Don't Panic: The Official Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Companion is a book by Neil Gaiman about Douglas Adams and the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. The book was originally published in January 1988 in the USA and UK. A second edition, retitled Don't Panic: Douglas Adams and the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy was published in the UK in July 1993, containing additional material by David K. Dickson. A third edition, with a slight title revision (now known as Don't Panic: Douglas Adams and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) was published in the USA and UK in October 2003, and contains further additional material, this time by M. J. Simpson. The North American edition is published by Titan Books, ISBN 1-84023-742-2.

In some printings, the first several pages are printed with unidentified German text. Eventually, the title 'Don't Panic' appears. In some printings page 42 was left entirely blank.

The book, vaguely a biography, is unserious in tone and primarily focuses on telling the story of Hitchhiker's creation, as well as keeping the reader's interest with comic anecdotes and previously unpublished material by Douglas Adams. The previously unpublished material consists mainly of sections eliminated during editing.

It is unreliable as a biography, as it pushes any unpleasant experiences out of the picture in order to focus on the creative process, mainly relying on John Lloyd's point of view.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy | 1988 books

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