I started reading the Hitchhiker series when I was quite young. Then I saw the BBC series on PBS. It was very fun and entertaining. Basically, I feel in love with the whole idea and stories. : ) I was quite excited as new books kept coming out. I kept enjoying them more and more.
Then, as I got older and in high school, I found out that other people were enjoying them too! College was amazing.. There were always people who understood when I referred to the answer being 42 or about drinking Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters.. The HHGTTG series is very popular among SCA people I know, and once again, long discussions involving philosophy and other ideas were very common. Douglas Adams had some terrific and fun ideas which could be tossed around for hours. I really enjoyed those campfire discussions, and I'm willing to bet it will continue around various fires and campuses forever. I would even like to see classes where his ideas were discussed, but that's me. I find that these discussions can be deep and fulfilling yet lots of fun. So many intriguing ideas did he pass on in his books. There were so many different layers that to truly immerse yourself you must read the series more than once. And each time you read it, you discover something new that you had missed before. I love this type of writer.
Douglas Adams will be sorely missed. I hope they make that movie they were starting. And I wonder if he was able to finish that book that he had started. I guess time will tell on both counts, but I DO know that he will live on forever, in the hearts of his fans and in the readings of his books.
