Speaking of acting your age...

I finished re-reading "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" last night, as I psyche myself up for the release of the "Hitchhiker's Guide" movie in May. I first read the book about 20 years ago. Back then I found it very comical, but also sort of deep and insightful. I enjoyed it just as much today.

I'm now on to the next book in the series, "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe," which I think I owned a paperback copy of, but never actually read.

I'm reading from a leather-bound edition of "The More Than Complete Hitchhiker's Guide: Complete and Unabridged." I bought it during my freshman year of college when I had to do a "dramatic" reading for a speech class I was taking, and I selected a passage from "Hitchhiker's Guide." I thought the big leather-bound book would look more impressive when I stood up in front of the class.

This edition also contains the later books, "Life, the Universe and Everything" and "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish" as well as the short story "Young Zaphod Plays It Safe" -- none of which I've ever read. I've owned this collection for more than 14 years, and I've never gotten around to reading any of it!

Ironically, "The More Than Complete Hitchhiker's Guide" is no longer complete. After this collection was published, the author -- the late, great Douglas Adams -- added one more book to the series called "Mostly Harmless" before his untimely passing in 2001.