Customer Reviews

The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

5 star:		(236)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Great stories, and I was very, very happy to find this book for such a good price! It's a huge book physically, but not that awkward to read, especially considering it's actually five books disguised as one...

Very pretty with its gold lettered cover and gold-edged pages adding up to a pseudo-sophisticated presentation, it's fun to read in public... a very nice, but "extremely religious" lady came up to me at a cafe and praised me for reading the bible... I didn't have the heart to tell her it was a very different kind of guide book lol.

Wonderful to get if you like Douglas Adams' work, or want a (very) solid dose of British humour, or just want to be one of the ones counted as knowing precisely where your towel is ;)

When you've just finished a book that's as thick & heavy as a dictionary, it is all too tempting to write pages and pages in review of it. However, I will spare you as much as I can.

The basic premise of the novels is that Ford Prefect is a hitchhiker and writer for "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." He hitches rides all around space, writes up his experiences and sends them in to his editors. As the novel opens up, it's roughly 1980 in England, and he's been stuck on Earth for 15 years because Earth (as we know) has not really made contact with other planets and so he can't find a ride out of there (here). In that time, he has made friends with Arthur Dent, one of the absolutely most endearing characters I've ever come across in literature (even more than a Hobbit).

When we first meet Dent, he thinks his greatest battle for the day will be to lie in front of the bulldozers which want to knock down his house. Little does he know that Earth is also about to be knocked over (obliterated really) for a hyper-space by-pass. Prefect, however, catches on and rescues Dent at the very last minute...Whether or not this was a good thing is up to the reader to decide.

While Adams shows his literal genius for comedic timing and absurd humor within the bounds of Earth at the beginning, once he is freed of all constraints his writing style blazes with unique talent. Every page is so filled with parody, dry wit, perfect timing, and mind-boggling fictitious science that it leaves you laughing aloud and reeling at the same time. I realize that his humor is not for everyone...but for anyone who enjoys satire and for anyone who is frustrated with the insanity of life, this book brings the proverbial comic relief.

From what I've read from hard-core Douglas Adams fans (and there seem to be quite a few of those), books #1, 2, and 4 in this series are Adam's purest works. #3 and 5 are a bit heavier in tone. #6 (Young Zaphod Plays It Safe) is simply baffling.

For those who don't like science fiction, I would say that that shouldn't really be a problem here. While Adams does invent some very funny alien races (like the race with 50 arms that was the only one to invent deodorant before the wheel), his focus clearly isn't imagining how different life can be. Everything in his novels is a satire of humanity - from the bureaucracy to the androids to the laws of physics.

Of all the wonderful things I could dwell on in Adam's work, the last thing I would like to mention is that of all action/adventure stories I have ever read, I think Adams has created a few of the most realistic heroes. Dent, Prefect, and Zaphod - though somewhat resourceful - aren't particularly strong, bold, courageous, intelligent or smooth. They bungle any number of situations, and only Trillian has a real moment of brilliance. And yet, no matter how much they might want to simply run and save their own hides, a sense of duty to man/life nags at their conscience and keeps bringing them to help save somebody. Ultimately, I think this balances out so much of Adams ironic humor about how stupid life can be. Yes, life is absurd at so many levels, but Adams never abandons our Western Civilization ideals of the value of life and our duty to help each other.

Oh, and the dialogue is priceless!

Spoofing a very wide range indeed of sci-fi themes in always-surprising ways, this extremely well-written opus had me laughing and admiring and enjoying myself throughout. This is serious [comic] literature!

It's actually impressive. The book came in a very good state. It was an international shipment, so it took well over three weeks' (such is the case with int. shipping.) I think it was a really good deal.

Douglas Adams has been taken from us all too soon by a heart attack. I was deeply affected when I heard the news because Mr Adams had given me such incredible joy with these books. The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy and The Restaurant at the End of the Universe are particularly great.

These books bend your mind and have you looking at things in new ways (just what are the mice really up to?), bringing great insights and new meaning. Oh heck, actually they are just downright, laugh out loud hilarious. You can't read them just once, you will be addicted.

