Douglas Adams celebrated with a complex Google Doodle - Telegraph.co.uk

Google doogle has marked the 61st anniversary of the birth of Douglas Adams with a doodle that celebrates the writer's work. Adams, best known for The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy, was born on 11 March 1952 in Cambridge, England. The Google logo has been replaced with what appears to be the main control console of the SS Heart of Gold, a spaceship that was, according to Adams, powered by an infinite improbability drive. The doodle – one of the most complex and cryptic to date – features a number of other visual references to his work, including a cup of tea. Adams wrote a number of Dirk Gently detective novels, including one called The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul. Click on a small search icon on the right and you are taken to Google's search results for "Douglas Adams". Fans of Adams's work, who are already commenting worldwide about the doodle, will be particularly delighted to discover a "Babel" fish – revealed when you click on what looks to be an e-reader of some kind. Insert the fish into your ear, wrote Adams, and it will translate any language into English. The e-reader displays the words "Don't panic", famous advice for life from the Hitchhiker's Guide. Adams lived for technology and would have appreciated the e-Book reference to his work. He bought his first word processor in 1982 and had a lifelong love affair with Apple computers. He used them from their first release in 1984 until his death, aged 49, in 2001. The doodle, which plays music, also features an appearance by "Marvin the paranoid android", who appears when you click on a lift door at the back left of the image. And a green towel is draped across the main console – Adams wrote that towels were essential for anyone travelling in space. Look closely and you will also see the words Google spelt out by an assortment of objects (beginning with spooling ticker tape an including a dial that moves). On the Google blog, Sophia Foster-Dimino, one of the 'doodlers' responsible for today's offering, says: "The Guide's task of organizing the galaxy's information struck a chord with us, which is why we gave it special attention in our doodle. Through it, you can get a small peek into the unrelentingly hilarious universe created by Douglas Adams. "Douglas Adams has entertained and inspired so many generations of people around the world with his warm humor and courageously curious intellect. Happy birthday, you hoopy frood!" Follow Telegraph Books on Twitter. via Technology - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNEO7crZrU412HXAFYHvB_ey5vAXlw&url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/9921908/Douglas-Adams-celebrated-with-a-complex-Google-Doodle.html

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