Did you know that today (March 11th) is (was) Douglas Adams’ birthday? He would have been 62 today. I wonder what sort of books he’d be writing. Adams is (was) mostly known for the Hitchhiker’s trilogy (yeah, I know), but the Dirk Gently books (I’m assuming there would have been more had he lived longer) were an entertaining series themselves.
To attempt to describe the plot of this book would take more brain power than I currently have (stupid daylight savings whatever thing). So – Gordon Way is a very rich computer guy who employs Richard MacDuff who may be a brilliant programmer, but is also a terrible boyfriend to Gordon’s sister Susan. Richard went to school with Svlad Cjelli, who is now known as Dirk Gently for a number of reasons, none of which are all that savory. Richard spends some time with Professor Reg Chronotis as well. There’s also time travel, aliens from other dimensions, ghosts leaving answering machine messages (it’s an old book), and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Oh, and the fundamental interconnectedness of things.
The fate of the Earth hangs in the balance, and Dirk uses his holistic methods to solve various crimes, save the world, and fix the ending of “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” Because of course he does.
Ah, Douglas Adams. The world is a less funny and less interesting place without you.
