Rating:  Summary: A wholly remarkable book Review: I must say that Douglas Adams reminds me a lot of Mark Twain for his sharply satirical syle of writing. "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" is short and sweet and all readers will find it hard to put down. Sci-fi lovers, and even those who are not, will surely get a thrill out of reading this book! It is witty, off-beat and surprisingly easy to follow. Truly, the end of the world was never so funny.
Rating:  Summary: interesting Review: this book had an odd form of humor, but it was enjoyable to read. it is a quick read, i read entirely on a short flight two summers ago.
Rating:  Summary: A Classic But... Review: It is not my type.I enjoyed it, it is so funny and easy to read. But I was looking for more so it is not in my classic list.
Rating:  Summary: A book that makes you think about laughing Review: When I was in high school, there were two types of people, the ones who were cool, and the ones who thought that the ones who were cool were were not that cool at all. I was caught in between. I, on the other hand, had first hand accounts of how the other one lived, died, and copulated with the other. It seemed as if I had an omnipotent position in the poitics of teen angst. Soon, I was to learn, that I myself was a pawn in the chess match we call puberty. In that confused state, I was introduced to the most informative, amusing, piece of literature, that any intelligent life form of any age could have been privy too stumble upon. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is the first and only reason I began to read. It was the first book that I became involved with, that I began to understand. Life, the universe and everything, meant more than words. Douglas Adams is a shaman, not in a religious manner, but in an intelligent, an understanding, and in the most human of emotions kind of way. Douglas Adams to me is a sort of father, in that he showed me the way to understanding, in a world that refuses to accept science and the understanding of truth. He to me is the messiah that so many ignorantly accept.
Rating:  Summary: Don't forget your towel... Review: You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll throw yourself at the ground and hopefully miss. A bit on the bizarre side but I figured this is something everyone who wants to think creatively should be reading. In fact just read the whole series and then go on to read "The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul" and see if you start noticing street lamps going out as you pass them by at night.
Rating:  Summary: Entertaining and irreverent. Review: This novel is a wonderfully paced comical satire on ... life the universe and everything. Filled superb writing and quirky storyline this book is short enough to read in one day. Thankfully there are four sequels in this trilogy there is no shortage of adventures and insane situations for Arthur, Zaphod, Ford, Trillian, Marvin and whoever is met page to page. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys rambling humor. While the book is confusing, it only makes you want to turn the pages more. The writing style reminded me of Joseph Heller. I may be one of a handful of people who have ever compared Heller to Adams, but the irreverence and the quick chatter gave me a definite feel of Heller. One of these reviews said that this book was a great work of British comedy, don't let that scare you, it is really a great work of comedy. Also don't let the Science Fiction genre scare you either. This novel is so snappy and "plausible" that you get so caught up in the characters and story that you forget it is science fiction.Thanx for your time. T
Rating:  Summary: The most funny, confusing, and wonderfully logical book! Review: This book is probably the best book I have ever read. It is funny, hilareous even, amazingly logical, all the while being confusing but understandable. I have read it twice now and each time it is extremely good. It doesn't lose its gusto the second time around. A must buy for everyone. One of the most interesting books to make your head spin. BUY THIS BOOK and you will be very happy with it.
Rating:  Summary: You cannot, ever, read this book without at least smiling Review: This is one of the greatest books to me. It starts serious, you can just imagine someone reading aloud, then you get to this sudden, simple line, and you are rolling on the ground. One of the things that really got to me was that I thought of someone reading very well, completely serious, and all the jokes and simple one liners seem like they are completely normal in their world (universe), but they really stick out. It is brilliantly written, and though when you get into the series it is a bit hard to follow, it's worth reading multiple times. It kinda makes you realize that our simple lives could easily get so complicated, or just stop, and you think "God am I glad I'm not him, but that would be so fun".
Rating:  Summary: Best book ever Review: It is the best book ever and anyone who hasn't read it is a loony
Rating:  Summary: A Great Writer, But This is No Epic! Review: Perhaps this is just another unfortunate example of the hype exceeding the final product, but despite the ubiquitous praise and, more importantly, the highly entertaining book, I found myself ultimately disappointed with the final experience. Sure, Douglas Adams is a funny guy. Sure he's got an astounding imagination, with a gift for the turn of phrase, not to mention the idiosyncratic character. But the absence of one aspect of the experience truly depleted for me what could have been the grand sci-fi/humor classic that The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy had been portrayed to me as: the lack of an epic feel. Adams quickly throws us into the midst of the absurd, yet entertaining events of his first novel. If any one thing can detract from this book more than another, it is the pace. It moves fast. It moves very fast, and to an extent I can comprehend how this is necessary. Adams needs to take the reader for a ride, from one local to another, one character to another, one hilarious punch line to another. But in the mean time, the flow of the novel is sacrificed, not to mention coherence, character development, and valuable descriptions of what are certainly some of the most imaginative environments. Instead, Adams takes it on faith that we will fill in all of his numerous blanks. It's no surprise that this novel reads more like the radio show from whence it was born. As far as the story goes, Adams must be commended. He notes in the foreword that he only figured out the plot as he went along, and nonetheless, the structure of the plot certainly doesn't feel that way. The ultimately problem resides in the fact that the entire novel seems unfinished--as he states in his foreword, it was. This is not to criticize his strategy to turn the book into a series (or a trilogy of five books, as he prefers to call it), but more a comment on the conclusion of the first book. It is all well and good to prolong a story over several novels, but the way to make up for it is to give each novel its on independent narrative arc, making it more of an episode in a series rather than the first act. Unfortunately, any reader whose interest is remotely piqued will be forced to buy the subsequent novels simply to understand the first. But ultimately, the novel--and hopefully the remaining books in the series--are purely entertaining and fun. Indeed, there is much I can criticize, but nonetheless it is oftentimes overshadowed by the fun and funny style and story presented in the text. At the very least, I can say that Adams has a grand gift. Narrative humor tales are few and far between today, and so The Hitchhiker's Guide takes the tally as certainly one of the better representatives in that genre. The book still possesses all the potential to be a truly great masterwork, even the sci-fi/-humor epic that Adams intended. Comprehensively, however, it fails to encapsulate the image of the galaxy rather than just the style.
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