Rating: 
Summary: Utterly, belly-achingly hilarious
Review: Red Dwarf is the funniest science fiction book I have ever read, featuring a cast of unforgettable characters. First there is Lister; he celebrated his 25th birthday by taking part in a Monopoly-based pub crawl on earth and somehow ended up stuck on Mimas, one of Saturn's moons. He desperately wants to return to earth but cannot raise the funds; tiring of living inside a storage locker and stealing taxis to earn money, he decides to sign up for service with the Space Corps and jump ship as soon as he is back on his home planet. First Technician Alfred J. Rimmer is a truly remarkable and hilarious personality. Rimmer is basically in charge of keeping the vending machines operating on the ship Red Dwarf, and Lister finds himself working under and bunking with this incredibly strange and rather pitiful underachiever. Rimmer is the proverbial born loser, failing at virtually everything he does. He desperately wants to pass the astronavigation exam and become an officer, and he works incredibly hard at preparing for the test despite the fact he has already failed it 11 times (actually, two of those times he got an X for unclassified, such as the time he wrote "I am a fish" 500 times on each answer sheet after panicking and convincing himself he did not actually exist). Rimmer's preparation consists of establishing incredibly exact, inclusive schedules for studying; the problem with this approach is that his constant revisions of the schedule take up all of his preparation time, and he usually ends up cramming three months' of study into a few hours just before the exam begins. Lister annoys Rimmer to no end. As fate would have it, an explosion ends up killing everyone on board Red Dwarf. Lister, having been put in stasis for smuggling a cat on board, is reawakened by the ship's computer Holly three million years later when the radiation levels have returned to safe levels. Holly also resurrects the quite dead Rimmer as a hologram, and the fact that he has died does nothing to help Rimmer's attitude. Lister and Rimmer are soon joined by a highly evolved yet fastidious, incredibly vain feline descendant of the cat Lister originally smuggled on board. This incredibly strange crew attempts to return to earth, and their efforts are as funny as they are ill-fated. Lister is a simple man just trying to get by in life, wishing for nothing more than a basic, happy family existence such as that of George Bailey in It's A Wonderful Life. Rimmer's inferiority complex and stubbornness are unmatched.. His failings and pessimism are comically ridiculous yet somehow plausible, and one can't help pitying a man who fails in life, in death, and even in his own fantasies. I have not seen the Red Dwarf series, so I cannot compare this book to its television counterpart. I can declare this book hilarious; anyone with a sense of humor (even those who hate science fiction) will, I believe, enjoy this book immensely. If you read this book apart from its sequel, though, you will be disappointed by the ending because it is not really an ending at all--I would recommend buying the sequel Better Than Life along with Red Dwarf because you will surely want to follow the comical travails of Lister and Rimmer as far and as long as you can. Only the late Douglas Adams has ever produced such wickedly funny science fiction as Red Dwarf.
Rating:
Summary: my favourite science fiction book ever written
Review: Red Dwarf, for people stuck in the states- happens to be the one of the greatest science fiction shows to ever show up on telly-and had the distinction of being the most ratings in viewship for BBC2. For viewers who have had problems understanding this brilliant series, or understanding some of the accents- this is a great book to help understand the series and the psychology behind Cat, Kryten, Lister, not to mention the charachter you love to hate- Arnold Rimmer! I have had this book and the sequel for about 4 years now- and I find I read them each about once a month. They have been known to cheer me up completely when I am blue-lets face it- your trouble are nothing compared to poor dave lister stuck for the rest of his life with Rimmer. And the idea of Felis Erectus is brilliant. Red Dwarf is like potato chips- once you start, you cannot stop. I loved the two books by Grant Naylor- unfortunately, the two written solo by them, available in the UK- dont have the magic, nor has series Seven that the two writers have had together. But still and all- a must read for anyone who likes to laugh and likes a bit of "soft core", science fiction, or an insight to the human psyche.Or just want a wonderful book to read on a weekend. This would be one of the ones i would choose, with out question. Hail to the small rouge one!
