Wish You Were Here: The Official Biography of Douglas Adams

( 6 )
Paperback (Reprint)
$15.38
BN.com price
$15.95 List Price (Save 4%)
Marketplace (New and Used)
from
$6.89
$15.95 List Price (Save 57%)
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
All (17)  
Used (9)  
New (8)  
Close
Sort by
Page 1 of 2
Showing 1 – 10 of 17 (2 pages)
$6.89
(Save 57%)
Tacoma Goodwill
Seller since 2008

Feedback rating:

(394)

Condition:

New — never opened or used in original packaging.

Like New — packaging may have been opened. A "Like New" item is suitable to give as a gift.

Very Good — may have minor signs of wear on packaging but item works perfectly and has no damage.

Good — item is in good condition but packaging may have signs of shelf wear/aging or torn packaging. All specific defects should be noted in the Comments section associated with each item.

Acceptable — item is in working order but may show signs of wear such as scratches or torn packaging. All specific defects should be noted in the Comments section associated with each item.

Used — An item that has been opened and may show signs of wear. All specific defects should be noted in the Comments section associated with each item.

Refurbished — A used item that has been renewed or updated and verified to be in proper working condition. Not necessarily completed by the original manufacturer.

Acceptable
100% of your purchase helps Goodwill create jobs and change lives. All pages are intact, and the spine and cover are also intact. May have some usage wear, missing or damaged dust ... jacket, stickers, cover creases, bumped corners, bent pages, remainder mark, previous owner label or name, inscription, notes, underlining and/or highlighting. Text only; no CDs, InfoTrac, Access Codes, Activation Keys, or other inclusions, unless otherwise noted. Read more Show Less

Ships from: Tacoma, WA

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
$8.02
(Save 50%)
Kaydeebooks
Seller since 2008

Feedback rating:

(117)

Condition: Like New
BRAND NEW/Collectible 2005 Ballantine Stated 1st American (NOTE-HARDCOVER EDITION).GIFT QUALITY, Immaculate & Tight. "Webb's tale brims w/affection and humor; every page is a ... delight." The Daily Mail (UK). FREE Tracking, FAST Shipping. All Purchases 100% Guaranteed. Read more Show Less

Ships from: San Lorenzo, CA

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$8.45
(Save 47%)
Gemstone Books AZ
Seller since 2006

Feedback rating:

(338)

Condition: Very Good
2005 Paperback Very good @Akeabooks we guarantee 100% customer satisfaction. Gently read. Tight and Straight Binding. May have slight Scuffing and / or dinged corners.

Ships from: Spokane Valley, WA

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$8.46
(Save 47%)
Books Any
Seller since 2010

Feedback rating:

(1917)

Condition: New
2005 Trade paperback New. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 346 p. Contains: Illustrations.

Ships from: Valley Stream, NY

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$8.50
(Save 47%)
All-About-The-Best
Seller since 2011

Feedback rating:

(7)

Condition: Acceptable
PAPERBACK Fair 0345476514 ACCEPTABLE CONDITION, PAPERBACK, COVER IMAGE AS SHOWN, CONTAINS HIGHLIGHING AND SOME WEAR ON COVER, GOOD READING COPY.

Ships from: Cincinnati, OH

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$8.58
(Save 46%)
PaperbackshopUS
Seller since 2009

Feedback rating:

(4796)

Condition: New
Shipped from US in 4 to 14 business days. Established seller since 2000

Ships from: Aurora, IL

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
$9.73
(Save 39%)
SuperBookDeals-
Seller since 2008

Feedback rating:

(14111)

Condition: New
Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.

Ships from: South Bend, IN

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
$9.74
(Save 39%)
indoo
Seller since 2007

Feedback rating:

(21685)

Condition: New
BRAND NEW

Ships from: Avenel, NJ

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
$10.56
(Save 34%)
SuperBookDeals-
Seller since 2008

Feedback rating:

(14111)

Condition: Like New
Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.

