Rating: 
Summary: A new dimension in literature
Review: Again Douglas Adams proved his unusual talent for revolutionary literature. The holistic approach is unbelievable genious and the story is a thrill. Another brilliant and fascinating
book.
Rating:
Summary: A smorgasbord of fun, mystery, and refridgerators.
Review: Douglas Adams has done it again except this time he does it on his own planet. This time we join Dirk and Richard, the main characters, as they inadvertently save the world, a cat and presumably themselves. You won't expect the same thing if you've read all of his Hitchhiker's Guide books, but it is on the same wavelength and level as the previous books. This is a GREAT book. To put it simply, and you mustn't stop at the first book. Read the second one, the Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul. But since this is only a review for Holistic, then I'll stick to the subject. The last couple of dozen pages gets a little wayward when it comes to sticking to plot, but what would you expect from the man who created a paranoid android?
Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully zany, I couldn't stop laughing.
Review: Richard leads a quiet life until the day his employer is unexpectedly
killed (so few victims expect their death) while talking to an answering
machine. Is it coincidence that the very same day, he runs into a slightly
odd professor performing unbelivable conjuring tricks and suddenly notices
that he forgot to pick up his friend for dinner?
But he is lucky to know Dirk Gently, to date best known for saving poor
cats from having Schrodinger's experiment performed on them. Together,
they unravel a plot as old as time, eat a lot of pizza, and prove the
interconnectedness of all things while saving the world at no extra
charge.
This is Douglas Adams at his best. Describing the book as a spoof on
the detective profession and the computer industry would be an
understatement. The story takes unbelievable and unexpected twists,
and is so funnily written that you have to laugh out loud.
At the same time, it is very intelligently written. The first reading
left me quite confused. I have read the book about six times so far,
finding more details and cross-references at each reading, and then each
of the presumably unrelated subplots falls in place, and finally you start
believing in the interconnectedness of all things yourself.
This book is not just material for fans, it's for everyone with a
sense of humour who does not insist on a straight plot line.
Rating:
Summary: What's so strange about a sofa in the middle of the stairs?
Review: Imagine, if you will, a private investigator... excuse me,
a HOLISTIC DETECTIVE, in an adventure that will teach you more about life, the universe and everything (including the
fabulous intrincacies of time-travel, the true, revealing
nature of magic, the revelation of the long-lost dodo bird's
dissappearance, and of course, the pale horse... uh, I forgot the sofa in the stairs) than you could've possibly
imagined... or maybe you know already in a parallel
existance.
Douglas Adams' work is astonishingly silly, yet it is that silliness that makes it poetry... pure poetry. It is a
novel that you could read (and learn) as much as five times (in a week)
and still wonder "How the heck did he think of that?", and
of course, finding answers to questions you never thought
existed.
And to think there is a sequel...
Rating:
Summary: The fundamental interconnectedness of all things.
Review: In this book, we meet Svlad Cjelli (also known as Dirk Gently), who operates his holistic detective agency on the
premise that the world continues to turn (and we upon it)
because of the fundamental interconnectedness of all things. I very much enjoyed the part about the sofa in the stairwell (a sort of a Gordian knot thing), and meeting Sam
Coleridge, but wait till you get to the bit about the horse in the upstairs loo! If you think you're never going to read a silly book like this, just wait. This book WILL come up again in your life, maybe tomorrow, maybe ten years from tomorrow - just know this, you can never escape the fundamental interconnectedness of all things. To attempt it is madness!
Rating:
Summary: Witty titles were never my strong point
Review: First of all I would like to say that I'm not the sort of person who needs everything to make sense to enjoy something (I'm a Doctor Who fan for Christs sake!) so that is something that helps me love this book.
Mr Adams was (and boy do I hate saying was) a master craftsman. He could be intelligent, witty and plain wierd at the same time and still have room for a bit of sentimentality.
I'm pretty confident that if you're reading this then you have enjoyed another of Mr Adams works. In which case I'm sure that you will delight in reading this as it is in the same style as many of his other books. It is fair to compare it to the Hitchhiker series as it is done in much the same vain. In my opinion it is as good as the aforementioned. Yes so the ending doesn't totally fit everyones perspective of great, but it suits me. It's full of lots of ideas that didn't neccessarily works out, but for me that is just as great; trying to work out what Mr Adams had as alternate plots. Even though the title charactor doesn't turn up till a good half way in, his soon to be friend, Richard Macduff does a good enough job of entertaining us. One to one, I strongly reccomend this to any other Adams fan, and for that matter any other fan of literature. It is truely great, as is its sequal.
Rating:
Summary: There is a Long Line of Great Detectives...
Review: And for my money, Dirk Gently definately belongs to it. All right, he fails to rule out the impossible. In this book, that would probably have been the worst thing he could do!
Like several of the other reviwers, I think this book is, in many ways, funnier than the Hitch Hiker's Guide. I only wish Douglas Adams had written more about Dirk. Or Vlad. Or whatever his name is.
It's a nice, quick read, and though others have complained about how short it is, I think this book comes in a perfect little package. I don't know how Adams could have stretched it out any further, or if it would have been any better for it. Besides, there's always the sequel.
Rating: 
Summary: Better than "The Guide"
Review: This is one of those short books that should have been longer. Adams, probably most famous for his hitch hiker's guide, is just as funny in this opus. As usual there are the trademark almost-normal-yet-totally-zany characters such as the 200 year old chronologist, the mechanical monk and the `hero' of the piece; who in ordinary circumstances could be considered a sleazebag, Dirk Gently. .
If you've read any of Adam's work, you know what to expect in terms of plot, it's totally unpredictable, anything goes, which means you'll have to leave your notions of space and time outside the proverbial door. By the way, the proverbial door features in this book as well, but I won't spoil it for you.
I would give this book a five star rating, were it not for the fact that I think Douglas has some personal grievance against Christianity. His less than subtle jabs at the Christian faith lessen what could have been a thoroughly enjoyable book. However credit must be given where it is due and Adams is definitely a master of the art - a comic extraordinaire (if there is such a thing) - who deserves a read.
Rating:
Summary: Unique, funny, uneven
Review: Lots of fun, though a lot more meandering and less exciting than I remember from the first time I read it.
Rating:
Summary: One of my ALL TIME FAVORITE BOOKS! BRILLIANT
Review: As much as I loved the Hitchhiker series, I actually enjoyed this book this even more. I originally listened to it on tape, and for a while, I was so confused with the plot, I almost turned it off and went on to something else. But, something (probably Adams's brilliant writing) kept me listening, and I stuck it out. As I kept going, more and more things came together, and I became curious...then involved...then engrossed. By the end of the tape, everything was so clear that I had to start all over and listen again to admire the unexpected way the story was woven together. (I understand Richard Dawkins had the same response to this book, and after reading it again the second time, wrote Douglas Adams the first fan letter Dawkins had ever written to anyone.)
It involves: Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, ghosts, electric monks, time travel, cell phones and message machines, a pair of women named Susan, Cambridge University, romance, ancient aliens, Schroedinger's cat and a semi-legitimate (but highly imaginative!) detective named Dirk Gently, oh, and...by the way, the end of the world. If you don't see the connection between all these diverse subjects, it's because you don't understand the fundamental interconnectedness of all things, and therefore you really owe it to yourself to give this book a try!
The only downside at all is that Douglas Adams is not around to give us more of this (and all his other) amazing literary character. I love Doug Adams, and his absence is very, very much felt.
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