If you are an Adams fan then this is for you, My copies of the 5 books are all in a rotten state after years of reading and rereading, and I wanteed a tome to keep. Apart from the additional Zaphod story I will not read this for many years. i know it verbatim. Those raised on Pratchett and Rankin might find Adams' humour a little dated to be fair, but he was first and he cannot be replaced.

Cleverer than Pratchett and nowhere near as predictable, Adams seems to start at the beginning and then just bimble along through the narrative, but previous issues reemerge to show that the first three books, at least, were all part of a masterplan.

Want to take a ride into the mysteries of life, the universe, and everything?

Join our grand group of space hikers(arthur dent the earthling, marvin the robot, fernchurch the earthling, zaphod beetlebrox president of the galaxy, and his cousin Ford Prefect)
as they ecounter anwers to the life the universe and everything.

This book is a collection of the works of Douglas Adams written originally for BBC radio.

Many things that are answered in this volume of work include

Why 42 is the most important number you need to know.
Milliways and what kind of shows they offer with dinner.
Where the dolphins went
How you can fly(not in an airplane or space craft that is)
Improbablity drives
Kritkrit and they're problem
Who really controls the universe
and many many more things that will keep you spell bound for years to come.

Join a select group of people that have experienced
The hitch hikers guide to the galaxy.

This heading may seem strange, but the book is even stranger. I ques the introduction by Douglas says it all. The whole idea is simple and straightforward: "What if there would be a book like France for 2 dollars a day, that would guide you trough the univers.
This book tells you just that and also makes a point about the fact that the univers is a stranger place then you or I could ever imagine.
Time travel, travel at the speed of chance, travel to all kinds of strange places, like the place, where the universe stops to exist. All is possible in this book, including a manicaly depressed robot with a brain the size of a planet, who eventualy lives about 7 times longer as the univers exists.

Yes this book is strange and it makes you wonder about reality. Science fiction without the ussual batles and wars. Not that the universe is peacefull, but you just happen to stumble past all the big problems and live with the huge problems a person can have.....

I read it from start to finish way too fast.
a really good book for any amateur of sci-fi and impossible situation.

the narrative is varied and never feel longer than needed.

However, I did not appreciate the last section/book. It seem rush and had way more potential.

While reading this book, you will frequently find yourself debating a few things in your mind. One of those things is: "I really need sleep, but I need to read this book more, I just don't know what to do..."

This book is really a collection of all five books in the Hitchhiker's trilogy (um, ya, five books shouldn't be in a trilogy but thats how this series works), written by Douglas Adams. However, I had no previous experience with these books or with Douglas Adams and I thoroughly enjoyed reading them in this form. I couldn't image having read one of the books, then having to wait to get the other one. This series really is meant to be read in its entirety. The entire story flows throughout each book and needs to be read in order too.

So here is the story, a terrible accident is about to befall earth which drags the main character, Arthur Dent, on a wild romp throughout a hilarious Galaxy. Arthur just wants to get back home to Earth which leads to the stunning climax. This series is full of one liners, two liners, and even some three liners. If your a fan of British comedy, British satire, sci-fi, or just great literature then Douglas Adams weaves a tale that will appeal to you.

The first book in the series, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy really should be required reading in school, it really is that good.

Most "funny books" wouldn't even attempt to dissect the absurdity of our so-called civilization, this is what sets the Hitchhiker series apart from anything else. At points you see that while it may be funny -- all it really is, is insightful. The ridiculousness of humanity is displayed brilliantly -- through aliens. You'll find yourself laughing out loud.

As far as the ending to everything, it is one of the best endings of any series ever (in my opinion of course). It really instills an important moral, whether you get it at first or not, you may have to think about it a while. The ending also wraps up everything and makes perfect logical sense. The spontaneous happenings will have you on the edge of your seat until the very end too.

This series deals with what it really means to be alive and what the meaning of life really is. Isn't that really what everyone wants to know anyways? The answer might be so funny you'll die laughing!

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is being made into a movie too, due out in 2005. I don't see how it could live up to the high standard set by this book but we will have to see.

If you enjoy this I'd highly recommend THE LOSERS CLUB: Complete Restored Edition by Richard Perez, a somewhat unrelated (not sci-fi) but very amusing and FUN book. Short, quick, and funny -- that's how I like them.

Overall, The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy really is great! A must read by everyone!