I had always heard about The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy, but blew it off numerous times. It never seemed to have much of an appeal to me. Then again, I really wasn't an avid reader. I only ever managed to finish the Harry Potter series, and spending hours staring at words really didn't spark any emotions.
My roommate, who was just a co-worker at the time, lent me The Hitchhiker's Guide. After just finishing The Hunger Games trilogy, I was craving something to keep that rush going. You know, the rush where you have only two chapters left in a series and your tapping your fingers with angst as to the final outcomes. Suddenly the book is finished, and with it comes a sense of completion but also void.
Finally, after years of deciding that there was always something better, I was reading The Guide. I was glued to it instantly. From the first sentence to the last, my attention could not be drawn away. I brought the book back to my friend. He asks, "looking to borrow the Restaurant", which is the second installment. I look back at him and say with complete confidence, "nope, but I'll take all four from you!"
Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker series opened my eyes to many different authors and styles. After finishing them, I immediately dove into Brave New World by Alodus Huxley, and became familiar with Orson Scott Card, George R. R. Martin, and testing the waters of Issac Asimov.
What brings me to talk about Douglas Adams' today is a video I saw on Facebook via Science is a Verb page. This video (link below) was recorded at UCSB, in which Adams' gave a talk about various endangered species, and included origin, adaptation, and eventual demise at the hands of human beings. This talk is called Parrots, The Universe and Everything. He takes a firm Conservationist view on the world and the various situations we see ourselves in.
I noticed something as soon as Adams' begins to discuss his ideas; he writes exactly how he talks. As a casual writer, this blows my mind! I believe this is why he is so successful, and how he brings his own humor and emotion to his work. I feel as if I am reading a new entry into the Hitchhiker's series while I watch this talk.
The last thing that stood out to me was a phrase he mentioned. At 1:11:55 Adams' says ,"We do something with intention. We boil an egg so we can eat it."
Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZG8HBuDjgc
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