Ships from: South Bend, IN

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
$10.85
(Save 32%)
PaperbackshopUS
Seller since 2009

Feedback rating:

(4796)

Condition: New
Shipped from US in 4 to 14 business days. Established seller since 2000

Ships from: Aurora, IL

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
Page 1 of 2
Showing 1 – 10 of 17 (2 pages)
Close
Sort by
NOOK Book (eBook)
$11.99
BN.com price

Available on NOOK devices and apps

  • Nook Devices
  • NOOK
  • NOOK Color
  • NOOK Tablet
  • Tablet/Phone
  • NOOK for iPad
  • NOOK for iPhone
  • NOOK for Android
  • NOOK for Android (Tablet)
  • NOOK Kids for iPad
  • PC/Mac
  • NOOK Study
  • NOOK for PC
  • NOOK for Mac

Want a NOOK? Explore Now

More About This Book

Overview

It all started when Douglas Adams demolished planet Earth in order to make way for an intergalactic expressway–and then invited everyone to thumb a ride on a comical cosmic road trip with the likes of Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, and the other daft denizens of deep space immortalized in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Adams made the universe a much funnier place to inhabit and forever changed the way we think about towels, extraterrestrial poetry, and especially the number 42. And then, too soon, he was gone.

Just who was this impossibly tall Englishman who wedded science fiction and absurdist humor to create the multimillion-selling five-book “trilogy” that became a cult phenomenon read round the world? Even if you’ve dined in the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, you’ve been exposed to only a portion of the offbeat, endearing, and irresistible Adams mystique. Have you met the only official unofficial member of Monty Python’s Flying Circus? The very first person to purchase a Macintosh computer? The first (and thus far only) author to play a guitar solo onstage with Pink Floyd? Adams was also the writer so notorious for missing deadlines that he had to be held captive in a hotel room under the watchful eye of his editor; the creator of the epic computer game Starship Titanic; and a globetrotting wildlife crusader.

A longtime friend of the author, Nick Webb reveals many quirks and contradictions: Adams as the high-tech-gadget junkie and lavish gift giver . . .irrepressible ham and painfully timid soul . . . gregarious conversationalist and brooding depressive . . . brilliant intellect and prickly egotist. Into the brief span of forty-nine years, Douglas Adams exuberantly crammed more lives than the most resilient cat–while still finding time and energy to pursue whatever side projects captivated his ever-inquisitive mind.

By turns touching, tongue-in-cheek, and not at all timid about telling the warts-and-all truth, Wish You Were Here is summation as celebration– a look back at a life well worth the vicarious reliving, and studded with anecdote, droll comic incident, and heartfelt insight as its subject’s own unforgettable tales of cosmic wanderlust. For the countless fans of Douglas Adams and his unique and winsome world, here is a wonderful postcard: to be read, reread, and treasured for the memories it bears.

