Wish You Were Here [Paperback]

Nick Webb (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 5, 2004

THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY launched Douglas Adams to instant superstardom when it came out in 1978, becoming a huge success as a novel, radio and TV series. Like all his best work it was funny, but seriously funny. But Adams the comic writer who worked with Monty Python among others is only part of the story. He had a probing scientific mind, and was happy discussing ideas with the likes of Richard Dawkins or Steven Pinker. And his ideas in HITCHHIKER helped inspire the techies of the IT revolution. Nick Webb, who knew him very well for many years, has created a wonderful portrait of a larger than life character who is still mourned by his millions of fans around the world.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Webb was the editor at Britain's Pan Books who bought the book rights to Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in 1978, back when it was a hit radio show on the BBC. While Webb didn't have much to do with Adams professionally after that, the two remained friendly until Adams's death, at age 49, in 2001, and that closeness pervades this authorized biography and its conversational tone. That doesn't mean the story is sugarcoated; Adams is occasionally chided for his emotional thickness, and Webb deals frankly with the consequences of his chronic slowness as a writer (one Hitchhiker novel was produced only when his editor, Sonny Mehta, booked a hotel room and sat with him as he turned out the pages). Another section addresses the thorny issue of who contributed what to the zany plot line of the radio series and how Adams's collaborator, John Lloyd, was nudged out of the book deal. For the most part, however, Webb genially celebrates Adams's comic talent and zest for life, aiming his account squarely at the large Hitchhiker fan base with occasional overtures to readers who don't necessarily know every nuance of the trilogy. It might be overstating matters to suggest that "before Douglas nobody had been cosmically funny," but Webb's tribute makes it easy to see why those who knew Adams admired him so greatly.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Untimely death deprived sf of its reigning comic genius, Douglas Adams (1952-2001), celebrated as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979) and its three sequels. After proving its popularity as a 1978 BBC radio series, the Guide became a novel thanks to a commission from Pan Books editor Nick Webb, who now gives us what is easily the best of several existing Adams biographies. Drawing on a wealth of Adams' papers and authorized interviews with family members, Webb creates a multifaceted rendering of a complex, charismatic man who was less writer than idea-spinner with a passionate interest in science. Eschewing strict chronology, Webb steps back and forth among seminal moments in Adams' life, from his days at the BBC, rubbing elbows with Monty Python cast members, to his final years in California, pitching the Guide to Hollywood. A fascinating, witty portrait of a cultural icon who deserves an audience even larger than the present horde of his buffs. Carl Hays
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Headline Paperbacks (July 5, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0755311566
• ISBN-13: 978-0755311569
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,020,426 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wish you were still here, August 22, 2005

By 

S. M Marson (Lumberton, NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wish You Were Here: The Official Biography of Douglas Adams (Hardcover)

I have read every book published under Douglas Adams' name. I read WISH YOU WERE HERE because Douglas Adams (DNA) is one of my favorite authors and I feel that his death is a tremendous loss to the art of the written word. But unlike most his devoted readers, my favorite DNA novel is THE LONG DARK TEA TIME OF THE SOUL. I have read it more times than I can count. Why?

During my life as student, I was compelled to study systems theory. The systems theory developers have a very long tradition of being terrible writers - making systems theory much more complex than it should be. I struggled though reading Parsons, Pinus and Minihan - among many others. When I became a college professor, I did my best to clarify systems theory to my students. It was at that time; I read THE LONG DARK TEA TIME OF THE SOUL and learned that Dirk Gently employs an ecological systems model in his search for the truth. I had an epiphany. My mind became clear and I was able to explain systems theory in a coherent manner. DNAs' language and application of this theoretical framework enabled me to become a more effective professor. In the early days of email (circa 1987-89), I emailed DNA to explain how I was employing his novel in the classroom. I was absolutely shocked. He replied to me and wanted more information. His email was a real thrill!

Webb does a excellent job of drawing a picture of the creator of Dirk Gently, Ford Prefect, and Zaphod Beeblebrox (among others). I enjoyed and was quite surprised to learn about Adams' approach to writing. As a reader, his writing appears to be an effortless joy, but he struggled to write. The effect of his father on his writing and lifestyle was both intriguing and insightful. The reader will immediately recognize the admiration that Webb has for Adams and become acutely aware of the pain the author feels with Adams' departure. I deeply miss him also.

Lastly, I fear that the publisher is doing a very poor job of marketing it. I only learned about WISH YOU WERE HERE because it was given to me as a gift. I hope that Amazon will use their data base to let SF readers know about this fine biography.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth hitching a ride, March 29, 2005

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wish You Were Here: The Official Biography of Douglas Adams (Hardcover)

"Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun"; there on a inconsequential rock revolving around this insignificant star, Douglas Adams used humor to place the importance of earthlings in the Einstein Universe. Nick Webb in turn provides insight into the life of Mr. Adams, the brain behind such classic tales as The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; don't panic there is still time if you ignore your digital watch to read the amusing novel and its wacky sequels or catch the TV series. The well-written biography is parts irreverent (Mr. Adams must have provided divine guidance for that inclusion) and parts insightful especially on his subject's prim and proper British education and during the artistic period of starvation, overwork, and fame. Though obviously targeting Ford Prefect fans, Nick Webb does a masterful job giving insight into Adams during the time he wrote the Hitchhiker-Python-Who scripts in the late 1970s.

Harriet Klausner

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars ..., May 23, 2005

By 

SirTheory - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wish You Were Here: The Official Biography of Douglas Adams (Hardcover)

It's such a shame that Douglas Adams left this world before his time. Perhaps he would have decided that an autobiography on his life would be a good idea. Because while, without one, we can get by on books like "Wish You Were Here" by Nick Webb, nothing quite replaces Adams' own voice.

Webb writes the biography as well as can be under the circumstances. He has obviously gone to a lot of work interviewing and getting information from the people Adams worked with, was friends with, and knew growing up.

Read "Last Chance To See" first, for a first hand account of some of Adams' adventures (plus, it may just be his best book!)... then pick this up to read. The breadth of the information is astonishing.