Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview
  • Don't Panic

  • Douglas Adams and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
  • By: Neil Gaiman
  • Narrated by: Simon Jones, Neil Gaiman
  • Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (65 ratings)

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Don't Panic

By: Neil Gaiman
Narrated by: Simon Jones, Neil Gaiman
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

Now in audiobook for the first time ever! Read by Simon Jones, the original “Arthur Dent,” and written by number one New York Times best-selling author Neil Gaiman, Don’t Panic is the definitive chronicle of all things Hitchhiker!

First published in 1986 and updated several times since, Don’t Panic is in an in-depth exploration of Douglas Adams’s cultural phenomenon The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - from its beginnings as a UK radio series, to its expansion into a wildly popular book trilogy, and onto incarnations in various media including stage, records, film, computer games, and even, um, tea towels.

Don’t Panic was the first book by internationally best-selling author Neil Gaiman, written early in his writing career when he worked as a freelance journalist in his native England. Voiced by renowned actor Simon Jones - “Arthur Dent” himself - and with a new introduction written and read by Neil Gaiman, Don’t Panic: Douglas Adams & The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy audio edition is the ultimate version of this beloved work.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2020 Neil Gaiman (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Frood cover art
Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen cover art
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy: Primary Phase cover art
Selected Shorts: Chivalry cover art
Dirk Gently: Two BBC Radio Full-Cast Dramas cover art
Doctor Who: The Pirate Planet cover art
Abroad in Japan cover art
Shada cover art
Virgins cover art
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Original Albums cover art
Caving into You cover art
Doc cover art
Tough Crowd cover art
A Disturbance in the Force cover art
Back from the Future cover art
AMORALMAN cover art

What listeners say about Don't Panic

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    52
  • 4 Stars
    10
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    46
  • 4 Stars
    8
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    47
  • 4 Stars
    7
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Mostly Harmless

I was a Douglas Adams fan- or, specifically, a fan of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (HHGTTG)- for decades before I became a Neil Gaiman fan. Now I love them both, because who doesn't love Neil Gaiman? With that said, this book very much screams "early work" at the beginning, but is still both interesting and good.

More problematic are the sections written after the untimely death of Douglas Adams. It seems at times that Gaiman is trying to write in Douglas Adams' voice, trying to make the same jokes that Douglas Adams would have made. I'm not sure if this is deliberate, and Neil Gaiman may in fact be more qualified to try to do this than nearly anyone on the planet, but it still doesn't quite work for me. The later parts of the book also delve heavily into the author's opinion, while presenting them as fact. I also felt like some sections, especially towards the end of the book, were a bit like listening to movie credits read aloud.

One question that kept occurring to me throughout the book was why so much time is spent talking about Dirk Gently when the book is ostensibly about the HHGTTG.

With that said, this book was greatly enjoyable, and I learned a lot that I had not previously known about both HHGTTG and Douglas Adams.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Intensely and warmly amusing and informative

An interesting, poignant and loving portrayal of a man and the inner madness he was able to share with his understanding nation and less understanding universe. I am eternally grateful for the inate britishness that led me here.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

loved this book very much

As a lifelong fan of Douglas Adams, I loved this book. very well written and narrated.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderfully meta

Listening to Arthut Dent reading Neil Gaiman writing about Douglas Adams has to be the ultimate comfort listen. I read the original version in 1993, and it's good to revisit, having read other biographies of DNA in the meantime.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Facts for fun but far from from fun

lots and lots of info about the making of hitchikers etc but frankly probably much better as a book than an audio book. poor Simon Jones didn't really have much to do. there are parts, especially the appendices which would be better read. Good info but as an audio book one very much for dedicated fans I think

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Not the story I was expecting

Utter rubbish. It’s a good job this is a free trial otherwise I’d be demanding my money back.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful