The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, penned by the late, great Douglas Adams, still needs no
introduction. I actually said this a few years ago when I wrote this review of the first three books in the
trilogy.
First of all if you STILL haven't ready the sci-fi genre-transcending SF experience that
is The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, go read it already. I'll wait.
…
Good? Good. Now we're all on the same page. So what do I hope to add with this review? As I have commented
in several of my reviews, the presentation of a book can be quite important if one is looking for a collectible
copy of a favorite piece of literature. The Hitchhiker's Trilogy has been released in a variety of formats,
from paperback, to prestige formats, to hardcovers and even large collected tomes.
Pan Books has recently repackaged and released all five of the existing novels in a very nice trade
format. My original copies were old mass market paperbacks that I read till the covers fell off. These new
editions are a perfect size for carrying around but with a little style and sleekness that earlier versions
lacked. Plus, they're loaded with bonus content!
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy sports a Do-It-Yourself cover complete with a slew of fun stickers
to create the Guide YOU want to own. A wonderful foreword by Russell T. Davies starts off the adventure and the
end of the book has several pictures and original press releases and quotes. All the reprinted material is in
black and white, but that gives it a nice nostalgic feel and keeps things from being TOO posh.
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe begins with a very flattering and heartfelt foreword by Monty
Python's Terry Jones, who knew Adams quite well, having collaborated with him on Starship Titanic. The extras at
the end are a few notes on the novel copied from Adams's personal notebook as well as some more press releases.
Life, the Universe and Everything, the original end to the original trilogy, begins with Simon Brett,
producer of the Radio 4 Hitchhikers, recalling his time knowing Adams and what the book has meant
to media. The reader then discovers a collection of highly amusing internal office correspondence reprinted at
the back leading to the release of the book.
So Long and Thanks for All the Fish boasts Neil Gaiman's foreword and his insight into Adams, having
written the man's biography as well as a plethora of fantastic books in his own right. The extras are reprints
of some of the publicity material related to the fourth novel.
And finally, Mostly Harmless, the book no one thought would ever come (and some thought didn't need
to appear). Dirk Maggs, director, dramatizer and co-producer
of Radio 4's Hitchhikers covers this gem with an overall
wrap up of the series and its history. The bonus features are a nice reprinted interview with Adams about the
release of the book, which coupled with the writer's untimely passing becomes a reverent homage.
Overall this new collection is exactly what the Hitchhiker fans who wore out their old copies needs, not just
to replace them, but to wear out again if necessary. And, just to keep the inaccuracy in the picture each book,
at the very end, warns the reader to be on the lookout for Eoin Colfer's And Another Thing, the
forthcoming SIXTH book in The Hitchhiker's Trilogy. Douglas Adams would be proud.
