Ask Douglas Adams About...Everything

Who could possibly know more about Life, the Universe, and Everything than Douglas Adams? Who, despite being Mostly Harmless, could give a better anwer to almost any question you could ask? Could you please post your questions -- one per post -- below? Could we pick 10 of the highest-moderated ones and send them to Mr. Adams by e-mail? Might we allow Mr. Adams a week or more to answer, since he's as busy as RMS but has kindly consented to talk with us anyway?

Macintosh still the Apple of your eye?

When Windows 95 was released (unleashed?) upon this planet, you had an article that was passed around about how much of a non-innovation Windows 95 really was, and how the Macintosh was a superior and more consistent platform. Do you still find your comments to ring true five years later, now that someone went off and tossed year numbers after Windows NT? Also, any thoughts on the new line-up of Macintosh machines (iMac, G3/G4)? Have you tried any alternative operating systems, such as Be or Linux?

But what about...

Did you enjoy writing for Monty Python? Had you established your peculiar insanity by then, or was that the catalyst?

5th of 3 Books, the end?

I've always interupted interviews with you feeling that you wanted to stop answering questions and being pestered about the Hitchhiker series. (Which I love greatly, to the extent that I wear a rabbit bone in my beard while camping)

When "Mostly Harmless" was released, I was surprised, but the ending seemed to me, very, very, final.

Was that book written just to end the series, and therefore end questions about it?

If so, did it work?

Other Authors? (addition to question above)

Other authors with whom DNA has been compared include include Kurt Vonnegut, Neal Stephenson (similar writing styles) and Iain M Banks (also British, also writes sci-fi).

What authors do you like and read for your own pleasure?

D.

DNA, the Individual? (Or, An Invasion Of Privacy)

I'm curious as to how you spend your time these days. We all know about TDV, H2G2 and that there's a movie in the offing, but in the evening, when you go home, what do you do?

Are you married, do you have children, what sort of television programmes do you watch, what authors do you read, et cetera?

Or is your diary as full as Genghis Khan [douglasadams.com]'s, and you have no time for such frivolities...?

D.

about that movie...

having had most of these questions already answered either in the alt.fan.douglas-adams faq, h2g2.com, or in personal correspondence (many moons and many campfires ago, DNA was kind enough to actually correspond with the, then few people that were both fans and Internet-connected. these days, it's nigh impossible for him to reply to _all_ of his fans' emails...) i was wondering..

what is the current status of the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy motion picture? is the screenplay still being written/rewritten? is hollywood pictures/disney still involved? is there any chance i could see a hhgg movie in my lifetime?

Philosophy?

I believe that nobody influenced me as a child (each of my parents refuses to take responsibility, claiming that I was raised by the other :-). But thinking things through, I must admit that HHGttG did fundamentally alter my thinking in a zen-like fashion. From the koan of the Answer=42, the social-engine ering [robertgraham.com] hack of knowing where your towel is, to the self-awareness that my unease that something important is going on that I'm not aware of is just natural paranoia (everyone has that). I mean, the majority of readers of Slashdot have extreme paranoia about the role of government/big-business/big-religion ruling our lives, but your description of who really runs the galaxy gives me a much more laid back attitude.

It seems that you just tossed out the most outrageous things you could think of, and are amused that people read more into it than is there. But, can you cite any philosophical influences of your work? Zen? Nietsche?

Interactive Fiction

The most popular games today seem to be first person shooters. This wasn't always so... until real-time 3D software (and now hardware) developed, the shoot-em-up games shared popularity much more evenly with other types. What does interactive fiction need to give it a boost like the shoot-em-up genre has seen? Is it

• Technology ("Natural language software" is still an oxymoron).
• A story that captures a large group of people's imagination.
• A group of authors large enough (or one with enough caffeine) to branch a story so that it's tall enough to be interesting and wide enough to not seem guided or linear.
• Something else?

You and Monty Python

While reading some form of Monty Python autobiography, I noticed it contained several references to you. How do you think you influenced or were influenced by the Monty Python cast and crew. Overall what was your relationship with them?

Life imitating art?

Wow, Douglas Adams! My faith in /. has been restored.

In one or more of your HGttG books, you mention that if humanity ever completely understood our universe, it would instantly be replaced with something much stranger. (Sorry, I'm too excited to find the exact passage right now.) Shortly after I first read that, I heard about a real theory of physics that is strikingly similar... In order to directly study the origins of our universe, we'd need to build a particle accelerator large enough to generate a certain magic number of units of energy -- but it just so happens that putting that much energy in one place would trigger a "phase transition", literally replacing our current universe with a new one. (Again, I haven't done my homework -- local physicists, feel free to correct me.)

Did you know about this theory when you dropped that line into your books, or is the similarity just a bizarre coincidence?

SIGGRAPH '96 and Starship Titanic

I had the good fortune of seeing Douglas Adams give the keynote address at SIGGRAPH '96. He talked of many things, some have come to pass, some have not. One of the greatest things I have ever seen was when DNA, at one point, slammed M$, and quite a lot of people (including the guy next to me) got up and left. It was wonderful =). In his speech, he talked about a nunber of things: he mentioned he was doing another book (not come to pass), he talked at length about the HHGTG 3D-IMAX films (not come to pass, as far as i know...), and he talked about his vision for a cool computer game called Starship Titanic (has come to pass.) Among other things.

To Douglas Adams, then: Your vision of Starship Titanic in 1996 differed quite a lot from what it really was. This is, of course, natural. What sorts of things influenced those changes; were any really significant or even worth mention?

More importantly, you seem to have a unique view of where computer gaming should go. What is that view, specifically?

Second question (feel free to ignore): Where is that new book and the 3d IMax movies?

have fun dongoodman

Re:Why did you pick 42?

Douglas Adams announced some time ago that he was officially retiring from answering questions about the number 42. This is from the alt.fan.douglasadams FAQ: [netins.net]
X.42. Number games
Yes, six times nine equals fifty-four. Yes, six times nine equals 42 in base thirteen, and we don't want to know about the implications that has on the number of fingers cavemen must have had.

Douglas has himself said:

"The answer to this is very simple. It was a joke. It had to be a number, an ordinary, smallish number, and I chose that one. Binary representations, base thirteen, Tibetan monks are all complete nonsense. I sat at my desk, stared into the garden, and thought '42 will do'. I typed it out. End of story."


--GnrcMan--

Re:Why did you pick 42?

All of the numerical comments are interesting, but I've always thought there was more of a literary connection. One of the more famous chapters in Western literature is chapter 42 in Moby Dick. It consists of Ismael on the deck of Pequod, musing about the philosophical implications of the color white. An interesting read, although it's buried in the midst of 60 some odd chapters on the history of whaling (nothing like a 19th century action-adventure novel!).

Since there are many other (somewhat oblique) references to Moby Dick (i.e. the missile->whale thing, and of course the "you are here" torture device), I'd always assumed that perhaps that was one of the reasons for choosing 42. Does Melville live?

Proving that high school was good for something,

Matt Evans

IP?

You've worked in a lot of different segments of the information 'industry'. You've written code, & maintained web databases, you've created the story for computer games, you've written novels, radio shows, tv programs (programmes?). Most of those activities have been done in at least a semi-commercial setting. Around here in particular, I hear people trying generalize principles of information ownership across these domains. Do you feel that these various kinds of information are alike enough that they all should or can be treated similarly, in terms of ownership? How different have you seen the concerns of the publishers of these various media you've worked in to be?

I realize you're not a lawyer, but that's part of the reason I'm asking you this (there's also always the off chance you might say something funny in reply).

Is it over?

Is "Mostly Harmless" the end of the series? If so, it's a rather ambiguous ending (which, I suppose, does make pefect sense). Will there be another book to tie up all the loose ends left over?

Drug use?

Your work has 'product of drug culture' written all over it. I've always seen it as a Silver Surfer comic created solely while high and giggling. Is drug use a part of your creative process or lifestyle like say, George Carlin does or used to do?

favorite character?

Of all of the characters you have created and gotten to know in your works, which is your favorite?

(my favorite is Dirk Gently)

Recalculation Of Meaning Of Life Necessary?

Does the recent news [slashdot.org] concerning physicists realization of a more exact gravitational constant necessitate a recalculation of the meaning of life? Perhaps 42.1?
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Banned X-mas book

I heard a several years ago that you had a x-mas book that was pulled because the Church or England threatened to sue the publisher for blasphemy. Apparently there is still a law on the books that allows for that. Is this true?

Silly

What is according to you, the silliest thing that happens in the entire HHGTTG series?

Thoughts on humor

Do You see Irony and Sarcasm as being synonomous with humor, and a necessary way for society to let off steam?

Doctor Who involvement, past and future.

