7 ms·

Watership Down author Richard Adams dies aged 96

90 points by open-source-ux 10y ago

aidos 10y ago
I loved that book as a kid. Had read it a couple of times by age 8 or 9. Probably one of the books that had the most profound influence on me from an empathetic point of view. An absolute treasure.
forrestbrazeal 10y ago
My introduction to Watership Down was in the Paideia, the book of word lists that the National Spelling Bee used to distribute as study material before bee season. The word lists were occasionally themed around specific books and for awhile they had a Watership Down list. Here are a few of the awesome words I learned from that list (which eventually led me to read and enjoy Mr. Adams' book): stridulate (what a cricket does when it chirps) susurration (murmuring, like grass in the wind) tormentil (an astringent plant) myxomatosis (a viral infection in rabbits!) They don't write 'em like that anymore. RIP Mr. Adams.
- hackuser 10y ago
  Don't forget the language Adams created for the rabbits: http://watershipdown.wikia.com/wiki/Lapine_Glossary http://watershipdown.wikia.com/wiki/Lapine_Glossary
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
danso 10y ago
I remember that being my first "epic" of books I read as a child. My school library had a poster of Newbery Medal winners (the Pulitzer of children books) and Watership Down was on it. I must have read it a lot, because I still remember nearly all of the plot and details and character names, as strange as they were. It's such a strange and detailed book that I was surprised as an adult to find out its benign origins. I guess that partly explains why it didn't turn into a LOTR-like series of volumes. I had always wanted to read more about El-Ahrairah's and Rabscuttle's adventures.
- gkop 10y ago
  Watership Down is a great book, but I am having trouble corroborating a Newbery Medal or Honor? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watership_Down#Awards https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watership_Down#Awards http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberyhonors/newberymedal http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/...
  - danso 10y ago
    Oh you're right, well guess I'm getting too old to remember my elementary school days :). That Newbery list was pretty much where I got all of my memorable reading at that age, including Rats of NIMH and the High King (aka the Black Cauldron series), so I must have conflated it with Watership Down. Seems more likely that I liked NIMH enough that a librarian recommended Watership Down.
    - timthorn 10y ago
      The Watership Down that the book is set at is located near to Newbury - perhaps that's where the confusion arises?
  - barney54 10y ago
    It won the Carnegie Medal. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_Medal_(literary_award) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_Medal_(literary_awa...
- david-given 10y ago
  He wrote a sequel, Tales from Watership Down; a collection of linked stories set in the world, most of them telling the story of what happened to the warren afterwards. I thought it was rather rambly and lacked the power of the original --- but there are some more El-Ahrairah and Rabscuttle stories. Review: http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1997-01-26/entertainment/9701231116_1_watership-down-tales-from-watership-rabbits http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1997-01-26/entertainment...
libraryatnight 10y ago
I first saw the animated film, which I loved and immediately had my parents purchase the book on my behalf. This story taught me a different kind of myth making and adventure from the high fantasy I read voraciously. It touched my understanding of humanity and nature in new ways, and was part of a foundation of great books that made me a life long reader.
jressey 10y ago
I'll take this opportunity to mention Shardik, one of his many overlooked novels. It's dark, complex, and in my opinion a greater work than Watership Down. It's got world-building that is on par with Tolkien and is filled with flawed, realistic characters.
- mooreds 10y ago
  It's been years but man Shardik seemed like a fantastic book when I read it. All my fantasy before then had been of the Piers Anthony or David Eddings type and it was great to be immersed in a world that was like ours but fantastic. (Though the older I get the more fantastic our world seems.)
brwr 10y ago
I owe every ounce of my love of reading to Richard Adams and Watership Down. Watership Down was the first book of its size that I read and it had a profound effect on me that has significantly directed my life. I enjoyed it so much that I kept reading after the book was finished. This led to reading and loving anything written by J. K. Rowling, Isaac Asimov, Ernest Cline, John Grisham, Robert Greene, Orson Scott Card (despite later finding out of his personal flaws), and many other amazing authors. Many years later, I'm still a huge fan of books, although I no longer read as much fiction as I'd like. Perhaps it's time to sit down again and go on an adventure with some rabbits.
