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Sep 22, 2007

Ian rated it:

Douglas Adams' underated masterpiece leads Dirk Gently from a search for a missing cat to unlocking the secrets of time travel and saving the human race from total extinction.

I thought no-one could write a better comic novel than 'The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy' until I first read this. I've subsequently re-read this novel countless times and it never fails to entertain, I'm still finding references to literature and popular culture that I've previously missed.

Th More...

1 comment like (9 people liked it)

Aug 06, 2007

Michael rated it:

I recently re-read Dirk Gently, since the first time I read it was in the seventh or eighth grade, and so I really didn't remember much of it. I must say it is absolutely fantastic. It is one of the few books which as I read it I was imagining what you could do for a film version. I think it would be a fantastic work to bring to the big screen, particularly after the modest success of Hitchhiker's...

That said, I love Douglas Adams. The man was a genius at creating characters, and the More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Aug 22, 2011

Kris rated it:

Hysterical. If you liked The Hitchhiker's Guide but thought it could do with fewer spaceships, try this. If you're shaking your head in bafflement, thinking "Fewer spaceships? Do you want to ruin the whole thing, woman?" try this. If you've never read any Douglas Adams at all, try this. If you like things that are good, try this.

On the other hand, I am pretty sure my best friend hated it, and she does often like things that are good, so maybe it's not for everyone. But try More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 05, 2008

Madeline rated it:

I still don't really understand how the ending of this book worked, and trying to describe the plot would be like trying to build a submarine out of cheese. Instead, I'll just share some quotes from this book that I especially loved, because Douglas Adams is the only author in the history of the world who is capable of creating them.

"'A horse?' he said again.
'Yes, it is,' said the Professor. 'Wait - ' he motioned to Richard, who was about to go out again and investigate - More...

1 comment like (9 people liked it)

Jun 29, 2007

Jon rated it:

Adams' first fiction foray into a world other than the one(s) created for the Hitchhiker's Trilogy is a treat: a detective story filled with the same bizarre happenings and twists, described and narrated in Adams' inimitable comedic style. Unlike the Hitchhiker's books, however, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency was written to be a stand-alone story, with a definite beginning, middle, and end. In many ways, this was Adams' first attempt at writing a proper novel--and he succeeds wildly. I More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 18, 2010

Bird Brian rated it:

Douglas Adams may suffer to a similar condition as Joseph Heller- their first works were so strong, so perfect, so beloved, that all their subsequent efforts were met with disappointment. To follow The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (THGTTG) series with anything nearly as good is almost too much to ask of a writer- especially in something as hit-or-miss as comedy. Alas, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (DGHDA) has a few chuckles, and if I could manage to examine it completely independen More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 16, 2009

Frankie rated it:

hilarious and in my view better than "hitchikers..." (but i might be in the minority there...)

5 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 13, 2011

Peter added it

FIVE STARS (sorry, couldn't think of a witty title!): 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 More...

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Dec 11, 2008

Reinhold rated it:

Auf den ersten Seiten sitzt man bei diesem Buch und fragt sich, worauf will dieser Kerl eigentlich hinaus. Man versteht nur Bahnhof und erst langsam lüften sich die Schleier. Wie verbindet man einen elektrischen Mönch, ein Pferd im Badezimmer, einen ermordeten Millionär der als Geist weiterlebt aber dessen Leiche verschwunden ist, ein Sofa das im Stiegenhaus steckt, einen versponnen Inhaber des Lehrstuhls für Chronologie (der selbst nicht weiß womit sich sein Lehrstuhl eigentlich beschäftigt) un More...

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Feb 06, 2012

Donovan rated it:

Although a step aside from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, there is definitely that a-typical Adams stamp of comedy and science fiction deeply impressed in to this 2 book series (with a nice embossed look to the author's name on the cover that could have done with a light gold fleck added to it so that it shimmered just that little bit more).
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency was followed by The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul.
I also found out that a third instalment was in t More...

