A bit rambly but enjoyable.

Personally I find it extremely heartening that one of the funniest, most capable writers of the last few decades was beset by crippling self-doubt as to his abilities or chance of success in the world. Add to that the fact that are plenty of people who just as vastly overestimate their talents, and it just goes to show you never know.

The biography is quite tolerable until the omg-he's-the-greatest quality of it gets to you. It's not like the level of admiration increases over time, or is particularly worth complaining about in the first place (not to mention that it's entirely understandable in the first place since the author was a friend of his) but it's like eating moderately spicy food until it builds up in your mouth and you just can't take any more spiciness.

Really well written Biography. Perfect portrait of Douglas Adams. Felt long and I didn’t fly through it but I did enjoy it.

A humorous and insightful look into the life and creativity of one of the best sci fi writers. The Hitchhikers Guide series has long been among my favorite books and it was intersting to get a glimpse into the process that created them. Definitely a must read for any Douglas Adams fan.

Excellent biography

This biography avoids the usual problem with biographies of having a sad ending by dealing with the death of the subject up front at the beginning. Of course, it helps that the subject sadly died very young so there were no years of decline to write about! Douglas Adams comes over as a nice and intelligent person.

A loving, yet painful tale of creativity, self-doubt, procrastination and distraction. Interesting for writers as this is not only a biography but also a blow-by-blow exploration of DA's publishing relationships. Webb knew Adams and in his research got many of those key to his life to tell affectionate tales of a very creative and, of course, flawed man.

I made it through the introduction and the first chapter or so (about 50 pages in) before deciding that this wasn't going to work for me. Maybe if Douglas Adams had written it...

What I really wanted to hear was more of his stories, and this was, perhaps, too comprehensive. Let's go back in time and set up the family, talk about how who begat who and all of the myriad relationships. Skipping ahead might have served me better, but I'd already invested my hour or so, and I wasn't interested anymore.

Moving on.

While the actual life events of Adams' were intriguing, I found it difficult to get past the author's voice. Webb's style is a weak imitation of the easy wit and humor found in Adams' writing. If you are searching for a more straightforward biography of Douglas Adams, you will not find it here.

Ik kwam er niet doorheen - te gemaakt grappig en extreem ‘verbose’

I loved learning everything I ever wanted/needed to know, or ever wondered about this wacky, charming and brilliant mind. As colorful a guy as one would expect from the author of the laugh out loud classic series.

I borrowed this from the library based on Mia's recommendation. So far, I'm really enjoying it.

I still have the last 2 books of the trilogy in five parts to read and now that I've read this, I want to go back and re-read the first three consecutively before finishing out the series. Having some insight into how his writer brain worked wants me to not only refresh my brain on the H2G2 series but read everything else he's written!

Solid and fun to read but nothing terribly new revealed here, at least not to anyone who's read other biographies of the great man. The obvious comparison is MJ Simpson's "Hitchhiker" - which is less full of personal anecdotes but perhaps more detailed.

What lifts this is Webb's personal connection with Douglas so much of this is first hand stuff from someone who was a friend rather than just recounts from other people.

It slips back though because there's not really any great insight to his actual output.

Adams was such a great writer and thinker, it's always fun to read more about him - I guess books like this are the best we can do to fill the gap that he left behind.