I read once that 42 was not, as many assumed and Adams himself often maintained, plucked randomly out of the air as a joke. Adams was an early computer geek, and in coding, 42 represented an asterisk, the symbol that in turn means "any value you like". So having asked Deep Thought what the meaning of life was, the computer replies anything you want it to be - 42.
Originally posted by Rogin the Armchair fanView Post
I read once that 42 was not, as many assumed and Adams himself often maintained, plucked randomly out of the air as a joke. Adams was an early computer geek, and in coding, 42 represented an asterisk, the symbol that in turn means "any value you like". So having asked Deep Thought what the meaning of life was, the computer replies anything you want it to be - 42.
There's any number of theories of greater or lesser plausibility, though, aren't there? Since Adams always maintained that the essence of the thing lay purely in the ineffable comic (cosmic?) 'rightness' of the size, rhythm and mundanity of the number/phrase "forty two", I'm inclined to believe him. He was a geek, yes, but he was first and foremost a humorist and he just knew that it was somehow funny.
Already begins to feel like a very unlikely coincidence, and more likely a subconscious connection Adams himself made when thinking about his planetary supercomputer. I actually prefer that theory most of all: Adams himself, like the characters he created, an almost unknowing part of the answer!
The fifth one is much stronger narratively. If not as funny. Not that I've read it in 25 years. I'm worried about going back to them in case they aren't as good as I remember them.
This thread has made me flash back to attending, at the sadly now-defunct Telegraph Avenue location of Cody's Books, an author's reading, absolutely packed to the rafters, of the recently-released Last Chance to See. Incredibly funny and bittersweet.
The fifth one is much stronger narratively. If not as funny. Not that I've read it in 25 years. I'm worried about going back to them in case they aren't as good as I remember them.
I came to like Dirk Gently more in the end.
For me, they really are.
But agreed on Dirk Gently, Fantastic stories, both.
This thread has made me flash back to attending, at the sadly now-defunct Telegraph Avenue location of Cody's Books, an author's reading, absolutely packed to the rafters, of the recently-released Last Chance to See. Incredibly funny and bittersweet.
Great book. The description of the kakapo always makes me smile. "The world's fattest, least able to fly parrot."
Isn't the point of the Hitch-hikers books that they are where he played out his failed pitches for Doctor Who stories? (Like the aliens who venerate cricket)
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