Rating:
Summary: More than just a TV tie-in
Review: With many TV series, novelizations are basically TV Tie-ins, which make the assumption that the reader has already seen the show, knows the characters and situations involved, which doesn't necessitate any background information or character development. The tie-in doesn't qualify as quality fiction in any sense. Not so with Red Dwarf. For the first novel, Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers, RD creators Rob Grant and Doug Naylor took certain ideas from the series are either expanded (the best things in this novel), altered (also great), or dropped altogether from stories of the first two seasons and strung them together in a continuous story. In places, dialogue is replicated, but in other places, it's done in the narration of the text. Naturally, the first episode worked in is the debut The End, but before that, we learn how Dave Lister signed on aboard the Jupiter Mining Corporation vessel Red Dwarf, how and where he first met Arnold Rimmer, the man synonymous with the name Smeghead, and the events that led to Lister being the surviving human being. Some aspects of the story are changed, such as the captain of RD being a woman, but the most interesting thing that's given more of a background story is how and why George McIntyre, seen as a hologram in the TV series, died, and there's a dark aspect in that. Another shows why Rimmer flunks his astronavigation exams, and that's his spending more time making making revision timetables instead of actually studying. The Cat, a humanoid evolved from the ordinary housecat, and Kryten the mechanoid also feature in the story. Holly's computer senility is detailed after spending 3 million years alone. For example, he knows that Isaac Newton's a famous physicist, but he can't remember why. But the more human parts of the characters are covered, such as Dave initial coping with his sole existence aboard, or George Saunders's agonized coping with the fact that he's a hologram in the first chapter. Speaking of holograms, there's an interesting discussion between a hologram and a psychologist. On Red Dwarf, the most recently deceased crewmember is kept on as a hologram, consisting of a light bee transmitting 3D projection of the crewmember, duplicating that person's personality. The hologram is a simulation of a possible or probable person who died, and adding Descartes' cogito ergo sum to the equation, only that principle is altered because "it's the computer making you think you're thinking, therefore, you possible are." I think I'm thinking, therefore, I possibly am... Hmmm... The description of Dave's girlfriend for five weeks, Kristine Kochanski, and the ideal love of his life, is as follows: "It wasn't a beautiful face. But it was a nice face. It wasn't a face that could launch a thousand ships. Maybe two ships and a small yacht. That was, until she smiled. When she smiled, her eyes lit up like a pinball machine when you win a bonus game. And she smiled a lot." I could go for a girl like that. One part of Chapter 6 is a great written montage, intercut between Holly the computer's activities following the radiation leak, and the gradual evolution of the Cat Race, something not given too much detail to in the TV series. Five of twelve stories from the first two seasons were worked into this novel: The End, Season 1, Episode 1
Future Echoes, Season 1, Episode 2
Me Squared, Season 1, Episode 6
Kryten, Season 2, Episode 1 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX, Season X, Episode X The reason for the X's is that aspects of this episode make room for a sequel novel, which there is, and I don't want to give things away. Besides, this is my favourite part of the book, as it's something I'd definitely want to do. Anyone originally not familiar with Red Dwarf would like it, as it's a quick read, and with the storyline and concepts of the novel outweighing the humour. Fans though will definitely enjoy it as I did.
Rating:
Summary: sci fi comedy from the heart
Review: I've lost count of how many times I've read my now dog-eared copy of this novel. I have school memories of class mates reading the book under their desks during lessons, because they couldn't put it down! I even convinced my brother to read it, who like Lister, had never read a book in his life. The reason- It's a masterpiece! It's not often you come across a book that can be cool, clever, imaginative, sensitive and hilarious all at once. And it's not common for sci-fi novels written in third person to have such emphatic impact on the reader either. But Grant and Naylor are sublime crafts men of characterisation, invention, language and comic timing. Every sentance sparkles with a unique magic and its superlative from beginning to end. My favourite moments include the delightful first meeting of Lister and Rimmer in a taxi hopper on a cespit moon called Mimas. There's other joys such as Rimmer's bizzar revision techniques, Lister lost-puppy love for Kochanski, and a heartbreaking chapter describing Krytens blind servitude for the long dead Nova 5 crew. Then there's "Better than life", an ingenius concept that wasen't done justice in the episode of the same name. But more than anything else, I LOVE the ending. It is perfectly unexpected and bitter-sweet. The last sentance will give you goose-bumps. I swear to you.
