More and more frequently these days I’m asked, ‘Why Douglas Adams? Why is he the author you’re so focused on?‘
One aspect of my holistic answer to ‘why Adams‘ is that Adams himself attributed much of his writerly motivation to an event that occurred 59 years ago today.
Jem Roberts writes:
The story of Adams and Halford must surely be one of the most celebrated examples of teaching inspiration on record. [Adams was in Halford’s] English Composition class, and one Thursday morning, 7th March 1962, just before lunch, the usually stringent teacher’s red pen recorded a unique score for a pupil’s work, top marks, 10/10, for a now lost adventure story about hidden treasure which Halford remembered being ‘technically and creatively perfect; a remarkable piece of work for a boy of that age’.
The Frood, Jem Roberts
Adams said that whenever he doubted whether or not he could write, he would remind himself of his 10/10 score. Roberts also wrote that the teacher and student became friends later in life.
My schooling had a similar impact on me, though much more broadly as opposed to one specific teacher and one unique score. I have cultivated relationships with my early educators and I have remained deeply grateful for the education that gave me confidence; ensuring I could be successful.
In large part, my life story is about a precocious young reader born on an, “utterly insignificant little blue-green planet.” I loved stories. I could be caught reading The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy at the tender age of eleven or twelve. I understood none of it except the jokes. I loved the jokes.
I became privy to the knowledge that at age forty-two, I would become The Answer to Life, The Universe and Everything, because:
“For seven and a half million years, Deep Thought computed and calculated, and in the end announced that The Answer was in fact Forty-two—and so another, even bigger, computer had to be built to find out what the actual question was. And this computer, which was called the Earth, was so large that it was frequently mistaken for a planet—especially by the strange apelike beings who roamed its surface, totally unaware that they were simply part of a gigantic computer program.”
Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Sadly for me, I didn’t get any extra credit from my English teachers for obsessive reading, re-reading, and compulsive sharing of new favorite novels. I did develop an unusual sense of humor, which has served me well.
By age 23 I realized, with the light sense of shock one gets in your left big toe from trying to pet a cow just more than an arm’s length away behind an electrified fence, that I was likely to survive until age 42.
I wondered if it was possible to create a life where I was financially and emotionally secure enough to travel to forty-two places from Douglas Adams novels.
What an idea!
There was planning to be done!
I mostly ignored the idea (it didn’t seem realistic), and did no planning (I didn’t know how to make travel plans), but sometimes I’d mention it at cocktail parties as something I thought I might someday like to do.
I didn’t really think it would be possible.
The improbability was so high.
And yet…It is possible.
I’ve done it.
You can do it.
I’m finishing up a book that will tell you how.
On my travels, I met a lot of brilliant folks—mostly Brits. The book will tell you how to meet them.
Walking tours, outings of psychogeographical importance, and a pizza joint are also in the book. The places are pretty darn cool. I highly recommend visiting them.
Another reason ‘Why Adams’ is that while I toured and visited and researched, I also picked up Douglas Adams’ hitchhiking ghost. He became my tour guide, which was quite a surprise.
You may think I’m crazy, but I believe that only accompanied by the ghost of Douglas Noel Adams (DNA) could I have been so lucky as to zero-in on the words within his books that led me to my understanding of his writerly life.
Douglas’ ghost was never morose or terrifying, he simply pointed out things he didn’t want me to miss. Sometimes, forcefully. Most times, just for fun.
Sign up here to learn more about Forty-Two Places. It shares forty-two (and then some) real-world places that exist in the fiction of Douglas Adams.
If you prefer a more straightforward journey that stays true to the events of Adams’ books, my guide will not help you leave the planet. Sorry. Please refer to the section How to Leave The Planet from the Introduction: A GUIDE TO THE GUIDE, Some unhelpful remarks from the author, in The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide.
What do you think?