- gshulegaard 10y ago
  > Orson Scott Card (despite later finding out of his personal flaws) I don't typically dive into the personal side of authors whose writing I enjoy, what flaws are you referring to in Orson Scott Card?
  - woofyman 10y ago
    He's a raving homophobe. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orson_Scott_Card https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orson_Scott_Card
    - jolux 10y ago
      there's also a lot of argumentation in the vein of reading Ender's Game as apology for fascism and in particular the holocaust: http://peachfront.diaryland.com/enderhitlte.html#postscript http://peachfront.diaryland.com/enderhitlte.html#postscript
    - wwweston 10y ago
      "Raving homophobe" is a pretty low-resolution picture of Card. Google "Janis Ian Orson Scott Card" for some nuance. Or see this cached post from her site: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ioaWOkC-jhsJ:janisian.com/forum/forum/the-janis-ian-forum/8148-orson-scott-card-and-me+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ioaWOkC... I'm not going to defend much of his political rhetoric, which I find is aptly described by the word "raving." And like others, I don't love a lot of his views on homosexuality. Just noting a higher-resolution picture of him doesn't fit the simple description of "raving homophobe."
LordFrith 10y ago
dammit
- mordechai9000 10y ago
  Don't you mean "Embleer Frith"?
  - LordFrith 10y ago
    I think it might be embleer rah, but it's been a while since I've read the book.
drawkbox 10y ago
Watership Down is a great story but also Richard Adams publishing it was a story of perseverance. It was rejected by multiple publishers back when publishers were big gatekeepers.[1] Watership Down published by Rex Collings after being rejected by seven other publishers. Becomes Adams' best-known work selling more than 50 million copies worldwide. He wins the prestigious Carnegie Medal [1] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/richard-adams-forever-animated-by-the-life-of-animals-1974572.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/richard-ad...
- massysett 10y ago
  Aren't the publishers still big gatekeepers? Are there any examples of works by unknown authors that rose to prominence without going through a big publisher? (I wouldn't count something by a prominent author, as they have the name recognition to not need a publisher, at least not as much.)
  - ioddly 10y ago
    Sure. Anthony Ryan's Raven's Shadow series was picked up by a publisher after the first book was self-published. (It also took a major dive in quality IMO, but he seems to have recovered with his newest novel). I think this is becoming a more common pattern (popular self-published book leads to larger deals), although I'm just a reader and not involved in the industry.
  - kryptiskt 10y ago
    Hugh Howey is one.
  - lb1lf 10y ago
    Depends on what you mean by 'rose to prominence', but Andy Weir's The Martian (being one of the most fun science-y novels I've read in recent years) started life as a number of blog entries before being self-published (only to be picked up by a 'real' publisher once the buzz had started)
  - CamperBob2 10y ago
    J. K. Rowling comes to mind. Scholastic wasn't a "big publisher" in the traditional sense, more of a niche marketer. Tom Clancy would also qualify, I think.
david-given 10y ago
All the places in the book are real, by the way. The Watership Down warren is here: http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=449912&y=156897&z=115&sv=449912,156897&st=4&ar=y&mapp=map.srf&searchp=ids.srf&dn=539&ax=449912&ay=156897&lm=0 http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=449912&y=156897&z=115&sv=44... ...and there's actually a warren there. Watership Down makes a nice walk on a sunny day (although a much less nice one on a December weekend when it's raining and sleeting at the same time, to pick an example completely at random). Adams does a fantastic job of making a landscape that's only a few kilometres across seem epicly huge. Full list of Google Maps links here: http://mythgard.org/academy/watership-down-geography/ http://mythgard.org/academy/watership-down-geography/
- wyager 10y ago
  I'm adding this to my bucket list. This was one of the most memorable books of my childhood.
CodeSheikh 10y ago
2016 please just end already.
chris_wot 10y ago
My favourite Goodies moment was a spoof of Watership Downs: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qDsLZmGBdt8 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qDsLZmGBdt8
lsllc 10y ago
If you enjoyed Watership Down, check out Duncton Wood by William Horwood.