Perhaps not as well known as the HGttG are your contributions to the Doctor Who universe. Besides writing "The Pirate Plant", "Shada", and co-writing "City of Death" (with Graham Williams), you were also script editor for season seventeen.

What were your reasons for stepping down as script editor after only one season? Was it limited to your growing involvement in HGttG, or to the production problems that plagued that season?

Would you consider making any more additions to Doctor Who, through a novel or radio drama?

Thanks.

Does wealth make it hard to get around to writing?

The way you (and others) portray the way you work, I get the impression you find it very hard to finish a writing job unless you're actually looking starvation in the face if you don't deliver tomorrow. You've described some innovative and elaborate forms of procrastination, and you certainly don't produce new work at the same rate as you did when H^2G^2 was first being written. Do you see it as a problem? Or are you finding procrastination easier to overcome?

cheers!
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Experimental Storytelling Through Software

Before Starship Titanic came out, there was talk of doing a CD-ROM based game consisting only of sound clips (no graphics, just radio). I see no mention of it on your site.

I hope this project is still in the pipeline -- it sounded very interesting. Is your first love still radio, or were you just looking for something unique (like Bureaucracy, perhaps)?

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What happenned to the Vogons???

Since the Fall of Communism(tm), what happenned to the Vogons who were obviously running communist regimes? Did they transfer into running the Big Corporations That Aspire to Rule the World(tm), thus explaining their recent rampant Big Brotherism(tm)???

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Here's my mirror [respublica.fr]

Distributing copyrighted media over the internet

As someone whose writing talent and sense of humor many of us in the Slashdot community have come to admire and respect, could you explain to us your stance on some of the current issues regarding distributing copyrighted material over the internet?

For instance, the original BBC recordings of The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy have made frequent appearances on various pirate music sites, and they show up frequently in searches on Napster. What are your feelings on this sort of thing? Also, although I'm not aware of it happening currently, how do you think you might react to discovering that some of your various novels were being traded online?

Finally, many of us feel that the issue revolves around one of availability - for instance, if I knew that I could purchase digital recordings of the original HGTTG broadcast over the internet, I would be happy to do so, but as far as I am aware, such a distribution scheme is not currently available. Do you think that this is merely a cut-and-dry issue of intellectual property theft, or do you feel that issues such as these point out that maybe it is time for the publishing industries of these various forms of media need to redefine the way they do business?

Thanks again for your time.

Origins of the Hitch-hikers title?

This is something I've been meaning to ask you for some time.

A couple of years ago, I discovered in a history book a mention of a book. It was published in twenty-five editions through the 17th century, and was titled:

"A plaine man's patheway to Heaven"

and was by none other than Arthur Dent.

Is this:

(a) somehow connected to the origins of the title & character naming of the Guide, or:

(b) a very good excuse for you to write a little sarcastic snippet on the nature of coincidence? :-)

Regards,

Martin Ling

Is Radio Drama Dead, or Can the Internet Save It?

The Hitch Hiker's Guide is probably the most well-known, if not the only known radio drama to gen-Xrs in the US. Do you think that given the vast array of media available today the Radio Drama as an art form is dead? Or do you think it can survive as Internet based streaming audio because the audience can listen to it at a time and place that is convenient to them, and there is a revenue model that works for US listeners?

As a possible follow-up, H2G2 has been produced as radio, television, book and (soon) film. In your opinion which media is it best suited to (financial considerations aside), and having been involved with all these productions, which would you have chosen to produce it as first if you had the opportunity to start at the beginning (again, financial considerations aside)?

Movies, future plans.

First, I want to say that you are my favorite author - it's a rare privelege just to say "hey". My favorite book is Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, though I've read every one of your other books as well.

I'm not going to ask a question about the content of your books, because I believe those questions are well covered just by reading them. What I am curious about is your opinion of other people interpreting your work into other media, and your future plans.

What was your honest opinion of the Hitchhiker's Guide movie that floats around on PBS? Why the hell was Trillian a blonde? And why did Zaphod have one floppy head that never said anything? Are there any plans to do another movie from any of your books, maybe with a better special FX budget?

Also, what do you have on the burner recently? Are there any more books on the way, or another attempt at a computer game?

Oh, and don't forget your towel. :-)

Feelings on open content?

Mr. Adams,

I know that "creating content" (buzz word alert) is your livelihood, but how would you feel about "opening" that content at some point?

