Douglas Adams

Many will remember Douglas Adams as the prodigious (is this the correct way to use the word?) author of the "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy".

I loved that series; found it amusing and extremely ticklish, a good laugh at humankind and our idiosyncrasies. What I admire more about Adams is his love for science and nature. For his is also the author (together with Mark Cawardine) of this amazing book on conservation, Last Chance to See.

To have a grasp of how beautiful he writes about nature, perhaps this passage from a compilation of his short writings (Salmon of Doubt), after he passed away, will give us a better picture.


From "Riding in Ray" in Salmon of Doubt by Douglas Adams

.... The valley floor was wide and dark and flat. Ian was directing my attention toward it. I didn't know why. There seemed to be just an absense of interesting coral. And then, as I looked, the whole black floor of the vally slowly lifted upwards and started to gently waft its way away from us. As it moved, its edges were rippling softly and I could see that underneath it was pure white. I was transfixed by the realisation that what I was looking at was a eight-foot-wide giant manta ray.
It banked away in a wide, sweeping turn in the deeper water. It seemed to be moving breathtakingly slowly, and I was desperate to keep up with it. I came down the side of the reef to follow it.... As it moved, shimmering and undulating its giant wings, folding itself through the water, I felt I was looking at the single most beautiful and unearthly thing I had ever seen in my life...