Gone: Douglas Adams

At the age of 49, Hitchhiker’s Guide to Galaxy author Douglas Adams died yesterday of a heart attack. This is very sad news as Adams was one of the few who could write really funny science fiction. I suppose it’s difficult to think of a book as funny when the Earth is destoyed in the first chapter to make way for an interstellar highway bypass but at least Arthur Dent got a ride off planet beforehand with a copy of a book with the words DON’t PANIC emblazoned on its cover. An amusing related website is Vogon Heavy Industries, a little outdated effort from the megacorp that demolished Earth. If you haven’t read these books yet (there are five in the “increasingly misnamed” Hitchhiker Trilogy), read them now!

So long Douglas, and thanks for all the fish