So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish

So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish (1984, ISBN 0345391837) is the fourth book of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series written by Douglas Adams.

Discussion

The novel has a very different tone to the previous books in the series. Partly this is because it is a romance, and partly it is because the book was rushed. In the end, Adams' editor Sonny Mehta moved in with the author to ensure that the book met its (extended) deadline. As a result, Adams later stated that he was not entirely happy with the book, which includes several jarring authorial intrusions, which fellow author Neil Gaiman described as "patronising and unfair".

Related Topics:
Romance - Sonny Mehta - Neil Gaiman

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The book also reflects a significant shift in Adams' view of computers. In the previous books, computers had been portrayed quite negatively, reflecting Adams' then views on the subject. However, between the writing of Life, The Universe and Everything and So Long and Thanks for all the Fish, his attitude toward technology changed considerably. Having been taken along to a computer fair, he became enamored of the latest Apple Computer microcomputer, the start of a long love-affair with the brand (he claimed to have bought the second Apple Macintosh in the UK - the first was bought by his friend Stephen Fry). In SLATFATF, Arthur Dent purchases a computer for the purpose of star mapping; Adams makes no disparaging comments about this decision at all.

Related Topics:
Apple Computer - Microcomputer - Apple Macintosh - Stephen Fry

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~