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

Is there going to be any attempt to try and give Douglas Adams the award for greatest Book ever?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/ This is the main page, but you can vote here. http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/form.shtml

We should stick a link on the main page and encourage people to vote for this great book.

Just been chatting about this with Mina. Obviously we'd love it if Douglas came out on top, but as a BBC site, we can't really be seen to influence the voting. There's nothing to stop any members of our Community voting and campaigning though.

Best of luck

But surely that would be the same thing wouldn't it. Or are you covered by the bit that says the thoughts of those of the individuals and not of the BBC.

But surely that would be the same thing wouldn't it. Or are you covered by the bit that says the thoughts of those of the individuals and not of the BBC.

It's more a case of Hitch-hikers starting off as a BBC product, so if a BBC site were to throw its weight behind a book that's based on a BBC radio series, it *could* leave us open to accusations of manipulating the figures. Never mind that we don't even know the people who are running the Big Read project.

There's also the issue that, although we use some of the terminology from the books, and of course have the greatest respect for Douglas's memory, we're not actually a Hitch-hikers fan site; BBC Cult's page handles that. We hosted a couple of discussion points during the anniversary of the radio series' first broadcast, but anything more might confuse more people than it might help.

On a lesser note, as a team we wouldn't promote Hitch-hikers because not everyone in the team has even read the first book! Yes, they're the unpopular ones who no-one speaks to, but we still have to respect their opinions. After all, Douglas didn't mind, so why should we?

Jims

If anyones interested I went for Hitchhikers ahead of 1984.