From the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly
Webb was the editor at Britain's Pan Books who bought the book rights to Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in 1978, back when it was a hit radio show on the BBC. While Webb didn't have much to do with Adams professionally after that, the two remained friendly until Adams's death, at age 49, in 2001, and that closeness pervades this authorized biography and its conversational tone. That doesn't mean the story is sugarcoated; Adams is occasionally chided for his emotional thickness, and Webb deals frankly with the consequences of his chronic slowness as a writer (one Hitchhiker novel was produced only when his editor, Sonny Mehta, booked a hotel room and sat with him as he turned out the pages). Another section addresses the thorny issue of who contributed what to the zany plot line of the radio series and how Adams's collaborator, John Lloyd, was nudged out of the book deal. For the most part, however, Webb genially celebrates Adams's comic talent and zest for life, aiming his account squarely at the large Hitchhiker fan base with occasional overtures to readers who don't necessarily know every nuance of the trilogy. It might be overstating matters to suggest that "before Douglas nobody had been cosmically funny," but Webb's tribute makes it easy to see why those who knew Adams admired him so greatly. Agent, Ed Victor Agency. (On sale Mar. 29) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
In 2003 Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was voted "one of Britain's 21 best loved novels" by the British public as part of the BBC's "The Big Read" campaign. Adams, creator of the radio series, the novel, and its sequels, is the subject of this official biography. Webb, the editor who commissioned the original Hitchhiker novel and a friend of Adams, studies the man, his work, and his influence, presenting him as "a brilliant, engaging, and complex man." He provides countless details about almost every aspect of Adams's childhood, schooling, and early career as scriptwriter and producer at the BBC, as well as the creation of each of the Hitchhiker sequels and his other works. His interviews with family members, friends, and colleagues reveal Adams's generosity, overarching curiosity, and constant need for reassurance. The agony Adams endured during the writing process is also well documented. Webb's informal, intimate writing style works well, and his insights are rendered with a great deal of affection. Although the index contains numerous errors, this is still recommended for public and academic libraries.-Kathryn R. Bartelt, Univ. of Evansville Libs., IN Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
More Reviews (1) Fewer Reviews
Kirkus Reviews
Tales of frantic deadlines, obsessions with gadgetry and physics, and jokes told by one of history's most amusing authors. If only all biographies could be this much fun. Immediately ditching the cloak of scholarly reverence-and fortunately also eschewing a fan's gushing mania-Webb dives into the messy life of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy impresario Douglas Adams, handling his subject with aplomb and not a little gentle ribbing. The large and ferociously intelligent Adams had a stiffly proper English education that he used to good effect: solid grounding in the sciences served him well in his sci-fi writing, and being so well versed in manners of British embarrassment and reticence allowed him to mock them amiably and with unerring accuracy. Webb deals with Adams's childhood seriously but expeditiously, really hitting his stride with the author's Cambridge years. Here, we learn about Adams's little-known yen for theater and sketch-writing that would propel his postgraduate career. After a few years flirting with starvation and freelance sketch-writing-he was one of only two outside writers ever given credit on The Monty Python Show-the BBC agreed in 1977 to produce his radio play of Hitchhiker's. A desperate period of overwork ensued as Adams also struggled to finish a few Dr. Who scripts, but soon the Hitchhiker novel was proposed, and once written, a smash success. While Webb's affably irreverent tale downshifts as Adams's celebrity climbs, there's still plenty of good material here, mostly about the author's infamous lateness (the best anecdote is from Sonny Mehta, who tells of locking himself into a hotel room with Adams, where Mehta wrung So Long and Thanks for All the Fishout of Adams, page by page). Adams's death, in 2000, comes far too soon: you won't want to let go of this gregarious and gangly master of thoughtfully comic science fiction. Not just for the obsessives so gently chided here. A warm and humorous exploration of a generation's answer to Vonnegut-and Einstein. Agent: Russell Galen/Scovil Chichak Galen

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780345476517
  • Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
  • Publication date: 12/27/2005
  • Edition description: Reprint
  • Pages: 368
  • Sales rank: 495,252
  • Product dimensions: 5.55 (w) x 8.23 (h) x 0.85 (d)

Meet the Author

NICK WEBB was a publisher for nearly thirty years before, perversely, turning to writing. He commissioned The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy while he was an editor at Pan Books, and remained good friends with Douglas Adams until the end of the author's life. He lives in Hackney.

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4
( 6 )

Rating Distribution

5 Star

(2)

4 Star

(3)

3 Star

(1)

2 Star

(0)

1 Star

(0)

Your Rating:

Review Guidelines
Add Recommendations
Your Name: Create a Pen Name or Leave Anonymously

Barnes & Noble.com Review Rules

Our reader reviews allow you to share your comments on titles you liked, or didn't, with others. By submitting an online review, you are representing to Barnes & Noble.com that all information contained in your review is original and accurate in all respects, and that the submission of such content by you and the posting of such content by Barnes & Noble.com does not and will not violate the rights of any third party. Please follow the rules below to help ensure that your review can be posted.

Reviews by Our Customers Under the Age of 13

We highly value and respect everyone's opinion concerning the titles we offer. However, we cannot allow persons under the age of 13 to have accounts at BN.com or to post customer reviews. Please see our Terms of Use for more details.

What to exclude from your review:

Please do not write about reviews, commentary, or information posted on the product page. If you see any errors in the information on the product page, please send us an email.

Reviews should not contain any of the following:

  • - HTML tags, profanity, obscenities, vulgarities, or comments that defame anyone
  • - Time-sensitive information such as tour dates, signings, lectures, etc.
  • - Single-word reviews. Other people will read your review to discover why you liked or didn't like the title. Be descriptive.
  • - Comments focusing on the author or that may ruin the ending for others
  • - Phone numbers, addresses, URLs
  • - Pricing and availability information or alternative ordering information
  • - Advertisements or commercial solicitation

Reminder:

  • - By submitting a review, you grant to Barnes & Noble.com and its sublicensees the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to use the review in accordance with the Barnes & Noble.com Terms of Use.
  • - Barnes & Noble.com reserves the right not to post any review -- particularly those that do not follow the terms and conditions of these Rules. Barnes & Noble.com also reserves the right to remove any review at any time without notice.
  • - See Terms of Use for other conditions and disclaimers.
Search for Products You'd Like to Recommend

Recommend other products that relate to your review. Just search for them below and share!

Create a Pen Name

Your Pen Name is your unique identiy on BN.com. It will appear on the reviews you write and other website activities. Your Pen Name cannot be edited, changed or deleted once submitted.

Your Pen Name can be any combination of alphanumeric characters (plus - and _), and must be at least two characters long.

Continue Anonymously

We're sorry, but penname is already taken.

Please select one of the following:
Your Pen Name can be any combination of alphanumeric characters (plus - and _), and must be at least two characters long.

Continue Anonymously

penname is available!

By visiting the BN.com website or marking a purchase on BN.com, a User is deemed to have accepted the Terms of Use.

Continue Anonymously

Welcome, penname

You have successfully created your Pen Name. Start enjoying the benefits of the BN.com Community today.

Sort by: Showing 1 – 7 of 6 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted April 15, 2012

    RIP

    I loved his books, because it had the sort of humor that made me feel brilliant. "Oh,like lol, there's the punchline to that joke mentioned in the first book..." I'm from the online generation, and so finding out that I have a love of absurdist humor was totally different than the internet memes ( Bear Grylls drinking his own piss) or the stupid youtube videos where people scream and punch dolphins or koala bears. Adams was funnier than that. Why have people punch koala bears when you can have a manic depressive robot? And one who wants to punch unecessarily cheerful swamp mattresses, at that! I'd like to see someone absurd enough to create a meme on the Hitchiker's Guide. It's hard to make fun of something that makes fun of itself. And you, at the same time. I love the work he did with Monty Python. Even though those movies and skits were some 30 years before I was even born, I still enjoy their particular brand of silliness. I wish I could have gotten to meet Douglas Adams. It would have beeen wicked. He joins the tragic list of people I would pay dearly to have gone back in time and met. Roald Dahl, Shel Silverstein,John Lennon,Jim Henson and now Adams. Such a shame. - Therese Rudolph, high school junior

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Posted December 9, 2008

    more from this reviewer

    fine biography of the universe hitchhiker

    ¿Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun'; there on a inconsequential rock revolving around this insignificant star, Douglas Adams used humor to place the importance of earthlings in the Einstein Universe. Nick Webb in turn provides insight into the life of Mr. Adams, the brain behind such classic tales as The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; don¿t panic there is still time if you ignore your digital watch to read the amusing novel and its wacky sequels or catch the TV series. The well-written biography is parts irreverent (Mr. Adams must have provided divine guidance for that inclusion) and parts insightful especially on his subject¿s prim and proper British education and during the artistic period of starvation, overwork, and fame. Though obviously targeting Ford Prefect fans, Nick Webb does a masterful job giving insight into Adams during the time he wrote the Hitchhiker-Python-Who scripts in the late 1970s.--- Harriet Klausner

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted October 29, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted January 9, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted December 18, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted December 26, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted March 24, 2011

    No text was provided for this review.

Sort by: Showing 1 – 7 of 6 Customer Reviews
If you find inappropriate content, please report it to Barnes & Noble
Why is this product inappropriate?
Comments (optional)
500 character limit