Nabokov
Dorothy Parker
J.D Salinger
Susan Sontag
Art Spiegelman
John Updike
Rachel Carson


Izzybelle

I've been having trouble getting logged on to H2G2, so apologies if this shows up twice ...

I did recognize one name on the second list, John Hersey. I had to Google to figure out why, but it was his long essay "Hiroshima", which I now know was published in the NY in its entirety, right after the atomic bomb was dropped in the mid 1940's. From Amazon:

"When the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, few could have anticipated its potential for devastation. Pulitzer prize-winning author John Hersey recorded the stories of Hiroshima residents shortly after the explosion and, in 1946, Hiroshima was published, giving the world first-hand accounts from people who had survived it."

Well, here are the results so far, and there's clearly a bias toward some people. I think the more recent writers are also more famous cuz they're around now. Peter Arno must have been as well known as Woody Allen in his times; same for Thurber.

Thanks y'all, and allow me to mention that some of these really famous people don't have h2g2 entries on them. In case anyone is, y'know, bored.

And wasn't there a Thurber fan in here? *peers around thread* I need a Thurber fan.

* Joan Acocella - cultural critic
* Charles Addams - ****
* Woody Allen - **************
* Roger Angell - fiction editor and baseball writer
* Hannah Arendt - **
* Peter Arno - *
* Whitney Balliett - jazz critic
* Julian Barnes - *******
* Robert Benchley - *****
* Elizabeth Bishop - *
* Sidney Blumenthal - ***
* George Booth - cartoonist
* Andy Borowitz - humorist
* Marianne Boruch - poet
* Maeve Brennan - essayist/short story writer
* Truman Capote - ***********
* Robert Caro - biographer of Robert Moses and Lyndon B. Johnson.
* Rachel Carson - ******
* Raymond Carver - ****
* Roz Chast - cartoonist
* John Cheever - short story writer
* Tom Cheney - cartoonist
* Sam Cobean - cartoonist
* John Henry Collier - short story writer
* Robert Crumb - ***
* Will Cuppy - humorist
* Roald Dahl - *************
* Mark Danner - foreign affairs correspondent
* Paul Degen - illustrator
* David Denby - *
* Joan Didion - **
* E. L. Doctorow - ****
* Elizabeth Drew - **
* Irwin Edman - philosopher, poet
* Dave Eggers - ***
* Clifton Fadiman - book reviewer
* James Fallows - journalist
* Jules Feiffer - *
* Jonathan Franzen - **
* Ian Frazier - nonfiction writer and humorist
* Leo Garel - Artist
* Atul Gawande - Surgeon, Essayist
* Veronica Geng - humorist
* Wolcott Gibbs - *
* Brendan Gill - writer
* Malcolm Gladwell - *
* Jonah Goldberg - political and social commentator
* Paul Goldberger - architecture critic
* Adam Gopnik - journalist
* Philip Gourevitch - *
* Alma Guillermoprieto - journalist
* Emily Hahn - journalist
* Lis Harris - journalist
* John Hersey - *
* Seymour Hersh - *****
* Hendrik Hertzberg - editorialist
* Sue Hubbell - writer (not famous, says Shagbark)
* Stanley Edgar Hyman - literary critic
* Shirley Jackson - short story writer
* Pauline Kael - *****
* Garrison Keillor - ******
* Jamaica Kincaid - *
* Alex Kozinski - essayist
* Nicole Krauss - *
* Jhumpa Lahiri - *
* Anthony Lane - film critic
* A.J. Liebling - journalism critic and boxing writer
* Janet Malcolm - essayist
* Robert Mankoff - *
* Joseph Moncure March - editor
* Don Marquis - *
* Steve Martin - ************
* Jane Mayer - journalist
* David Mazzuchelli- *
* Bruce McCall - humorist, illustrator
* John McPhee - *
* Louis Menand - literary critic
* James Merrill - poet
* Joseph Mitchell - nonfiction writer
* Alice Munro - fiction writer
* Haruki Murakami - *
* Vladimir Nabokov - ********
* Ogden Nash - ***********
* John O'Hara - short story writer
* Susan Orlean - journalist
* Dorothy Parker - ************
* S. J. Perelman - *
* Andrew Porter - music critic
* George Price - cartoonist
* Donald Reilly - cartoonist
* David Remnick - editor and writer
* Alex Ross - *
* Philip Roth - ********
* J. D. Salinger - ***********
* Gerald Scarfe - *********
* Simon Schama - *********
* John Seabrook - journalist
* David Sedaris - humorist
* Anne ton - *
* Robert Sikoryak - cartoonist
* Gretchen Dow Simpson - cover artist
* Otto Soglow - cartoonist: The Little King cartoons & others
* Susan Sontag - ********
* Art Spiegelman - ***
* William Steig - cartoonist
* Saul Steinberg - illustrator
* James Surowiecki - essayist and economic/financial columnist
* James Thurber - **********
* Toure - *
* Calvin Trillin - nonfiction
* Kenneth Tynan - ******
* John Updike - ************
* Chris Ware - cartoonist
* Rogers E. M. Whitaker - essayist, railroad writer, a.k.a. E.M. Frimbo
* E. B. White - **
* Edmund Wilson - **
* James Wolcott - television critic
* James Wood - *
* Alexander Woollcott - *
* Richard Yates - fiction writer

Right, I've heard of the following. Bear in mind that I work in an academic library, so I probably don't count as a real person!

* Charles Addams - cartoonist
* Woody Allen - humorist
* Hannah Arendt - political scientist, philosopher, journalist
* Julian Barnes - correspondent/commentator, Britain/Europe
* Robert Benchley - humorist and theatre critic
* Sidney Blumenthal - editorialist
* Truman Capote - novelist
* Rachel Carson - writer and environmentalist
* Raymond Carver - short story writer
* Roald Dahl - short story writer
* David Denby - film critic
* E. L. Doctorow - fiction writer
* Malcolm Gladwell - essayist
* Garrison Keillor - radio comedian
* Steve Martin - humorist
* David Mazzuchelli- illustrator
* John McPhee - nonfiction writer
* Louis Menand - literary critic
* Haruki Murakami - novelist
* Vladimir Nabokov - fiction writer
* Ogden Nash - poet
* John O'Hara - short story writer
* Dorothy Parker - short story writer, drama critic, poet, humorist
* Andrew Porter - music critic
* Donald Reilly - cartoonist
* David Remnick - editor and writer
* Alex Ross - music critic [hmmm, I know of an illustrator by this name - same person?]
* Philip Roth - fiction writer
* J. D. Salinger - short story writer
* Gerald Scarfe - illustrator
* Simon Schama - historian, art history, professor
* John Seabrook - journalist
* David Sedaris - humorist
* Susan Sontag - short story writer and essayist
* Art Spiegelman - illustrator
* James Thurber - cartoonist, short story writer, and essayist
* John Updike - fiction, essayist
* E. B. White - essayist and editor

Hmm, less than half of them.

More than I managed.

Ignore this. Just bumping the convo up my list so it's easier to find. I'm adding the names and their contributions slowly, over here: A14529558 sorry, all who are inconvenienced.

Did you see this: http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/politicsphilosophyandsociety/story/0,,1866835,00.html

oh, awesome! I wanted something on Remnik for the next section. He pretty much saved the magazine.