Hitchhiker's Guide to Earth

There's an interesting article in the August 2005 issue of Outside on an Israeli "guidebook" similar to the guide made famous by Douglas Adams in the classic novel and, um, "trilogy." It seems that after young Israelis finish their stint in the IDF--Israel still has a draft, for obvious reasons--many veterans are burned out and decide to "drop out" and to explore the world, especially, it seems, South America. (South America is dirt cheap.) In doing so, they've produced, over the years, a number of such "books" full of hand-written notes, tips, warnings, etc., available at different hostels around the continent.

It's an interesting article, but the author never mentions The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which strikes me as a somewhat obvious parallel. Isn't that weird? The obvious answer: The author didn't know about the Adams book. But didn't anyone mention it to him? During all the work on the story?

He probably doesn't know to bring a towel, either.