The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy 1-4 (Omnibus)

by Douglas Adams

book data

1,703 ratings, 4.40 average rating, 160 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		55%
4		32%
3		9%
2		1%
1		0%

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published

October 23rd 2001 (first published 1979) by Picador UK

binding

Paperback, 592 pages

isbn

0330316117 (isbn13: 9780330316118)

description

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: One Thursday lunchtime the Earth gets demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass. For Arthur, who has just h...more

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06/02/08

Ben Babcock rated it:

(review of isbn 0330492047)

bookshelves: favourites, humour, own, science-fiction

H2g2 was one of the formative books of my youth (I say this now, when I'm only 18, but I read it long ago). It was one of the first science fiction novels I read, and definitely my first taste of Douglas Adams and British quirkiness.

The thing you have to get about h2g2 is that it's not enough to suspend your disbelief. You need to have it surgically removed, then seal it in an airtight box, ship the box overseas to Germany (use FedEx), and bury the box in an abandoned mine (alternati...more H2g2 was one of the formative books of my youth (I say this now, when I'm only 18, but I read it long ago). It was one of the first science fiction novels I read, and definitely my first taste of Douglas Adams and British quirkiness.

The thing you have to get about h2g2 is that it's not enough to suspend your disbelief. You need to have it surgically removed, then seal it in an airtight box, ship the box overseas to Germany (use FedEx), and bury the box in an abandoned mine (alternatively, if you live in Germany, ship it to Australia).

The book begins with the end of the world, which is naturally an excellent way to begin any story. In fact it's almost becoming cliche now. However, at the time Douglas Adams was doing it, it was just what you did to make money working for the BBC.

Arthur Dent is the lovable everyman with whom we can sympathize (and sometimes yell at for being such a dense clod). He is not a knight in shining armour, nor is he the renegade anti-hero we are so used to seeing in action films these days. He's British. He's middle-class. His home and planet have been demolished all in one day. You'd think the universe would cut him some slack, but no....

What really appeals to me about h2g2, however, is the fact that it is so readable. I take it with me whenever I travel (which isn't very often), because I always know I will enjoy it. And as I get older, there are new dimensions for me to appreciate. At first glance, the situations in the book seem absurd and infinitely improbable. Yet if you think about it long enough, you will realize that they are in fact what goes on in real life here on mostly harmless Earth. The universe of h2g2 is a microcosmic representation of our own society's bureaucratic fallacies, beginning with the demolition of one man's house and working its way up to the poignant irony that Earth is a computer built to find the Ultimate Question to Life, the Universe, and Everything.

The fact that the entire series is about the search for the question, and not the answer, which the book happily reveals to all of us, is a timeless metaphor for human existence. It doesn't matter whether you read this in the '80s, '90s, now, or in the future. We spend so much time searching for an answer, for the "meaning," that we often forget to simply enjoy the search itself. We forget for what we're searching--we're searching for an "answer", but to what? What do we expect to find? H2g2 conveys this unoriginal thought in a very original and fun manner--the Earth gets destroyed, naturally, then mice claim that they ordered it custom-made from a planet-building society, and ... well, Arthur doesn't get much of a rest from there on in.

So far I've only really explored the first book, and the overarching concepts of the series. What about the other books? Each has its merits, although unquestionably the first book is the best. Restaurant at the End of the Universe has the tastiest quotation of the entire series, right at the beginning, so cool that many just attribute it to the series itself. Life, the Universe, and Everything lives up to its name by positing interesting "facts" about the nature of the universe, physics, time travel, and sofas. So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish has the pithy God's Final Message to His Creation, which is really the epitome of bureaucratic rhetoric.

I didn't really like Mostly Harmless. I'm sorry, but it was depressing. I think that at that point, Adams had been doing h2g2 so long that it was no longer a burst of creative genius but an arduous struggle to write something new out of something so well done already. The absurdity of the original two books, which adapted material from the original radio series, was replaced by a more rigid, formulaic absurdity, and that just isn't as fun.

Still, h2g2 is an amazing and timeless series. With so many incarnations, so much different material and conflicting continuities, it is not a "book" or a "story" but a phenomenon unto itself. Few series, no matter how popular, can make that claim. And thanks to Douglas Adams, I always know where my towel is.(less)

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07/01/08

Brian rated it:

(review of isbn 0517693119)

bookshelves: favorite-fiction

Read in January, 2004

Entertainment-1 Stars
Education- 1 Star
Readability- 1 star
Innovation- 0 Stars
Inspiration- 1 Stars

I loved this book. It was pretty easy to read and very funny. Comedy is difficult :)

Marvin the robot captures my view of the world. I know this is most unfortunate. But it doesn't really matter anyway as we will all be dead and gone when the sun goes supernova in 5 billion years. We'll just mope along till then.

The part where the aliens...more

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01/08/08

Lynn rated it:

Read in May, 2005

I tried to read this after seeing the 2005 movie. People had always talked about how funny it was, and made references to it, so I figured the time had come to familiarize myself with it. I have admit, I didn't even actually read half of it, I hated it so much.

