An interesting but perhaps overly intellectual book

I'm not a huge fan of biographies in general. Douglas Adams is one of my favorite authors, and I certainly learned a lot about him while reading this, but I can't say that it added much to my appreciation of his novels, or of him as a person.

The author is British and the book was written over 10 years ago, so there was quite a wide cultural gap for me to leap as an American in 2017. References to British celebrities/actors/writers (from the 70s and 80s, mostly) abound that probably would have been more interesting if I had more familiarity.

Much time is spent going into great detail about the companies and personalities behind Douglas' various projects (the original radio series, each novel, the non-fiction book, the video game and doomed Dot Com company), which was a bit of a slog.

The most interesting parts were the insight into his crippling writer's block throughout his career. I know I can agonize over simply editing and rewriting a GoodReads review, so it's comforting to know that even one of my favorite authors struggled too.

It was fun enough to read and definitely inspired me to finally go back and explore his catalog for a second time. That said, I'd only recommend this bio for the die-hard fans who want as much minutiae as they can get their hands on.

The author was very verbose. The information he gave was wonderful but it was quite a hike to get there. I found myself looking for other things to do rather than sit down with that book and work through it. After 3 weeks, I leafed through the last quarter of the book, reading what caught my attention for a few pages. I read the last couple of pages and considered myself done. It was a relief to slip it into the book depository at the library. That's unusual for me. I love everything about Douglas Adams, but I feel there must be a better biography somewhere else. Sorry Nick Webb.

Douglas Adams had a very interesting life and this details a fair bit of it. It suffers a bit because it doesn't quite get under his skin and there's too much of the author's voice in it. A biographer shouldn't be much of a presence at all but Nick Webb's opinions are left in zero doubt.

Also minor quibbles about the amount of pointless footnotes, some anecdotes that should definitely have been cut and a grotesque misspelling of Stirling.

Amazing read and full of very witty moments about Douglas Adams.

The writing is a little dry but the content is very interesting.

A wonderful account of the life of Douglas Adams, a man of boundless energy and imagination who inhabited the wastelands between real science, science fiction and humour, and lived his life with a childlike sense of awe. He will never be forgotten. As for Nick Webb's book, it is stuffed full of detail and amusing anecdotes. He takes us close enough to Douglas to get a strong sense of his drive, his passions and his demons (writer's block, mostly) without intruding too far into his soul. Nick Webb's affection for his subject is obvious. It was he who first commissioned the books for the publishing company, Pan. I was sad to read that Nick passed away in 2012.

Living in Ireland, Radio 4 is beyond our reach, so I never heard the original radio transmissions. The TV programmes were my first experience of the wonderful Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. And I devoured the 5 books of the trilogy, before seeking out the Dirk Gently books. Eoin Colfer's masterly sixth book in the H2G2 trilogy, And Another Thing... is a worthy addition.

I have ordered Neil Gaiman's book, Don't Panic, and will probably spend the rest of the year reading or watching related works.

This is a warts-and-all biography that gives the overall impression of a brilliant, insecure man. His flaws, his generosity and his ability to drive people nuts while still instilling in them a kind of protectiveness come across very strongly.

Douglas Adams is one of my favorite writers, and I've been a fan of his books since I was about 12 or 13. Ironically, I was introduced to his first book (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) by my older brother, who has no sense of humor whatsoever.

I read this at the same time as reading another Douglas Adams biography, called "Hitchhiker", written by M.J. Simpson. The reason I did this is I wanted to get a more complete sense of the life of my favorite humorist from more than just one viewpoint. Sure, each book is filled with interviews, but different writers focus on different things, and there was bound to be some stories and events that, while glossed over in one book, would be more fully described in the other.

And I indeed found this to be the case. This book did a better job of telling the story of Mr. Adams' life from the viewpoints of his family and close friends. You get a sense of intimacy and closeness that is missing from the other book, largely because author Nick Webb was a close friend of Mr. Adams and family, and he had many personal stories to tell.

I recommend this highly to anyone who has enjoyed or been influenced by the works of Douglas Adams. It is a worthy tribute to his life.

2.5ish.

Full confession: I was one of those school kid nerds who discovered Adams' work and completely fell in love with it.

I picked this up on impulse at the library and, sadly, struggled to get through it. There were lots of great stories about Adams (the author was a friend of his) but there were. So. Many. Names. I think if I had been familiar with 70s-80s famous media Brits I would have enjoyed it more. As it was, I kept stumbling and pausing, "Should I know who this is?"

Still love Adams' work and admire his talents despite his quirks. He sounds like a great chap to have a pint with.

Another thrift store find... and a fantastic one at that! Douglas Adams was a difficult genius and Nick Webb did a wonderful job of telling the story in a very even-handed manner. He admits Adams's shortcomings as well as some of his unpublicized triumphs. Webb's writing is also great. A biography has never been so fun! He has a quirky humor, much like Adams, that makes it an enjoyable read. The only bummer is that the book was published before the movie was released - I would have loved to hear his thoughts on the movie, and the thoughts of all the other creative minds behind Hitchhiker's to see how they felt about it. (I personally love the movie)

Rule: Always have a close friend write your biography.

Adams wrote, but his opus only rested on a few titles which sold well and paid even better. Adams has issues which are never truly addressed in life or in the biography. Perhaps he was a phenomenon. Nick Webb, the biographer drops names left and right, but we learn little about Adams.
Better to read the Wikipedia article.