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Dec 06, 2011

Stephen rated it:

What does Kim Jong-Il, a thong-wearing mechanic and this ~~missing link~~ furry fellow have to do with The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy?

...you owe it to yourself and your family to find out.

With the plethora of wonderful reviews already written for this book by my fellow GRs, I decided instead to provide some helpful, practical advice on why reading this book might benefit my fellow goodreaders. Therefore, as both life management tool and a safety warning, I have compil More...

35 comments like (63 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Jon rated it:

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.

More...

6 comments like (83 people liked it)

Aug 25, 2011

Keely rated it:

The universe is a joke, but only some of us are in on it.

Even before I was shown the meaning of life in a dream at 17, I knew this to be true. And yet, I have always felt a need to search for the truth, that nebulous, ill-treated creature. Adams has always felt, to me, to be a common partner in that journey.

Between the search for truth, and the recognition that it's all a joke in poor taste lies Douglas Adams, and, luckily for us, he doesn't seem to mind if you lie th More...

1 comment like (15 people liked it)

Jul 01, 2007

Aerin rated it:

These books definitely have their moments (and this one, the first, is the best). But they are not as good as everyone seems to think they are; they are punny, wacky, occasionally hilarious but often painfully stupid outer-space adventures. The way you feel about Monty Python will probably predict the way you feel about Hitchhiker's, and I find both to be supremely overrated by the nerd contingent.

That being said, Douglas Adams still writes a hell of a lot better than all his clone More...

9 comments like (44 people liked it)

May 07, 2008

Mary Elizabeth rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like (24 people liked it)

Aug 30, 2010

Punk rated it:

SF. I've been putting off reading this for a very long time as I was scared of it not being wonderful. It's such a big part of geek culture; what if I thought it was dumb?! But it wasn't. It was wonderful. It's like Monty Python and Kurt Vonnegut melted together and spread on toast -- crisp and tangy and a little bit ridiculous. Plus it turns out that a lot of what I like about Terry Pratchett is the same stuff that Adams does so well. If only someone had told me! Geeks, if you suffer from the s More...

3 comments like (15 people liked it)

Jan 16, 2008

Tom rated it:

Another classic. If you don't like this series, you probably put your babel fish in the wrong hole. You are the reason that human beings are only the third most intelligent species on earth behind mice and dolphins. So long, and thanks for all the fish!

1 comment like (51 people liked it)

Sep 21, 2011

Whitaker rated it:

THIS REVIEW IS SOLELY FOR CELEBRITY DEATH MATCH

In the darkened interior of a spaceship, there is a creepy silence punctuated by the occasional moan and an insane giggling. Through the door to the deck of the spaceship, two small heads appear. They appear to belong to a little pig and a small bear.

The little pig slips his hand into that of the small bear’s.

“What is it, Piglet?”

“N-n-nothing… I just wanted to be sure of you, Pooh,” replies Piglet. More...

4 comments like (11 people liked it)

Dec 24, 2011

Jeanette rated it:

After all these years, I'm proud to say I'm finally a woman who knows where her towel is.

This book should get 4 1/2 stars, but that's not an option here. It's been around forever, but I always ignored it because I don't generally like sci-fi. I gave it a try because it's in "1001 Books."
What a treat! Silly, smart, satirical, and just a good healthy overdose of pure fun. Can't wait to read it again, which is saying a lot. I rarely re-read books, but this one will More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

May 17, 2011

Namratha rated it:

It’s true what they say... You pick up The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy and either chuck it away when your head starts to whirl OR you totally appreciate the head-whirling sensation, plunge right in and don’t surface till you have reached the Restaurant at the End of The Universe.

It is with great delight and spots before my eyes that I can proclaim that I belong to the latter breed. You need a wee bit of whimsy, a lot of quirky and a love for all things whacky (all three which I More...

4 comments like (13 people liked it)

Jul 02, 2011

Joel rated it:

I came to Douglas Adams in the way a lot of guys do, probably: I was introduced to it by someone far nerdier than I. Some of us become nerds when people we come in contact with share their obsessions; others are born nerds, and somehow organically discover Monty Python & the Holy Grail or, say, the original BBC miniseries version of this book. And then they make you watch it, twice, and spoil all the jokes by quoting them alongside it.

If I remember right, this happened to me freshma More...

1 comment like (13 people liked it)

Jan 07, 2012

Emanuela rated it:

Negli anni settanta c'era una certa abitudine a fare l'autostop, come si dice: erano altri tempi. Si incontravano spesso ragazzi e ragazze con il pollice fuori o il cartello che indicava la direzione desiderata.
Io allora ero teenager e con una mia amica, nell'estate del '73, ci siamo fatte scarrozzare in giro per l'Italia chiedendo passaggi, viaggiando su auto, camion e a volte facendo lunghi percorsi a piedi. La cosa non ci spaventava più di tanto perché così facevan tutti e lo stesso Bob More...

4 comments like (5 people liked it)

Oct 22, 2011

Lorenzo rated it:

Dear Isaac, Ray and Philip K,
don't you think you're taking your job a bit too much seriously? Please, relax for a while.

Listen, I've got this book called "The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy" to suggest you. Though I'm not sure you will appreciate it I think you should have a look at it.

You will discover a new planet called sense of humour.

Universally yours,
Lorenzo

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Jun 02, 2008

Melina rated it:

I read this book about 51,017 times when I was in seventh grade. I wore my copy out. That was a time in my life when I very much would have preferred to belong to some alien species, trapped here through no fault of my own. Also: "The ships hung in the air in much the same way that bricks don't." How can you improve on writing like that?

