Rating: 
Summary: An insightful and interesting view of human reasoning.
Review: Douglas Adams' book begins with our protagonist, Arthur Dent, facing the destruction of his house to make room for a new highway. This is all well and good until Arthur's friend of many years and closet alien, Ford Prefect, tells Arthur that their life on Earth is about to end, because an alien race wishes to make an intergalactic highway and Earth is in it's way. This is just the beginning of Adams' satire. He shows us that most of our problems are small and petty once put in comparison with something more substantial. The story continues with the President of the Galaxy, Ford's friend from his alien home planet, steals the most powerful ship in the galaxy, the one sporting the Improbability Drive, and takes it for a joy ride. Adams keeps the reader interested throughout the course of the book, giving the answer to Life, The Universe, and Everything, reasons why towels are a hitchhiker's best friend, and reveals the fact that Humans were only the third smartest animals on Earth, next to dolphins and mice, which come from another dimension. This book grips the reader's attention from start to finish, sending him on the most exciting adventure through the galaxy that he has ever been on. With only a few dull moments, and heaps of humor, wit, and sarcasm, Douglas Adams' has written a real winner.
Rating:
Summary: The limited infinity
Review: With a whole galaxy to choose from, 5 stars seems too limited! Enjoy your adventure, see you at the end of the universe, make your last meal 'memorable'! Once you've started done this road...
Rating: 
Summary: worth reading, but not 42 times
Review: I recently read Douglas Adams' increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhiker's Trilogy in its entirety over a rather short period of time (not recommended, you'll have difficulty integrating your world with Adams'). Looking back, this first book was one of the more hilarious of the five. It is characterized by Adams' traditional zany style of humor (prevalent in the first 3, not so much in the last 2). The best part of this book is being introduced to the wonderful cast of characters that Adams has created, especially Arthur and Marvin. If you have a sense of humor, they will make you laugh. There's not much of a plot to speak of, which is the book's major weakness. However, it is an appropriate setup to the rest of the series, and I would definitely advise everyone to at least read this initial installment before plunging into any of the other installments. My advice: read it. Expect a classic, but don't expect the greatest that Adams has to offer (that, in my humble opinion, would be the fourth book, SLATFATF).
Rating:
Summary: CAN'T PUT IT DOWN
Review: My dad had me read this when I was twelve. By the time I was thirteen, I had read the entire series (some more than once). Space travel has always been looked at as either an abduction or a mission. Never before has somebody gone at the last minute out of necessity. And then his adventures! This guy can't stay out of trouble even when he's already in it! If you like comedy and space travel, this is the perfect book!
Rating:
Summary: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Review: It's hard to argue that this book isn't painfully funny (unless you happen to be painfully unimaginative), but I found this book to be especially wonderful for it's sharp satire and philisophical statements. I guess you may call them anti-philisophical statements because it makes the reader view life with a new sense of it's intrinsic absurdity. My favorite character is Arthur Dent, and throughout the book he is continually disparaged as some sort of simpleton. However, throughout the course of the series, we are subtley made aware of Arthur's virtues in contrast to the other characters, and in particualr, the Guide. Adams makes them so seemingly complex, that they are in fact utterly ridiculous and nearly pointless. He applies this same logic to life in general. It is chaotic, absurd, and often pointless, so like Arthur, you might as well enjoy a good cup of tea.
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Summary: A science fiction book with a Monty Python sense of humor!
Review: Be warned, if you hate all Monty Python movies, you will hate this book! It has the same kind of strange, warped humor! If you enjoy that kind of humor you will get a kick out of this series.
This is a fun, mindless ride. If you expect something halfway serious you will be disappointed, but if you are willing just to be taken on a entertaining ride - hop aboard!
The basic storyline is this: Arthur Dent is told by his friend Ford Prefect that he is actually an alien, and that Earth is about to be destroyed to make way for a glactic overpass. Ford Perfect offers Arthur Dent the opportunity to come with him and be safe. Arthur has a hard time believing this but comes along. He discovers that Ford Perfect is an alien and a field researcher for the galactic travelogue "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." Things get really strange and hillarious from there!
Rating: 
Summary: Maybe it's just me ...
Review: ...but I thought this book was terrible. I've been more entertained reading the ads on a New York subway.
