The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
by Douglas Adams
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Read in January, 1988
recommends it for:
Douglas Adams fans
In my experience, readers either love Adams' books or quickly put them down. I, for example, quite literally worship the words Adams puts on the page, and have read the Hitchhiker's Trilogy so many times that I have large tracts of it memorized. But both my wife and father couldn't get past book one: the former because she found it too silly, and the latter because he found the writing to be more about "the author's personality" than plot and character.
Whatever.
The first three...more
Whatever.
The first three...more
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Probably, I've lowered my star rating because I expected much more from this book. I've heard the title bandied about by fans of sci-fi for ages, but when I finally picked it up, expecting something clever and quirky like Bruce Coville's My Teacher is an Alien series, I found instead a funny premise, ruined in the execution by a lot of unfunny jokes.
Many of the 'funny' parts of this story read like a stand-up comedy routine. I didn't understand the reasoning behind this choice until ...more
Many of the 'funny' parts of this story read like a stand-up comedy routine. I didn't understand the reasoning behind this choice until ...more
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Read in May, 2008
recommended to Mary by:
Everyone
I was quite afraid I wouldn't take to the book considering how many people close to me -- as well as at parties -- would rage, rage, RAGE at my never having read Hitchhiker's Guide. What would the fallout be? Would I be shanked at the next party I went to if, when asked about my liking of the book, I were to shrug? Oh, the anxiety!
But I'm happy to report I did like it.
A lot, too, once the sperm whale and petunia chapter came up, and then all the more when the old world builder (...more
But I'm happy to report I did like it.
A lot, too, once the sperm whale and petunia chapter came up, and then all the more when the old world builder (...more
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Read in March, 2004
recommends it for:
Everyone who has even the shadow of a sense of humor.
Don't Panic
If ever there was more helpful a phrase in the history of all that is written, that phrase should be terminated. "Don't Panic" should be reason enough to give this book a five star rating, but since you're probably not going to read it solely on that bit of information alone I will be forced to expound on the subject. (And I'm not quite so happy about that)
Douglas Adams presents us with Arthur Dent, your proverbial "every man". This makes Arthur Dent very...more
If ever there was more helpful a phrase in the history of all that is written, that phrase should be terminated. "Don't Panic" should be reason enough to give this book a five star rating, but since you're probably not going to read it solely on that bit of information alone I will be forced to expound on the subject. (And I'm not quite so happy about that)
Douglas Adams presents us with Arthur Dent, your proverbial "every man". This makes Arthur Dent very...more
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Read in October, 1994
recommends it for:
Humor readers, sci fi readers, people in need of a laugh
Douglas Adams' adaptation of his own BBC radio series was a smash hit, and remains one of my favorite novels. Where long introductions were unusual on radio, here they could be extended to whole chapters for his own amusement, and always to the same amusement in his readers. He also added a lot of new wordplay and literary nuance, which led many to mistake this for the original work and the radio show to be the spinoff. But from the destruction of a house, to the destruction of the earth, to the...more
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Read in June, 2001
Downloaded from Audible.com
I read the paper version of this book when it was first published, and enjoyed reliving it as an audiobook.
Narrator: Stephen Fry
Publisher: Random House Audio, 2005
Length: 5 hours and 51 min.
Publisher's Summary
Seconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last 15 years, ...more
I read the paper version of this book when it was first published, and enjoyed reliving it as an audiobook.
Narrator: Stephen Fry
Publisher: Random House Audio, 2005
Length: 5 hours and 51 min.
Publisher's Summary
Seconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last 15 years, ...more
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Read in March, 2007
Mostly harmless. That’s the entirety of the entry for Earth in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Of course, it hardly matters now, since Earth was destroyed half an hour ago to make way for a hyperspace express route. Now Arthur Dent is stuck on a stolen spaceship with the two-headed, three-armed President of the Universe, Zaphod Beeblebrox, and the girl he stole from right under Arthur’s nose. Arthur Dent is having a very bad day—and that’s even before he has to deal with the ...more
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Read in July, 1988
Great book. Unfortunately, I've read it so many times that I have become bored of it! My disappointment in the movie version of the book probably has tarnished my enjoyment of the book. I can't get the silly characters that I saw on the screen out of my head. And the jokes that once seemed funny, underground, and eccentric, now seem hackneyed and even worse...unfunny.
