A lengthy biography of the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy that suffers from too much detail. Unless you're obsessed with Douglas Adams, it's probably unnecessary to know about every article, sketch, song and comedy routine he wrote. But this wall-to-wall treatment does show that success is a long, hard process of trying, failing, learning from your mistakes and trying again. In addition to his hugely popular novels, Adams worked on a lot of projects - television series, computer games, films - which never came to fruition. He even moved to California to work on a proposed Hitchhiker's Guide movie, and died there at the age of 49 without getting it made. 'Hollywood is full of Vogons who think they're poets,' he said.