Rating: 
Summary: Once I Loved This Book - Now I Merely Like It
Review: I re-read this book after far too many years away, but found that it hasn't stood the test of time all that well. The humor and style are still there. I still wish that I could writing as wittily as Douglas Adams. The plot, however, begins to crumple after too many re-examinations. So do the characters. Arthur Dent just isn't that exciting a hero. This book is best considered as a clever satire on sci-fi conventions and on the world at large. Why have I found this beloved book to be wanting? Perhaps it's exposure to some of Adams' later works, where plot plays more of a role and where characters come to life more (I think - next up will be a return to the second HGTG book and to Zaphod's harrowing adventures). Perhaps it's the bitter taste left by the fourth and fifth books in the series, written by someone who didn't care anymore. And perhaps it's exposure to the works of Terry Pratchett, Adams' equivalent in the fantasy genre. Whereas Adams was content in this book to simply have fun making fun, Pratchett develops some of the most intriguing heroes and villains and ordinary people and makes you feel at home on the Discworld, which is really just a good metaphor for our world. Adams doesn't really seem to like people that much, but Pratchett does. Still, any sci-fi fan or fan of Monty Python should give this and its first two sequels a try. Adams is a great wordsmith, and his departure from novels for other pastures is a bit of a loss.
Rating:
Summary: MasterPiece
Review: The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy is truly a masterpiece. It takes you on a journey with great characters like Ford Prefect, Marvin the Paranoid Android, and Zaphod Beeblebrox the President of the Galaxy. Come and learn the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't Panic But Do Question
Review: WARNING This review may contain information that reveals major plot points. If you do not wish to have those points revealed, PLEASE DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER. Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (THGttG) begins innocently enough with the pending destruction of Arthur Dent's home outside of London, England. The only thing keeping the wrecking crew from demolishing the house is his lying in front of their heavy equipment. It seems that the "powers that be" wish to knock down his house to make way for a much needed highway bypass. Arthur's one-man lie-in is interrupted by a visit from his friend Ford Prefect, an out of work actor. Unknown to Arthur, Ford Prefect is actually an alien field researcher for the galactic travelogue "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." Ford has been accidentally exiled on Earth for the past 15 years. Arthur, with the aid of Ford Prefect, stows away on board the starship sent to destroy the Earth. It seems that our planet is in the right-of-way for the new hyper-spatial bypass. After stowing away, the following bizarre events happen in rapid succession: Ford and Arthur are tortured by bad poetry, they are hurled into the vacuum of space, they are rescued from said vacuum by Zaphod Beeblebrox (the renegade Galactic President) and his sidekick Trillian (the only other surviving Earth human). Needless to say these turn of events lead to some very interesting and very funny reading. I liked THGttG. I didn't love it but I did like it. This is my second reading of the novel in 10 years. THGttG was an enjoyable if not a light almost fluffy read. Adams' light and bouncy writing style made it easy to breeze through the text. I finished the book over a 2-day period. Adams' dialogue and scene descriptions were punchy and witty, much like radio dialogue from which it was taken. The book's humor is definitely British (funny bordering on the absurd). Watchers of British comedies will know what I mean by this assertion. If fact, as I read I would hear John Cleese's (Monty Python, Fawlty Towers) voice in my head doing the narration. Although I enjoyed the book's style and tone, its story was not as enjoyable or at least not as satisfying as it should have been. At a novel's conclusion I expect most if not all questions raised during the narrative to be answered. This didn't happen with THGttG. The book left many important questions unanswered: What happens to Slartibartfast, the caretaker of Magrathea? Do the Authorities ever catch Zaphod and punish him for stealing the Heart of Gold? Why were his brains surgically altered anyway? What is the question for which "42" is the answer? What will the mice do now? I saw the Public Television mini-series (a combination of THGttG and it's sequel The Restaurant at the End of Time) when it came out in the Eighties, so I know the answers to my own questions. But for the readers who have not seen the series not answering these questions is too great a flaw to overlook. All in all, THGttG is an enjoyable book because of its wit and humor but it leaves too much to be desired when it comes to tying up loose ends. If you wish to enjoy the book and understand what everything in it means, read THGttG and The Restaurant at the End of Time in immediate succession. If not, you'll find yourself greatly disappointed. ---------- Mario N. Brathwaite is the founder and facilitator of virtual Speculative Fiction Reading Group (vsfrg.iwarp.com).
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