Do you think, at some point, you may "retire" and make a "gift" of your work to your fans? This becomes more meaningful as books become more of a digital medium. I would love to hand a disc with all of your books on it to a friend.

What I would like to know most of all, is how do you react to this question. Does it seem like a ridiculous question? Does it immediately strike you as something you would not even consider? Is it something you had already considered?

Did you consider piracy when the digital version (I can't remember the name of that computer book doohickey that it was on.) of the Hitchhikers Guide was released? Did the manufacturer convince you that it would not be prevalent, or did you not care?

Is there anything that convinces you that you are outside outside the asylum more than Slashdot?

-Peter



Slashdot cries out for open standards, then breaks them [w3.org].

Flying only possible when distracted

Mr. Adams,

You've proven to me, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that a person can only fly (under their own power), if just at the moment when they make the attempt, they are immediately and completely distracted by something totally unrelated to the attempt.

Is this a metaphor? Do you believe that we can only reach our truly lofty goals, by not actually paying any attention to them? Or, must we simply be distracted from our goals long enough that reach them without trying to?

Life, the Universe, and Napster

Mr.Adams as someone who writes books(develops content) what view do you have on napster. It has been argued that commercialism is infringing on the freedom of ideas and that people distributing music for free on the net will force the record compaines to sell their products in a more consumer friendly(some would say cheaper)fashion. How would you feel abouting writing a book and only being paid for it if readers felt the need to?

Frode

z

Babelfish...

It is somewhat amazing to me that many things in your books became internet household words. Did you have any idea when you were writing your books that you would be setting the naming standard used by millions of people?

Apple

In the past, you've been a very vocal advocate for Apple products, in particular the Mac. What are your thoughts concerning some of Apple's controversial decisions, such as killing production of the Newton, or where Apple is headed?

A real Hitchhiker's Guide?

Hi Douglas,

I actually asked this question of you in 1998 and again in 1999 and your response was that you are waiting for a better development of the technology.

What do you think about the current development of eBooks? Have you had a chance to look at the eBook XML standard?

When can we hope to see an eBook-like version of the H2G2 as described in the story? (ie not an eBook version of the story H2G2 that you wrote but one similar to what Ford Prefect carries that contains an entire library of known knowledge...)

Obviously something like this would take up terrabytes of information but with storage capacities being what they are, perhaps you can start with a guide to various countries and work from there.

Marvin vs. Data

If Marvin got into a fight with Data (from Star Trek), who would win?

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Modern Culture as silly as the one in HHGTtG?

In the HHGTtG series, you deal with a culture accustomed to instantaneous access to hip information -and- time-travel. It seemed to spiral in on itself, with time being as inconsequential a barrier to getting the best possible parties that geography is in the age of highways and jets.

In the contested twilight of the 20th century, we can go out on any given weekend, and find people dressed up in zoot-suits swing dancing, decked out in bell-bottoms at a disco, and rushing about outdoors attired in the shining armor of medevil knights, whacking each other with sticks.

Has the internet and recursive nostalgia brought us to a point where modern culture is every inch as silly and fractal as the one you created?

Also: I have the phrase "Don't Panic!" marching cheerily across my web-access cell phone's display when not in use. Did you expect to see the technology you envisioned with "The Guide" come to pass in your lifetime? Are you terrified someone might come up with an infinite improbability drive sometime before dinner?

SoupIsGood Food

What's Next?

I'm wondering what happened to the next Dirk Gently book, Salmon of Doubt which was expected over a year ago. And what, besides the web site (which I'm sure is a lot of work) are you up to these days. Finally, what else can we hope to see from you in the future?

Interesting Music Software

In Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, the character Richard MacDuff is obsessed with mapping natural processes into music. I really enjoyed this book; not only was it fun to read, it started me thinking about the relationship between math and music when I was a wee lad of 16 (and I still think it's the sort of thing that might be stimulating to young minds; I gave out the fictional essay "Music and Fractal Landscapes" to my high school students this last semester, and some of them took to the ideas. Some of them thought I was a jerk, though).

But my question is: are there any music composition software packages/languages/environments that you find interesting? Anything that Richard MacDuff would find fascinating?

[Infocom] games

Infocom's HG2TG Bablefish puzzle is considered one of the greatest puzzles of all time. Beuacracy is considered one of the hardest, but fair, games ever. With the new resurgance of text adventures/interactive fiction in the last couple of years, and the idea that games like Zork will actually have longer life spans, with the coming of handheld wireless devices and the like, than graphical games (books are timeless, I guess a good parser on an IF is as well) have you ever considered reentering the text adventure market?

links
interactfiction.about.com
ifarchive.org
ifiction.tsx.org

Comedy....or Tragedy?

