Douglas Adams/Bibliography

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A list of key readings about Douglas Adams.
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Biographies

His official biography, Wish You Were Here, by Nick Webb, was published on 6 October 2003 (ISBN 0-7553-1155-8).[1]

Another biography is Hitchhiker: A Biography of Douglas Adams (2003) by M. J. Simpson, with a foreword in the UK edition by John Lloyd (ISBN 0-340-82488-3), and was revised and updated in paperback in February 2004 (ISBN 0-340-82489-1). The American hardback edition contains a foreword by Neil Gaiman (ISBN 1-932112-17-0), and its April 2005 paperback equivalent (ISBN 1-932112-35-9) has an extra chapter about the movie.

Upon the mutual discovery that Webb and Simpson were both working on new posthumous biographies, the two authors agreed that the former would focus on Adams' life and personality, and the latter on his work.

In 1992, ITV's The South Bank Show produced a documentary about Douglas Adams which featured Dirk Gently and characters from Hitchhikers and contributions from Stephen Fry, Richard Dawkins and John Lloyd.

The BBC produced a tribute as part of their TV series Omnibus. It was first broadcast on BBC 2 on 4 August 2001, presented by Kirsty Wark. The programme included interviews with Stephen Fry, Clive Anderson, Terry Jones, Griff Rhys Jones, Richard Dawkins and John Lloyd, among others. A copy is included with the Region One DVD release of the Hitchhiker's Guide TV series.

A movie documentary, Life, The Universe and Douglas Adams, was released in 2002, directed and produced by Rick Mueller and Joel Greengrass. Archive footage of Adams is generously included, as well as interviews with Adams' friends, colleagues and family. This documentary was narrated by Neil Gaiman and is available on VHS tape.[2]

Earlier biographies include:

Works

Novels in the Hitchhiker series

All of the above are also available as unabridged audio books, read by Adams. These were preceded by abridged audio books of the first four novels, read by Stephen Moore. To tie in with the film release, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is also available as an audiobook read by Stephen Fry. Martin Freeman, who portrayed Arthur Dent in the movie adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide, has recorded audiobook editions of the last four books in the series, released between June and December 2006.

The volumes in the Hitchhiker's series have also been collected into omnibus editions, including The Hitchhiker's Trilogy (released in 1982), The Hitchhiker's Quartet, released in 1986 and The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide, released in 1997.

The Dirk Gently series

Adams recorded an abridged audiobook adaptation of the first novel in this series in the 1980s. The sequel was performed by Simon Jones, also in an abridged adaptation. Both were released by Simon and Schuster Audioworks in the United States, and are out of print. Adams, a decade later, recorded unabridged adaptations of both novels, which are both available in six CD sets. Following Adams' death an audiobook of the partially-completed Salmon of Doubt was recorded by Simon Jones.

Other books

Other works

In 2004, BBC Audio published a 3-CD set entitled Douglas Adams at the BBC, which covers the author's work from 1974 to 2003, including posthumous projects and tributes. The CD is again narrated by Simon Jones.

  1. Press release announcing Nick Webb's biography of Adams from 2 July 2003.
  2. Press release announcing the Life, the Universe, and Douglas Adams documentary video from 15 April 2002.