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Jan 28, 2012

Nell rated it:

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Jan 12, 2012

Darren rated it:

This is not like Douglas Adams' crowning acheivement The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It starts out slower, is far more philosophical in its outlook, and is devoid of some of the wonderfully witty inventions (bistromathics, deep thought, 42 etc). That doesn't mean that it's not without merit, though. There is plenty of fun to be had with a twisty turny story and many jokes work well, if the laugh out loud moments are more obvious by their absence. The titular character doesn't appear until More...

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Jun 19, 2011

surfmadpig rated it:

I recently watched the pilot episode of Dirk Gently and loved it. So, naturally, I picked up the book. Now this order of doing things is often frowned upon by many people, including me, but sometimes things just happen.

The reason I'm telling you this is that I was slightly let down by the book, having seen (a version of) Dirk Gently in action before reading about him. There just wasn't enough of the detective in the book, while he (both versions) is such an interesting c More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 29, 2011

Becky rated it:

Hmm. A long time ago I was coaching in Sweden, and I had to go and sit at a control in the middle of a forest for 5 hours. I had forgotten my book, so one of the other guys lent me The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. It was the weirdest thing I'd ever read, wilfully off the wall, and though it passed those five hours quite successfully, I can't really say I enjoyed it. I certainly didn't feel the need to finish it off. Years later I discover the list, and here he is again, Douglas Adams. More...

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Sep 03, 2010

Walter rated it:

I've just finished reading this book with an old college professor. I made him read "Dirk" after he made me read "The Man Who Was Thursday." The funny thing is that "Thursday" is clearly one of those "accepted" texts that college professors feel comfortable about reading. "Dirk" on the other hand, is the kind of thing you read because it's entertaining...but it's secretly about twice as profound as all that canonized garbage.

"Di More...

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Jul 02, 2010

John rated it:

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May 19, 2009

Amy rated it:

This is a strange book. I was hoping it would be, since it's written by the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Don't expect to be able to solve this mystery -- it doesn't stay within the bounds of normalcy long enough to be predictable!

I enjoyed the characters, and the story continues to grow on me, even though it moved a bit slowly for a detective novel (of sorts). Sometimes I found the enthusiastic passages about computers and technology to be a bit out of place, bu More...

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Sep 26, 2010

F.R. rated it:

I’ll be honest with you, I’m not particularly fond of ‘The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ novel. The first radio series I love, but the novel fails for me because the best bits in it are just taken from the radio series (which, of course, the novel is an adaptation of) and it doesn’t have a proper bloody ending. As a teen I greatly preferred the world of Dirk Gently, and on re-reading the first of those novels – having forgotten pretty much everything which takes place between its covers – I More...

6 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 28, 2011

Nathan added it

"Today I got you to tell me every last detail you knew about what happened last night, and already, as a result, using my intellect alone I have uncovered possibly the greatest secret lying hidden on this planet." (Excerpt)

Fans of Adams' Hitchhiker series knows that Adams loves taking things to epic proportions. The Dirk Gently collection follows that vein.

This book was written after Adams' fourth book in his Hitchhiker trilogy (yes, fourth). By then Adams has a clear style (quirky More...

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Dec 23, 2009

Ugh rated it:

I hadn't read any Douglas Adams before. The first few chapters, I thought "This writing isn't all that great, and I'm not sure what's going on", and that was about that. Then, after a few chapters, I started to be charmed a little, and the plot started to suck me in. For the first half of the book, that's pretty much where I remained: fairly interested and occasionally amused. Then, around halfway through, things started coming together, and I realised that although Adams may not have More...

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Feb 16, 2011

Laurahamill rated it:

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency is my favourite Douglas Adams and I must have read it more than once a year since it was published. Dirk Gently, the "Holistic detective" is a wannabe charlatan whose random methods appear lazy and incoherent. His investigation is successful precisely because of the improbable and random nature of the universe he inhabits. The detective genre enables Adams to channels his style of improbable yarn into a complete story. Through Dirk all the More...