It is clear to me that Adams wrote this book and the rest of the series on the fly and took very little care to craft the...more
It is clear to me that Adams wrote this book and the rest of the series on the fly and took very little care to craft the...more
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Read in April, 2001
(written 4/01)
This book is a combination of The Sirens of Titan and The Phantom Tollbooth. Did Douglas Adams read Vonnegut? It's funny, satirical, the coincidences and hints of future tense and science fiction point to V. I guess it's a series... I'll have to read the rest. The actual Hitchhiker's Guide sounds suspiciously like a website on the Internet, but the book was only published in 1979.
"The last ever dolphin message was misinterpreted as a surprisingly soph...more
This book is a combination of The Sirens of Titan and The Phantom Tollbooth. Did Douglas Adams read Vonnegut? It's funny, satirical, the coincidences and hints of future tense and science fiction point to V. I guess it's a series... I'll have to read the rest. The actual Hitchhiker's Guide sounds suspiciously like a website on the Internet, but the book was only published in 1979.
"The last ever dolphin message was misinterpreted as a surprisingly soph...more
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Read in January, 2000
recommended to Michael by:
Dennyrecommends it for: Any fans of humorous Science Fiction, anyone taking a trip.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is one of those classic science fiction books that one either gets or not...somewhat like quantum physics, only with more references to drinking.
It is difficult to pinpoint the exact reasons behind the charm and allure of this series, but allow me an honest attempt. Douglas Adams' sense of humor is as dry as vermouth; but as inherently amusing as a top-notch stand-up comic. His writing is filled with clever phrases, amusing anecdotes, and outrageous t...more
It is difficult to pinpoint the exact reasons behind the charm and allure of this series, but allow me an honest attempt. Douglas Adams' sense of humor is as dry as vermouth; but as inherently amusing as a top-notch stand-up comic. His writing is filled with clever phrases, amusing anecdotes, and outrageous t...more
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Read in December, 2007
recommends it for:
fans of both sci-fi and british humor
What a fun, silly, unique romp through the galaxy. I read this while staying with my parents at Christmas, and I kept getting amused looks b/c I kept bursting out in uproarious laughter. I also kept reading passages to my mom until she told me to stop b/c she'd like to read it herself someday and would prefer I not spoil it entirely.
My advice? DO NOT take this book seriously! I tried reading it years ago, having heard of it as a classic of science fiction, but (I don't know how) not knowing ...more
My advice? DO NOT take this book seriously! I tried reading it years ago, having heard of it as a classic of science fiction, but (I don't know how) not knowing ...more
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recommends it for:
anyone who might like British funny sci-fi.
This is still my all-time favorite book ever. I won't go into the plotline, because it's pretty easy to know it already even without reading it, or even talk about specifics as to why I liked it so much, because either you get it or you don't. ;-) I think it was the first book I completely and utterly enjoyed, and I just never stopped loving it. I must admit I might not rave so highly of the entire series, as I do feel the later books -- especially the fifth -- just aren't quite as entirely f...more
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Read in January, 1980
recommends it for:
totally out there sci fi and social commentary
Ok, I am going to take flack for this I know. But I just think that Adams takes things to far (hows that for calling the kettle black?). In my book comedy often comes from taking a expected result and turning it into something ridiculous by following a logic that common sense would forbid. maybe he just does it too much. Maybe I just have too limited a concept of humor. maybe it just is so unrealistic that i don;t believe and threfore don't invest.
There are a lot of funny writers, and Adams ...more
There are a lot of funny writers, and Adams ...more
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Read in January, 1981
recommended to Ginny by:
Saw the BBC miniseriesrecommends it for: see above
You will either love this series or hate it; there is no middle ground. Here is a test I have devised to determine whether or not to try it.
