Rating: 
Summary: Read it more than once!
Review: I have read all the volumes of THE HITCHHIKERS GUIDE. In fact, I've read all of DNA's books including his nonfiction such as THE DEEPER MEANING OF LIFF and LAST CHANCE TO SEE. Of all the books, THE LONG DARK TEA-TIME OF THE SOUL is by far my favorite. I must add, there is no piece of fiction that I have read as many times as THE LONG DARK TEA-TIME OF THE SOUL. Why would a person read this novel more that once? First, it is hilarious! The dialogs and interaction among the characters are well honed. This description of airports on the first couple of pages will induce everyone to continue reading. Second, the story and the underlying theoretical principles that guide the novel are quite complex. Thus, a person can read this novel ten times and still undercover an unanticipated wrinkle that sheds new light on the plot and subplots. Third, from an academic perspective, Dirk Gently employs an "ecological system model" as the centerpiece of his investigative tools. Gently's worldview represents an extreme form of a theory that student's commonly learn in college. Teaching the theoretical principles of the ecological system model is a stuffy and arduous enterprise. However, using Dirk Gently as an example opens the door for understanding among many college students. Back in 1991, I emailed DNA about how I was using his novel in class. He replied and was pleased with my efforts. I love this book and feel sad that I will not have the pleasure reading more of DNA's work.
Rating: 
Summary: Confusing, but very funny
Review: Dirk Gently is back! Hooray! I enjoyed Tea-time almost as much as the Holistic Detective Agency but for one thing: It was very, very confusing. The first half of the book is creepy, funny, and really great. Adams is nearly at his best here. But the second half is more confusing. Now that I think about it, many things are left undone as well, unless I missed something, which I most likely did. Ah well. Read it anyway, just read it carefully and you should enjoy it.
Rating:
Summary: A phenomenal statement
Review: His best ever. Thor is amazingly depicted running through the planet earth in a most charming and wildly whimsical manner. Dirk Gently was introduced to me in this book and is my favorite fiction character in over 20 years of reading fiction. Simply Brilliant!
Rating:
Summary: If you didn't like this book..
Review: Then please take yourself to a doctor-as you have lost your sense of humor! This book is amazingly funny-I found myself laughing out loud in several places-and getting funny looks in the process, but I didn't care. This book is fantastic, and I believe that it is Douglas Adam's best ever.
Rating:
Summary: Douglas Adams at his almost best
Review: Humans only use about 10% of their brain power. Ever wonder what the other 90% is used for? Douglas Adams answers this and other random facts of life in this novel. Norse gods vs. lawyers, an opening sentence about the futility of airports, harmless explosions and green monsters hiding behind a molecule are all a part of this, one of Adams better novels. The only detractions from this novel are the occasionally confusing plot and the end which does not quite satisfy in the manner that the beginning did. Overall this novel will make you laugh, which is all you would expect, or want, of Douglas Adams.
Rating:
Summary: Dirk Gently Returns
Review: I did not enjoy this one as much as "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency". I do have to say that Douglas Adams is an incredible writer and I have enjoyed all of his books. His has a wonderful sense of humor and is very intelligent, and it shows through in his Dirk Gently series. Like the first book, the story starts out with several story lines developing and slowly coming together for a climactic ending. It's up to Dirk Gently to solve the mystery of his late clients death and the mysterious explosion in London's Heathrow Airport that was deemed an "act of God". I was left feeling rather dissatisfied by the ending. I didn't understand why some things happened that did, and was left feeling confused and unfulfilled. However, I do not think that this is because of the book itself, but rather that perhaps I didn't devote the attention to this book that it deserves and requires. It has a very intricate plot and was very thought provoking. I will be re-reading this book to better my understanding of it, and I would love to see more of Dirk Gently in the future.
Rating:
Summary: Certainly one of the best books ever written
Review: Personally I could not put this book down,if it wasn't for the fact that I had class I would have sat in my dorm and not stopped reading it until I was done. I wish that there was a way to describe the plot of this book that would do it justice, but the simple fact is that there isn't. I tried to explain it to a friend but got the same confused look as I did when I tried to explain the Hitchhiker's Guide. Aside from the inexplicable nature of this book there is true genius in the characters and the holistic nature of everything in it. And as always Adams provides the reader with a plethora of quotes that you can use to impress your friends, or worry them as to your mental stability or lack there of.
Rating:
Summary: Hitchhiker's Guide to Reality
Review: This book, and its predecessor "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency", are heavily under-rated due to the major success of the Hitch Hiker "trilogy" by Douglas Adams. But in a way, they're the better ones. Especially this one. I won't bother telling the story, because frankly I cannot. Now, I've been reading this book in about monthly intervals for years, but I still find something new each time, and I still have trouble keeping track of the story. Don't let that keep you, though. Yes, it *is* mildly confusing, but it all works out after a couple of times of reading, and it's great fun from first time, page one. Besides, it's worth the effort: there's many a topic for an evening of thinking in there. But that's not what you buy it for. Then there's the business of the Norse Gods walking the Earth, just like your average John Smith. Sort of. Thor naturally makes more of a nuisance of himself, but anyway, the notion of everything that the human race ever chose to believe in being true, and staying true long after we've ceased to need it to be true as well, is an astonishingly moving one. "Immortals was what you wanted, and immortals was what you got", complains one of them bitterly. And rightly so. What would you do if you were an immortal, omnipotent being whom no-one believes in anymore? Chances are, you'd sell your immortal soul to appear in a soft-drink commercial. Once you accept the fantasy part of it, it all snaps in place with logical precision, and even going to Asgard becomes an accepted way to spend the evening. But that's also not what you buy it for. The most outstandingly entertaining thing about the book is, of course, the humour, which is more like what you buy it for. Douglas Adams is an expert for making a pun in a couple of words and leave you laughing longer, and louder, than many other humourists could in an entire page. The incredible lightness of it all is only apparent if you ever tried to write humourous stuff yourself, and thus know how hard that is. No wonder that there are so precious few books from this author. And no wonder that many try to emulate him, and fail. Still, this isn't entirely comedy, and that's a good thing, too. Yes, the Hitch Hiker books give a couple of insights into Life, the Universe and Everything as well -- but the Gently books give more of it, and more practically applicable examples of it, even to those of you who know where their towels are. One of my favourite examples is the way that one of the (mortal) key characters, Kate Schechter, explains how her name is spelled: "Two E's, two C's, two H's, and also a T, an R and an S. Provided they're all there, the bank won't be fuzzy about the order they come in -- they never seem to know themselves." Okay, it's funny, but there's more to it than that: it's the kind of humour you can only really understand with a name like hers -- or mine --, which makes me wonder how someone with an instantly spellable name like Douglas Adams, of all people, found out about it. All in all, this is everything you could want: Hugely entertaining, but in an intelligent way, and not boring however many times you take to it. A must-have-read!
Rating:
Summary: I believed every word of it.
Review: I read this book about 10 years ago and all my friends who were technical writers liked it. We practiced moving our heads ever so slightly to try and slip between the molecules. Well, we were much younger then and lunch hours were much longer.
Rating:
Summary: If you liked Hitch Hiker's Guide, you'll like this
Review: Douglas Adams, in my opinion, is really funny. He writes jokes that you have to be pretty smart to get, but not a genius. British jokes. But jokes, nonetheless. He writes strange, off-the-wall, science fiction humor. Sometimes the book can get a little too strange and make you go, "what?" and reread that page, but its still good. I liked it, and I hope you'll like it too.
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