Rating:
Summary: Careful drivers!?!? Oh smeg!!!
Review: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers is the first of the four downright twisted and hilarious novels from Rob Grant & Doug Naylor, the collective British writing team, and their sci-fi/comedy creation, Red Dwarf.
This novel covers all there is to know of the first three seasons of Red Dwarf in the best fashion possible: one collective and condensced novel that doesn't lose any of the comical and ingenious writing that the episodes had to offer.
The storyline is simple and easy to follow, the subplots and background conversations and meetings are everything that a Red Dwarf fan could ever want. From the first meeting between Dave Lister and Arnold Rimmer on Mimas to three million years in the future, from your own death (and how to cope with it) and disaster, not to mention the crew's desires in "Better Than Life" and their overall hatred with a passion for each other, this book has everything!
They say that Red Dwarf is the best thing to hit sci-fi since the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- they were damned right! British comedy is definately among the best in the world!!!
Rating:
Summary: ABSOSMEGGING BRILLIANT
Review: This book is wonderful.
Take my word for it if you don't read this book you will have lost out on a truly wonderful experience.
The story is that a long time in the future Dave lister is frozen on his spaceship for bringing a cat on board. Then a long long long time in the future later he is unfrozen by the ships computer who tells him everyone is dead except from him.The book is the story of his effort to try and get back to Earth. Along the Way he encounters vindictive holograms, self absorbed cat people, a senile computer and a robot who just loves to clean. The book is superbly written and has very few if any faults. Very rarely do i read books as often i read this one but it really is that good. I would probably go as far as to say this is the best book iv'e ever read. What are you still reading this for you should be buying it.
Rating: 
Summary: Huh?
Review: Word of mouth and all the 5-star reviews of this book had me very excited to read this series but... it just wasn't that funny. Nowhere close to Pratchett or Adams, who I find hysterical. The ending was quite depressing. I kept waiting for it to improve (or get funny) on the next page, and it did when I finally finished...
Rating:
Summary: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers- they'd better deal w/it
Review: This awsome book is cram-packed with hillarious situations and an even more hillarious crew. This book is wonderful...and so are the sequels. You just can't put that into words...
Rating: 
Summary: Better Than the Show--Almost
Review: Oddly enough, this book would have been better if it hadn't been based on the show. Don't get me wrong. I love Red Dwarf. The cast is great. The dialog is hilarious and there's plenty of meaning-of-life moments for those of us who are into that kind of thing. That said, the translation between mediums, film to page, is awkward. The dialog sounds spliced in--"That's right, that bit goes here." It is possible that if I wasn't familiar with the show, I wouldn't mind so much. I wouldn't experience the deja vu of "Oh, that's the episode where . . . " "Oh, I remember that part." My mind wouldn't leave the self-sustaining world of the book and veer off into TV-land. Call it lack of concentration on my part but the process became a tad schizophrenic. I began to separate TV Lister from Book Lister, when it fact the book deepens Lister's character but doesn't really alter it. THAT said, the non-show-bits of Red Dwarf are excellent, stupendous. Naylor's prose flows smoothly and intelligently. He has a real gift for creating character and has notable insights into life, the nature of. Rimmer, played excellently on the show by Chris Barrie, is given all the depth--the pathos-- that the conditions of 30-minute episodes simply don't allow for. In some ways, Rimmer is more central to the book than Lister but don't let that put you off. Naylor uses Rimmer's character to illuminate Lister's character and vice versa. (As the major third character at this point, you learn more about the Cat in terms of biographical information but not much more in terms of character. But what, after all, can top Danny John-Jules' stellar performance?) Recommendation: Definitely buy it.
Rating:
Summary: mostly an enjoyable book
Review: I picked this book up because I remembered watching a bit of the show a while back and thinking it was interesting and pretty funny. For the most part, I enjoyed this book. It gave me a lot of laughs. There were a few more serious and depressing parts in the book, which I didn't mind until I got to the end. The ending, which I'm not going to give away, is just depressing, and it's the only reason why I'm giving this book a four instead of a five. It gave the book a really uneven feel, since I saw this as a mainly humorous read. The ending doesn't even rate the title of dark humor.
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