Q: What's so bad about being drunk?
A: Just ask a glass of water.

ahhh, good times.

2 comments like (24 people liked it)

Apr 01, 2008

Carole rated it:

I hated this book. It was required in one of my English Lit. classes in college. The time spent reading this book is time that I will never get back. I think this book may have shortened my life; it was such a waste of time.

13 comments like (21 people liked it)

Mar 09, 2009

Evan rated it:

I'd resisted this book for years, partly because I'd already heard the radio dramatization 20 years ago, but also because I tend to avoid anything that smacks of nerdy cultic chic. Or sci-fi.

But I picked it up on a whim at the bookstore yesterday -- the price was right: $1 -- began reading and was hooked instantly by Adams' delightfully impish wit and the simple, uncluttered effervescence of his writing --- and the thing reads with the paciness of one of his hyperspace craft. And eve More...

6 comments like (8 people liked it)

Jan 28, 2008

John rated it:

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...

3 comments like (6 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Kate rated it:

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 hypochondr More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Stephanie rated it:

I absolutely HATED this book. I usually read books before seeing the movie when it's released in theaters, and so I read this book. If there was a point in all his rambling disguised as prose, I missed it. Don't waste your time reading this book. And if possible, the movie was worse.

1 comment like (9 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Andrew rated it:

I read about 150 of 215 pages of this book, and couldn't even bring myself to finish it. I didn't find it funny, and decided to start another book I actually enjoyed reading than to plow through the end of it.

0 comments like (10 people liked it)

Jan 30, 2012

Kelanth, numquam risit ubi dracones vivunt rated it:

Ho sempre amato la fantascienza, è un genere che mi ha appassionato fin da bambino insieme al fantasy, oggi è difficile trovare dei buoni libri di Science Finction, Asimov rimarrà per sempre un maestro insuperato e un po' come il fantasy dopo aver letto Tolkien sembra tutto stantio.

Questo libro però, badate bene, non è solo fantascienza: filosofia, teologia e tantissima comicità mescolate insieme, con un ritmo da grandissimo romanziere. Decisamente...un capolavoro. Personaggi come Za More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 06, 2011

Emily rated it:

This is not the best book ever written. It is unlikely to affect you on any deep emotional level and you probably won't spend sleepless nights just thinking about it.

But it's a simple, humourous sci-fi adventure. It won't do something for everybody but I'm a massive fan of Douglas Adams' and his sense of humour. Come on, like it or not, Adams' has some awesomely quotable sayings (not all of these are from this exact book):

"In the beginning the Universe wa More...

1 comment like (5 people liked it)

Oct 24, 2010

marie rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

4 comments like (3 people liked it)

Mar 28, 2011

jzhunagev rated it:

Gone Hitchhiking for March
(A Not-So Book Review of Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker Guide to the Galaxy)

Pardon me Gentle Readers, I still feel a little bit woozy today, it must've been the Infinite Improbabilty Drive… or the Pan-Galactic Gargle Blasters I downed this morning. Argh, I dunno. Anyway, reason seems to be out-to-lunch, and hell it’s not even Thursday yet!

But you know what, I’ve just been in the most satisfying expedition EVER!

Not your usual ro More...

24 comments like (13 people liked it)

Jan 11, 2012

Hayes rated it:

Brilliant, ridiculous, insane... a splendid read.

Best Quote (Chapter 5):

One of the things Ford Prefect had always found hardest to understand about human beings was their habit of continually stating and repeating the obvious, as in It's a nice day, or You're very tall, or Oh dear you seem to have fallen down a thirty-foot well, are you alright? At first Ford had formed a theory to account for this strange behaviour. If human beings don't keep exercising their lips, he thought, their m

More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Apr 19, 2008

Paul rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

May 25, 2009

Sarah Dee rated it:

I understand why this book has such a large fanbase. I can see that it's clever. I can see that it's unique. There were many parts in it that I found slightly amusing.

But it doesn't change the fact that in my opinion, space is unquestionably, unconditionally, positively BORING. I would have given the book two stars, but I gave it three just for being one of the few space books I have read that hasn't made me fall asleep before I made it through the first chapter.

4 comments like (7 people liked it)

Mar 31, 2009

Alan rated it:

Absolute genius. His deliberate construction of interesting, often grammatically tortuous, always rewarding prose was fantastic.

I listened to the radio series.
I bought the books.
I taped the radio series and listened endlessly; especially to the second series.
I bought the LPs!
I bought the Marvin the Paranoid Android single!!
I did NOT like the TV series; maybe the technology wasn't up to it
I liked the film.

I liked the fact that every sing

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Chris rated it:

I picked this up at a book fair in seventh grade, which is the perfect time to stumble across the Hitchhiker trilogy (yes, trilogy; I deny the last 2 or three books), and the next week I was kicked out of independent reading because I was laughing so loud that I disturbed the others. I don't like a lot of wacky humour books (I can't stand "Good Omens"), but Douglas Adams has the perfect blend of over-the-top craziness and dead-pan ("the space-ships hung in the air exactly the way More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Nov 08, 2007

Purple rated it:

A masterclass in fiction, basically, with aspects of everything, not just (although predominantly) science fiction. Frankly, It doesn't get any better than this. Adams approaches religion and philosophy head-on, whilst still managing to keep the 'buddy' aspect strong yet introducing romance along the way, all painted glorious colours of humour. Never before has a series of books crammed in such a ridiculous amount of ideas, and I sincerely doubt any series will again.

If an alien came More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)