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I was going to start this review with "After much pondering..." when I realized that there has been no pondering whatsoever. When I asked myself which book in the "hitchhiker"-series should go on my "favorites" shelf, there could be only one. It had to be a collection - the individual books are brilliant, but who in their right mind would think to themselves "I think I'll re-read 'Life, the Universe and Everything' today", skipping the first two parts? Right, no one! That was rhetorical... never...
When I picked up the book I thought to be The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, little did I know that I had picked up the entire four part trilogy (yes, a trilogy of four parts, this is par for the course with Adams). It's quite fortunate I did because I think the best way to experience Adam's mad world is to read it as one book.The book is full of the cleverest, funniest nonsense I have ever come across, so sharp it cuts itself into funnier, cleverer, more ridiculous nonsense still.The first t...
I've read this series six times. I cannot (ever) remember any of it, except random character names. So I read it again. And I enjoy it every time--and it all flows away. If I were on a desert island with only one book series, I'd take this because I know I'd always be entertained anew.My oldest just read it for the first time and giggled aloud the entire time. He actually remembers parts of it, though--evidence of evolution, I guess. Assuming, of course, that remembering Douglas Adams enhances s...
DID NOT LIKE IT... COULDN'T FINISH IT!!!(OK, now waiting for the GoodReads lynch mob...)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Trilogy of Four (or a Trilogy in Four Parts by Douglas Adams contains four of the five books in the The Hitchhiker's 'trilogy' - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; The Restaurant at the End of the Universe; Life, the Universe and Everything and So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish. It is based on the radio plays and TV series of the same name/s.Arthur Dent is having a bad day - just after his house is demolished to make way for a bypass, the Vogon fle...
It's hard to better this whether as a piece of light sci fi or as a sustainedly funny book. I've returned and found something new each time I have re-read it (three times) and expect to do so again at some future stage. It's a pity that unlike the BBC radio and TV adaptations, the film version was so banal (to me anyway). Not a dull word in it and I'm still trying to work out the anagram of Slartibartfirst.
A very imaginative and creative setup, the characters of this sci-fi extravaganza are treat to observe. But the fiction is quite average and at places it looses the attention because of vague storytelling and randomness of many events. But the sci-fi fans will find it extremely fun. Others may read few of the chapters before deciding whether they should go for the whole book or not.
Ok, so this is 4 books in an anthology. The first book is the original hitchhikers guide and is fabulous. A work of real originality, humour, wit and acute satirical observation. No question about this being a 5 star book. 'Restaurant' is also very funny but somewhat episodic - there is a slight impression that the author is making it up as he goes along that detracts from the immersion. In the third book this impression is stronger, and there are less good jokes. 3 stars. The fourth and final b...
Oh my, what have I just read?!Random, witty, weird.Nonsensical in places but made perfect sense at the same time.I loved this book from front cover to back.One of the most entertaining books I have read.The Restaurant at the End of the Universe has got to be my favourite of the four.What a roller coaster of a ride Arthur Dent was taken on accompanied by very unique (for want of a better word) companions, including Marvin the robot.Oh Marvin, how I loved every word, sentence and miserable moan th...
Possibly the most pointless book I have read this year. The movie was better.
I last read Hitchhiker's when I was 13, 28 years ago (man that makes me feel old) and thought that buying this would be a nice trip down Memory Lane. Yes and no...the first two books are spectacular but I found that the further I went, the more tedious it got. By book four, I was ready to throw the towel in. Reading during my lunch break, I found myself nodding off a few times which is not the best response to a book. There are just some things that happen which come completely out of the blue,
Arthur Dent's story is one that is clever, witty and fun. Although this book was quite dense at some sections, it was an overall enjoyable read!
Not a fan. I wanted to be, but am most definately not.
H2g2 was one of the formative books of my youth (I say this now, when I'm only 18, but I read it long ago). It was one of the first science fiction novels I read, and definitely my first taste of Douglas Adams and British quirkiness.The thing you have to get about h2g2 is that it's not enough to suspend your disbelief. You need to have it surgically removed, then seal it in an airtight box, ship the box overseas to Germany (use FedEx), and bury the box in an abandoned mine (alternatively, if you...
This is one of the best science-fiction novels I've ever read, and one of the funniest too. It is also one that I could read over and over again.
I tried to read this after seeing the 2005 movie. People had always talked about how funny it was, and made references to it, so I figured the time had come to familiarize myself with it. I have admit, I didn't even actually read half of it, I hated it so much. Reading this book reminded me of watching "My dinner with Andre," in that it was soaked in self-consciousness. I couldn't stop being aware of the writing, how full of himself the writer seemed, how smart and funny he thought he was. The m...
That book was so outstanding.
Perhaps it was a lucky chance that my second-hand bookseller (Marry Me!) did not have the five part omnibus. 'So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish' ends, not perhaps at perfection, but in a good place. A place where I am happy to leave the characters. Douglas Adams was not happy with Mostly Harmless and what precursory reading tells me, neither will I. And let us face it, Eoin Colfer, even with my immense liking for the first Artemis book, I would rather re-read the series a third time than read...
I know that these are considered classics of the genre, and have been massively influential on two decades of genre writing and TV. Yet try as I might when I read them, I just couldn't see why. Creative, yes, imaginative, yes, and occasionally very sharp. But the characters just seemed flat to me, and I couldn't understand why anyone who wasn't a fourteen year old boy would find this more than sporadically amusing.
The edition I read actually has five books:1. The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy2. The restaurant at the end of the Universe3. Life, the Universe and everything4. So long, and thanks for all the fish5. Mostly harmlessMy favourite was part 1 and 5, a 4.5 rating. For the rest of the books a 3 star rating. Some parts in here were really bizarre, whereas some parts really entertaining. The names of some of the galactic creatures were just so tiresome for me! I so disliked Zaphod Beeblebrox, name a...