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Aug 09, 2011

Samarei rated it:

Douglas Adams, a staunch atheist, was influenced by scientist Richard Dawkins and British comedy troupe Monty Python. Adams' outlook on life with no God infiltrated his writing as did his environmental and conservation views. At age 49, Adams' died in Santa Barbara, CA where he met his non-existent maker and creator of all things or, for Adams, no things. There he rests in a dark corner, waiting for nothing to happen and perhaps that nothing will happen.

Though I may disagree on his More...

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Jun 19, 2008

Roz added it

I have listened to this book twice now – once as an audiobook (while I was rowing across the Atlantic ) and once as a dramatization (while rowing from California to Hawaii (see http://www.rozsavage.com) – and I still love it. Sort of a cross between Inspector Morse, Doctor Who, and of course the Hitch Hikers’ Guide to the Galaxy, it is very entertaining and just sufficiently thought-provoking. Recommended.

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 01, 2011

Kurt rated it:

This book has all of the random lunacy of the best of the Hitchhiker Trilogy, and I love it. The story, such as it is, is that a man is murdered, and in the aftermath, his friend meets up with a holistic detective who may be completely brilliant and may be psychic and may be a liar and is probably a little of each. They wander around for a bit, mostly to give Adams the chance to skewer the education system, the practical details of life as a ghost, the standard elements of detective noir, and ma More...

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Jun 11, 2011

Calyre rated it:

"- Mais... comment ce cheval est-il entré ?
- Oh ! la fenêtre de la salle de bains est ouverte. Il a dû passer par là."

"- Vous avez à l'appareil Svlad, plus connu sous le nom de "Dirk" Cjelli, exerçant actuellement sous le nom de Gently, pour des raisons qu'il serait pour l'instant superflu d'évoquer. Je vous souhaite le bonsoir. Si vous désirez en savoir plus, je serai dans dix minutes à la Pizza Express d'Upper Street. Apportez de l'argent.
- Dirk More...

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Jan 27, 2012

Lucy rated it:

Dirk Gently is more commonly known as Svlad Cjelli, is well connected within St. Cedd's college, specialises in messy divorces and missing cats, as well as not paying his secretary.
Richard is wanted for questioning by the police.
Gordon Way is trying to phone his sister
A horse is in the bathroom.

Just a few things that happen in the insanity which is Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency.

I enjoyed this book, even if I didn't completely understand it. Dou More...

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Dec 03, 2011

Lea rated it:

I didn't love it as much as I thought I would- it took me forever to 'get into it'. It wasn't until the middle of the book that we meet Dirk Gently, and once we do the story picks up and becomes a wonderful read... Perhaps the dullness of the first half was required in order to make sense (if anything can in a Douglas Adam's book) of the second and to radically adjust the plot tempo from that of a snail to that of an aligator. Maybe it just takes awhile...

Still, it was hillarious. More...

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Jan 22, 2011

Catrine rated it:

I normally love Douglas Adams’ style. I thoroughly enjoyed Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and the rest of the books in that series, and found them quirky and fun. This book… Not so much. I found a lot of the events that were probably supposed to be funny distinctly unfunny, and it felt like he tried too hard. At least that’s what it felt like in the beginning. To be fair it’s hard to get properly into a book when you’re thrown off by the numerous grammar mistakes and orthographical errors that More...

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Oct 28, 2009

Amber rated it:

Despite my local library's copy missing two pages towards the end, I enjoyed this book, but I can admit it probably wouldn't be for everyone. One thing I've come to expect from Adams' writing style is a sense of randomness, and this novel certainly didn't have any shortage on randomness. Another thing I've come to expect from Adams' writing is that, no matter how random events seem, they are all interconnected in some way—another theme that is very present in this book. So present, in fact, that More...

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Dec 16, 2009

Robb rated it:

One of the best books i've ever read. It far surpasses the Hitchhiker's series. It's more complicated, funnier, and just amazing. It's a mixing Rime of the Ancient Mariner with Sci-fi themes and time travel... It's an Adams book through and through, with his trademark colorful language and wit. I recommend it to anyone who is capable of reading.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

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