The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Book 1) (10th Anniversary Edition)
by Douglas Adams
|
|
Sign in to Goodreads to see your friends' reviews of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
discuss this book
friend reviews (0)
To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
lists with this book
Where's the love? Add this book to your favorite list.
other reviews (showing 1-20 of 19314)
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
Like this review?
yes
(4 people liked it)
add a comment
And then, one Thursday, nearly two thousand years after one man had been nailed to a tree for saying how great it would be to be nice to people for a change, I borrowed Hitch Hikers from the library and changed my outlook on reading forever. At school they told us what and when to read and as a consequence I’d never read anything except for ‘Winnie-the-Pooh’ and ‘The House at Pooh Corner’, then they sent us home to revise for our ‘O’ levels and I needed a silent occupation to keep ...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
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
Like this review?
yes
4 comments
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
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
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
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
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
Like this review?
yes
(2 people liked it)
3 comments
recommends it for:
anyone in sci-fi,philosophy,comedy,or dolphins
Please ignore the movie. Also, please ignore the BBC miniseries. The problem here is that these books cannot be made into films. The genius that was Douglas Adams was not his imagery. Sometimes it wasn't even his plot. But it was always his clever way of arranging words on a page. What other author has ever described something as hanging in the air the same way that bricks don't?
For those of you who have not read this series of books, I will warn you that you must start here. This b...more
For those of you who have not read this series of books, I will warn you that you must start here. This b...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in November, 2007
recommended to Candy by:
Ryanrecommends it for: Everyone!
Title: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Author: Douglas Adams
Copyright date: 1979
Publisher: Pan
How many pages: 220 pgs
How long it took me to read: 5 days
Category: Fiction
I learned about this book from: Seeing the movie when it came out.
This book was purchased at: McNeely and Robinson
This book is: awesome and hilarious
Other books by these authors: The Restaurant at the end of the universe, Life the universe and everything, So long and thanks for all the fish and Mostly ha...more
Author: Douglas Adams
Copyright date: 1979
Publisher: Pan
How many pages: 220 pgs
How long it took me to read: 5 days
Category: Fiction
I learned about this book from: Seeing the movie when it came out.
This book was purchased at: McNeely and Robinson
This book is: awesome and hilarious
Other books by these authors: The Restaurant at the end of the universe, Life the universe and everything, So long and thanks for all the fish and Mostly ha...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
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
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
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
Like this review?
yes
(3 people liked it)
add a comment
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
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
This book was FREAKIN' HILARIOUS!!!!!!! Oh- my -goodness!! I haven't giggled so much from a book since...well I don't think I ever have! The writing style was fresh and unique for me, which is always nice to come across in writing because it seems to be so few and far between. I'm not sure if you ever saw the movie- I rented it and could not get into it. But I have a few friends who have mentioned the book, so I thought I'd give it a try- well the audio book that is...and it's some of the best h...more
Like this review?
yes
1 comments
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
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in May, 2008
"Don't Panic" is helpfully printed across Ford Prefect's copy of "The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy" and I should probably have that written up and framed somewhere around here....
Excellent! I've read this before, several times, and it still crackes me up. I can't imagine not ever having read this series. We listened to this one on audio-book (it was really good) on a roadtrip to CA.
Englishman Arthur Dent wakes up one morning, horrified to discover that his home...more
Excellent! I've read this before, several times, and it still crackes me up. I can't imagine not ever having read this series. We listened to this one on audio-book (it was really good) on a roadtrip to CA.
Englishman Arthur Dent wakes up one morning, horrified to discover that his home...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
recommends it for:
everyone
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
This book is great. Funny, quick witted, and so brilliantly random that it never fails to make you laugh. However, this is one of the very, very few books that I think is actually better as an audio book. Usually, I dislike audio books because I prefer to read and interpret the characters in my own way, and I feel that my imagination is limited when I experience a book through the spoken words of another person. However, Douglas Adams actually reads the audio books for this series himself, a...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
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
Like this review?
yes
1 comments
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
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
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
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
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
Like this review?
yes
add a comment