aidos 10y ago

I loved that book as a kid. Had read it a couple of times by age 8 or 9. Probably one of the books that had the most profound influence on me from an empathetic point of view. An absolute treasure.

forrestbrazeal 10y ago

My introduction to Watership Down was in the Paideia, the book of word lists that the National Spelling Bee used to distribute as study material before bee season. The word lists were occasionally themed around specific books and for awhile they had a Watership Down list. Here are a few of the awesome words I learned from that list (which eventually led me to read and enjoy Mr. Adams' book): stridulate (what a cricket does when it chirps) susurration (murmuring, like grass in the wind) tormentil (an astringent plant) myxomatosis (a viral infection in rabbits!) They don't write 'em like that anymore. RIP Mr. Adams.

hackuser 10y ago
Don't forget the language Adams created for the rabbits: http://watershipdown.wikia.com/wiki/Lapine_Glossary http://watershipdown.wikia.com/wiki/Lapine_Glossary

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

danso 10y ago

I remember that being my first "epic" of books I read as a child. My school library had a poster of Newbery Medal winners (the Pulitzer of children books) and Watership Down was on it. I must have read it a lot, because I still remember nearly all of the plot and details and character names, as strange as they were. It's such a strange and detailed book that I was surprised as an adult to find out its benign origins. I guess that partly explains why it didn't turn into a LOTR-like series of volumes. I had always wanted to read more about El-Ahrairah's and Rabscuttle's adventures.

gkop 10y ago
Watership Down is a great book, but I am having trouble corroborating a Newbery Medal or Honor? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watership_Down#Awards https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watership_Down#Awards http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberyhonors/newberymedal http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/...
- danso 10y ago
  Oh you're right, well guess I'm getting too old to remember my elementary school days :). That Newbery list was pretty much where I got all of my memorable reading at that age, including Rats of NIMH and the High King (aka the Black Cauldron series), so I must have conflated it with Watership Down. Seems more likely that I liked NIMH enough that a librarian recommended Watership Down.
  - timthorn 10y ago
    The Watership Down that the book is set at is located near to Newbury - perhaps that's where the confusion arises?
- barney54 10y ago
  It won the Carnegie Medal. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_Medal_(literary_award) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_Medal_(literary_awa...
david-given 10y ago
He wrote a sequel, Tales from Watership Down; a collection of linked stories set in the world, most of them telling the story of what happened to the warren afterwards. I thought it was rather rambly and lacked the power of the original --- but there are some more El-Ahrairah and Rabscuttle stories. Review: http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1997-01-26/entertainment/9701231116_1_watership-down-tales-from-watership-rabbits http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1997-01-26/entertainment...

libraryatnight 10y ago

I first saw the animated film, which I loved and immediately had my parents purchase the book on my behalf. This story taught me a different kind of myth making and adventure from the high fantasy I read voraciously. It touched my understanding of humanity and nature in new ways, and was part of a foundation of great books that made me a life long reader.

jressey 10y ago

I'll take this opportunity to mention Shardik, one of his many overlooked novels. It's dark, complex, and in my opinion a greater work than Watership Down. It's got world-building that is on par with Tolkien and is filled with flawed, realistic characters.

mooreds 10y ago
It's been years but man Shardik seemed like a fantastic book when I read it. All my fantasy before then had been of the Piers Anthony or David Eddings type and it was great to be immersed in a world that was like ours but fantastic. (Though the older I get the more fantastic our world seems.)

brwr 10y ago

I owe every ounce of my love of reading to Richard Adams and Watership Down. Watership Down was the first book of its size that I read and it had a profound effect on me that has significantly directed my life. I enjoyed it so much that I kept reading after the book was finished. This led to reading and loving anything written by J. K. Rowling, Isaac Asimov, Ernest Cline, John Grisham, Robert Greene, Orson Scott Card (despite later finding out of his personal flaws), and many other amazing authors. Many years later, I'm still a huge fan of books, although I no longer read as much fiction as I'd like. Perhaps it's time to sit down again and go on an adventure with some rabbits.