First, a big thank-you. You've made a lasting contribution to "our" culture (or should that be "culture"?)

I first read HGttG in my early teens. I doubled over laughing the whole time. I read and reread the entire series, bought both Dirk Gently books AND Last Chance to See. Loved them all and wouldn't trade having read them for anything. (btw, the first mental ward scene in Long Dark Teatime is a no-foolin', all-time classic.)

However, a few years ago I was talking to a (then) classmate. Very smart, philosophy-major type. He said (paraphrased) "I thought that HGttG was depressing. Such nihilism." At the time I thought "Hmmm...I didn't SEE a black beret on his head....". But every reading of the series since then his comment has struck me as more true--especially in the case of Arthur Dent. In fact, far from being funny, I now find Dent's character depressing--he's not just a loser, he literally has no control over his life at all (except in So Long for a while). And the control he does have does him no good (e.g. Earth is destroyed while he's trying to save his house.)

So my question is: When you were writing these books did you feel you were being gaily whimsical or did you instead feel frustrated and cynical?
--
Have Exchange users? Want to run Linux? Can't afford OpenMail?

How do you feel...

..about predicting the Internet?

My mental image of the the Guide (outside of the Don't Panic sticker) was a laptop computer with high speed access. The big hint was when you said (paraphrased) "The Guide contains vaste amount of information on every concievable concept, much of it completely erroneous or actively dangerous." That's about the best description of the Net I've seen, and it came about before the thing was mainstream. I guess my question is, Have you ever thought of it that way? Do you like turkey? And what's the deal with Smithers?

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Lewis Carroll?

How much was Lewis Carroll's work an inspiration for your own? Clearly he must have had some influence, regarding the number 42's significance in both his and your works. (Hunting of the Snark: helmsman rule #42; Alice in Wonderland: rule #42 that all persons more than a mile tall must leave the court; etc.) And one needn't go so far as to call both bodies of work "semi-incoherent" to find similarities in style and typical audience.

New Books?

A few years ago I read an interview wherein you said that you weren't happy with the way the fifth book turned out and were considering that you might go on to write a sixth book. First, was that interview accurate, and second if it is accurate are you still considering writing a new book for the series?

Greetings from far away...

Greetings. I remember your signing of my recipe for a Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster in an SF bookstore many moons ago, and yes, I still have the recipe :-)

• Q1: At the time, there was considerable wonder regarding what would happen with regards to the future of the Infocom HHGTTG game, which left the player standing on the surface of Magrathea.

  Now that it's been many years - to the extent you feel free to discuss it, whatever happened between yourself and Infocom way-back-when? Aspiring historians wanna know.

  Q2: After what seemed an eternity, it was really neat to see you back on the scene with Starship Titanic. Although I enjoyed ST, I also had the feeling it was also a technology demonstration; here's a basic engine which will allow a few puzzles and the integration of video sequences with some sort of character interaction. The ability to parse text was still there; not quite as much as it was in the Infocom engine, but definitely a lot of potential. Soooooo...

• Q2: (I'm sure you knew this was coming) What can you tell us about the HHGTTG adventure game currently under development by H2G2/Pan? Will we finally get a blending of Infocom-style parsing of text-based puzzles with graphics and interactivity?

  The reason I ask is because, for me, this was the only thing I found lacking (or more accurately, "expected to find more of") in Starship Titanic -- so much of the humor your work series is literary and textual in nature, hence my burning desire for more textual puzzles. The writing behind the ST characters was great; I just wanted to experience more of it from the user's end. For me, that meant being able to type commands to the game, rather than mousing around the screen. And some things seem to be better represented by text than visuals; the Babel Fish puzzle in the original HHGTTG game, for instance, wouldn't have been nearly as funny if rendered only visually - the humor of the puzzle was powerfully enhanced by the writing associated with each failed attempt to get the fish. (Umm, but thanks for at least saving me the trouble of putting the fish in my ear myself!)

  And finally...

• Q3: With the universe obliterated by the vogons, there won't be a sixth HHGTTG book, will there? Or will there? I suspect not, but hey, the end of the universe hasn't stopped you before :-)

Thursdays...

As an inveterate hater of Wednesdays (middle of the week, its three days since you last had fun and 3 more before you have some more, Wednesday should be a holiday) I've always wondered.

Why did you pick Thursday as the day for that Arthur Dent never got the hang of ?

Oh and if I do get to ask a question I'd better ask another....

There was a Radio Series, a TV series, the books... but no film. What stopped Zaphod becomming the most self-centred person in Hollywood ?

Relationship to Terry Pratchett?

One author who is often compared to you in terms of style and humor is Terry Pratchett of Discworld fame. What is your opinion of Pratchett's work? Do you agree or disagree with the comparisons between your works?

Mostly harmless, written under duress?

Did you write Mostly Harmless because of pressure from your fans, publisher, or accountant? Having read the full series more often than I would like to mention, it seemed to me that there was a lot of bitterness in the last book. Most characters were unhappy most of the time (not just the humans with digital watches), and you brought out the worst parts of these characters.

Also, killing off the main characters seems like the act of an author who is sick of it all, and never wants to think about that part of his work again. It reminds me of a story I once heard about Stan Rogers. He was a folk musician who wrote mostly about Maritime Canada (my neck of the woods). His most famous song was called Barrett's Privateers. It is said people wanted to hear that song so much that he started to hate it, and didn't want to sing it anymore.

Don't get me wrong, I thought it was a good book, but not nearly as innocent as the rest.

So what is the answer?

What was your initial inspiration for writing the Hitchiker's guide books? Did you realize at the time that most readers just didn't "get it"? Personally, at the time I first read them they seemed *so* distant from reality, but as I get older (33 now), each rereading gets funnier and funnier. I must be getting more of the jokes now.

Finally, did you ever imagine that your books could ever have developed a cult-like following?

God Exists

Did you endorse the use of "Babelfish" by altavista or did you consider trying to prevent them from using the word as they are far from proving that god does not exist?

The Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster

What is the origin of the Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster, and how would you make one on Earth?

I need to know.

I'm thirsty. And sober.

Douglas Adams and Doctor Who

I believe Mr. Adams wrote a few Doctor Who stories, notably "Shada," "Resurrection of the Daleks," and "Revelation of the Daleks." As yet, "Resurrection of the Daleks" and "Revelation of the Daleks" have not been released on video or in book form due to copyright issues.

With Doctor Who, the story writers retained the copyrights to their own work. Obviously, he doesn't have the copyright on the Daleks themselves (Terry Nation's estate does), but he does on the stories. I remember hearing that he required a lot of convincing to allow "Shada" to be released on video (which ended up being limited-edition, anyway).

What I want to know is, what's the problem with releasing "Resurrection" and "Revelation"? Is it some kind of dispute with Terry Nation's estate due to the use of the Daleks, or is he just being, well...stubborn? (Sorry, I couldn't think of a more polite word.)

One other issue (if this post is actually selected (probably not), please omit the following):

Also, am I the only one who's a little pissed that the NTSC videocassette version of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was recorded in EP mode? Excuse me, commercial videos are not supposed to be done in EP!! There was a version on two cassettes in SP mode with a copy of the book, too, but it was (once again) limited-edition.

Also, I've noticed that the book version of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy that you buy in stores has been split into four parts and called a "triology of four." Ha ha ha, very clever. Those four books are quite thin; couldn't Mr. Adams (or his publisher) have saved us some money by combining them into one, thicker book, like in the limited-edition, SP-mode, NTSC video release? (Sorry if that sounded a little bitter; I just thought splitting up the book into small parts was kind of dumb...)

Where did the Dolphins end up

So just where did the dolphins end up after they left?

Interconnectedness of all things.

Dear Mr. Adams.

While the Hitchhikers' Guide trilogy is very good (I own a copy of the omnibus), I couldn't help but notice that it has 5 (five) parts. For this reason, I enjoy the Dirk Gently books greatly. My question is this:

What is your favourite type of cheese for cucumber, tomato and onion sanwiches on a nice French bread?

Thank you for your time.
Zac

Not that movie!

Forget the BBC movie, I want to know about the other movie that is supposedly going to begin filming any day now. Of course, that has been the rumor for the past... decade is it? What gives? I seem to recall reading an interview elsewhere where you said another movie would be filmed besides the BBC that would (naturally) have nothing to do with any of the preceding four (and in a later interview, after Mostly Harmless five) books. Were those interviews ficticious and you never said that, or will there someday be a real, live, Hollywood version of Hitchhiker?
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