Little did I realise when I was a child, was the extra education I was getting by reading the Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy series.

The way Douglas played with logic and forced Venn diagrams to prove nonsense was genius, and equipped me well for the modern world of media and politics, where they do exactly the same tricks.

A good example of his nonsense that you cannot argue with, is when the character Arthur Dent learns to fly when he is falling down a collapsing mountain, but becomes distracted by seeing an item of luggage he lost on an air-flight years previously. The premise is that "the art of flying is all about forgetting that you are falling", but as it is very difficult to throw yourself from a height and actually forget that the Earth is rushing towards you, it is very difficult to discredit (without using science or common sense). I always saw this as his version of the question of a tree falling in the woods while nobody is there to hear it.

I always regret that I found out too late that he used to do give lectures, but mostly they were for Universities not public events.

Douglas Adams: Parrots the Universe and Everything https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZG8HBuDjgc

Life, The Universe and Douglas Adams https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHJLNrDzYm0

I swear by my trusty towel that any child given the HHGTTG books will be well prepared for people that twist logic and reality for their own needs. It should even be part of the National curriculum for all Nations schools. If the people of Earth collectively knew where their towels were at, this ball of rock would be a much more happy place.

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That's what I recollect.

Douglas Adams' books (of which I have read most, if not all) promote intellectual thought, but are not educational. They are stimulation to those of intellect and entertainment to all.

They should be AVAILABLE, but not directly used as educational materials.

Not even as tools in subjects such as literature, philosophy, and anything covering critical thinking?

Not even as tools in subjects such as literature, philosophy, and anything covering critical thinking?

As government-dictated materials? No.

At a teacher's individual initiative? Sure.

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What's right with it?

I have known a few people who did better work while drunk than while sober, but they often suffered from crippling anxiety.

Not to say they did great work, but it was better than what it was when they were sober.

I could see it as appropriate for elementary schoolers or early middle schoolers, but there are more educational books covering these topics. The big upside of the HHGTTG books is that they are fun and kids like them.

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