What is your reaction to the following true statement?
-"The Hitchhiker's Trilogy" is a series of five books: "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe," "Life, the Universe, and Everything," "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish," and "Mostly Harmless.&q...more
What is your reaction to the following true statement?
-"The Hitchhiker's Trilogy" is a series of five books: "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe," "Life, the Universe, and Everything," "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish," and "Mostly Harmless.&q...more
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recommends it for:
Anyone under 20, Closet Nerds
Quite simply, it is one of those books that defines a whole group and generation of people. The type of humor and pacing that were groundbreaking then (and set to a sci-fi setting, no less! No one but the BBC would ever consider producing a sci-fi comedy) have become copied and mixed and tinkered with so much that people with a lot of media exposue will feel they're missing something.
Yes, there were sci-fi comedies before this book came along. But this was the first one that truly belonge...more
Yes, there were sci-fi comedies before this book came along. But this was the first one that truly belonge...more
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Read in January, 2002
recommended to Lafcadio by:
Hannah
There was a time in my life during which I think I would have found this book the funniest thing I had ever read. I would have sought peers with whom to discuss its nuances and reveled in the glory that somebody out there had a delightfully twisted sense of humor. Indeed, during this selfsame time, when others discovered that I had not yet read this tome, they would exclaim, "You haven't read it? Wow... I would have thought that would be just your type of book..."
Sometimes ...more
Sometimes ...more
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Read in August, 2007
I'd heard a lot about the Hitchhiker's series before I'd read this book and I was very excited to read it. I actually saw the movie first and I loved the randomness of the thing (it helped that I was inebriated at the time). While I enjoyed the book and it's more elaborate randomness, I was a bit disappointed only because I was thinking that it would be funnier than I found it. I need to stop listening to other people tell me what I'll like and what I won't like before I decide to read/see so...more
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recommends it for:
someone with a lot of time and imagination on there hands:)
all of the ideas in this book are very clever but extremly complicated! you need alot of imagination and free time on your hands to sit down and read this book. you'll often find yourself re-reading parts of it to understand whats going on.
but if you stick with it and read on you'll find the wonders this book truely holds with all its unique Characters and ideas. like the ship (the heart of gold) that has an infinate probability drive. zaphod with two heads and athur dent with his towel. and o...more
but if you stick with it and read on you'll find the wonders this book truely holds with all its unique Characters and ideas. like the ship (the heart of gold) that has an infinate probability drive. zaphod with two heads and athur dent with his towel. and o...more
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Read in March, 2008
recommended to Susan by:
Dad, Tarythe, Tom, Jorecommends it for: people who like Galaxy Quest and British humor
"You know," said Arthur, "it's at times like this, when I'm trapped in a Vogon airlock with a man from Betelgeuse, and about to die of asphyxiation in deep space, that I really wish I'd listened to what my mother told me when I was young."
"Why? What did she tell you?"
"I don't know, I didn't listen"
I went from crying in The Kite Runner to laughing in this book, back to back, and now I wonder if I'm crazy! I literally had to stop reading for laughing...more
"Why? What did she tell you?"
"I don't know, I didn't listen"
I went from crying in The Kite Runner to laughing in this book, back to back, and now I wonder if I'm crazy! I literally had to stop reading for laughing...more
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Read in January, 2004
recommended by my friend Jeff this book is wacky science fiction book that is really intense. As i can tell from his books Science fiction is very important to him that is probably why he wrote a horror screen play. There are some boring moments in this movie and some very memorable. My favorite is the planet of the most intelligent people in the galaxy who had amazing telekenetic powers. in typical form the book describes these people as so amazing it made the ruler or president of the galaxy...more
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 4.18 (14295 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 4.22 (600 ratings) number of reviews: 826popular shelves
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"He felt that his whole life was some kind of dream and he sometimes wondered whose it was and whether they were enjoying it. "
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