gshulegaard 10y ago
> Orson Scott Card (despite later finding out of his personal flaws) I don't typically dive into the personal side of authors whose writing I enjoy, what flaws are you referring to in Orson Scott Card?
- woofyman 10y ago
  He's a raving homophobe. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orson_Scott_Card https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orson_Scott_Card
  - jolux 10y ago
    there's also a lot of argumentation in the vein of reading Ender's Game as apology for fascism and in particular the holocaust: http://peachfront.diaryland.com/enderhitlte.html#postscript http://peachfront.diaryland.com/enderhitlte.html#postscript
  - wwweston 10y ago
    "Raving homophobe" is a pretty low-resolution picture of Card. Google "Janis Ian Orson Scott Card" for some nuance. Or see this cached post from her site: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ioaWOkC-jhsJ:janisian.com/forum/forum/the-janis-ian-forum/8148-orson-scott-card-and-me+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ioaWOkC... I'm not going to defend much of his political rhetoric, which I find is aptly described by the word "raving." And like others, I don't love a lot of his views on homosexuality. Just noting a higher-resolution picture of him doesn't fit the simple description of "raving homophobe."

LordFrith 10y ago

dammit

mordechai9000 10y ago
Don't you mean "Embleer Frith"?
- LordFrith 10y ago
  I think it might be embleer rah, but it's been a while since I've read the book.

drawkbox 10y ago

Watership Down is a great story but also Richard Adams publishing it was a story of perseverance. It was rejected by multiple publishers back when publishers were big gatekeepers.[1] Watership Down published by Rex Collings after being rejected by seven other publishers. Becomes Adams' best-known work selling more than 50 million copies worldwide. He wins the prestigious Carnegie Medal [1] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/richard-adams-forever-animated-by-the-life-of-animals-1974572.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/richard-ad...

massysett 10y ago
Aren't the publishers still big gatekeepers? Are there any examples of works by unknown authors that rose to prominence without going through a big publisher? (I wouldn't count something by a prominent author, as they have the name recognition to not need a publisher, at least not as much.)
- ioddly 10y ago
  Sure. Anthony Ryan's Raven's Shadow series was picked up by a publisher after the first book was self-published. (It also took a major dive in quality IMO, but he seems to have recovered with his newest novel). I think this is becoming a more common pattern (popular self-published book leads to larger deals), although I'm just a reader and not involved in the industry.
- kryptiskt 10y ago
  Hugh Howey is one.
- lb1lf 10y ago
  Depends on what you mean by 'rose to prominence', but Andy Weir's The Martian (being one of the most fun science-y novels I've read in recent years) started life as a number of blog entries before being self-published (only to be picked up by a 'real' publisher once the buzz had started)
- CamperBob2 10y ago
  J. K. Rowling comes to mind. Scholastic wasn't a "big publisher" in the traditional sense, more of a niche marketer. Tom Clancy would also qualify, I think.

david-given 10y ago

All the places in the book are real, by the way. The Watership Down warren is here: http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=449912&y=156897&z=115&sv=449912,156897&st=4&ar=y&mapp=map.srf&searchp=ids.srf&dn=539&ax=449912&ay=156897&lm=0 http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=449912&y=156897&z=115&sv=44... ...and there's actually a warren there. Watership Down makes a nice walk on a sunny day (although a much less nice one on a December weekend when it's raining and sleeting at the same time, to pick an example completely at random). Adams does a fantastic job of making a landscape that's only a few kilometres across seem epicly huge. Full list of Google Maps links here: http://mythgard.org/academy/watership-down-geography/ http://mythgard.org/academy/watership-down-geography/

wyager 10y ago
I'm adding this to my bucket list. This was one of the most memorable books of my childhood.

CodeSheikh 10y ago

2016 please just end already.

chris_wot 10y ago

My favourite Goodies moment was a spoof of Watership Downs: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qDsLZmGBdt8 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qDsLZmGBdt8

lsllc 10y ago

If you enjoyed Watership Down, check out Duncton Wood by William Horwood.