"In
his best-known work, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the
Galaxy, Adams explained the supreme utility of the towel in
intergalactic travel:
“…it has great
practical value – you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the
cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded
beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under
it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use
it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in
hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head
to ward off noxious fumes or to
avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly
stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you – daft as
a bush, but very, very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a
distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be
clean enough.”
Adams’ artistic sensibility is both specific and elusive. He can
go from distraught to delighted in the space of a modifier. He combines Gary
Larson’s irony, Bill Watterson’s wistful idealism, Oscar Wilde’s keen social
observation, and Dorothy Parker’s mischievousness. But set in space. In short,
he is a genre all to himself."
Excerpt from bookriot.com
Frankly you can never fault a bit of Hitchhikers to keep you amused and educate. :-) Ok - I'm just a tad of a geek about Douglas Adams... :-)