Reading this book reminded me of watching "My dinner with Andre," in that it was soaked in self-consciousness. I couldn't stop being aware of the writing, how full of himself the writer seemed, how smart and funn...more

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07/25/07

Benedict rated it:

bookshelves: consciousness-expansion, fiction, humor-fun

Read in January, 1984

the science fiction bible of the 20th Century with the cult following to prove it.

Douglas Adams was a genius who recognized that if you want to tell people the truth you wrap it inside a funny, clever, mind-bending multilayered story that takes place sometime in the future.

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06/11/09

Anna rated it:

(review of isbn 0330492047)

bookshelves: fiction, humor, science-fiction

Read in June, 2009

It was incredibly handy to have this particular edition, and thus reading the trilogy (in four parts) in one go. Marvin is by far the most entertaining character in the series, and thus his cameos throughout all four parts were personal favourites.

However, I found the last two parts of the trilogy to be a little weak, and So Long And Thanks For All The Fish a little annoying. What I like about the series is the parts that are off-Earth (or at least in a different time period) and bi...more

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06/12/09

Consuelo rated it:

(review of isbn 0517564254)

Read in June, 2009

great book maybe just not my taste. i had a very hard time getting into it. it was so haphazard i forced myself to finish to see what happened. didn't really help. my favorite chapter was in the second book the restaurant at the end of the universe. I loved when some of the main characters met the most important man in the universe. I can't recall the exact quote but essentially he was unconcerned with anything beyond what he could see or even what had occured in the past. he only needed to conc...more

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06/16/07

Meg rated it:

bookshelves: sci-fi

Funniest. Sci-fi. Ever.

Everyone should read this.

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07/24/08

Carl rated it:

Read in January, 1996

It's hard to write anything unbiased about this, because it was my first true love (I wasted most of a weeklong boy scout camp devouring a gorgeous leatherbound version. in my head I sometimes confuse this time with The Neverending Story). If you like dry British humour you might find this series amazing. However, if you've seen the awful Hollywood adaptation, it's probably ruined for you.

"It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an inf...more

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04/02/09

Mike rated it:

Read in March, 2009

im a little upset that they dont have my cover of the book on here. it has all 4 novels and a short story about zaphod, but its actually rather pointless....well actually a couple of these parts are a little pointless. But still, this is an awesome book. So many strange truths in here, at least, stuff that i tend to agree with. oh, and anyone who knows the meaning behind 42 is awesome in my book.

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04/10/09

Steen rated it:

(review of isbn 0330492047)

bookshelves: fantasy-sci-fi

Read in December, 2004

I really enjoyed these books, they are definately very easy reads but always things are unexpectedly happening and are quite humerous. I was sadden to read that Douglas Adams passed away though. I rememeber playing this game on the commadore 64 and no matter what I did couldn't get out of that damn bedroom! ( I was only young though)

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01/19/09

Chrissy rated it:

Read in February, 2009

Okay, I'm not sure it's really fair for me to tag this book "read", but I did finish book 1 and half of book 2. It was funny, enjoyable reading. I've decided, however, that I like being joked around at only for manageable 30 to 90 minute segments of time every once in awhile when I've had a day that was entirely too serious or glum. So it's no surprise that I am one who actually liked the movie better than the book. Sorry.

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09/29/07

Kyle rated it:

Read in October, 2007

Enjoyed the book as much as I enjoyed the original radio show and most recent film (glad to see how much of various parts of the first four stories found a place in the Garth Jennings film). The weakest link had to have been Life, the Universe and Everything - rather silly that cricket plays that much of an important role in the universe, but it is from this book that I learned that everything that is of some use (like mattresses or ratchet screwdrivers are grown organically on some planet. T...more

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09/23/07

Conner rated it:

I still have this on my bookshelf. And I admit that I took it everywhere with me during my "international traveling" days as a sort of kitchy totem. But I have to say...the more times I read it, the less funny it gets! Oh well. This falls into "cultural differences" territory, I think. Yes, Ha ha, Arthur Dent is so stuck in his routine that intergalactic travel causes him to worry more about getting his favorite beverage of choice than the possibility of vaccum asphyxiat...more

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03/29/09

Tana Gibson rated it:

(review of other edition)

Read in April, 2009

I still have to read the last book because it's not included in this version. I liked reading this series all in one book as opposed to one at a time. I loved it. Now that I've read most of the series, I hate the movie. I was pleased that Arthur Dent finally found his soulmate (Fenchurch, NOT TRILLIAN). Thanks to Douglas Adams I now like Sci-fi. As long as it's funny.

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01/13/09

Philip rated it:

Read in January, 2007

recommended to Philip by: NPR
recommends it for: people who like odd humor, Science Fiction, and two or more layers of parody, including self-parody

This is just fun. I emphatically do *not* agree with Adams' naturalistic/atheistic presuppositions, so this is not "real world" in several senses. I guess I like the humor, the bizarre puns, the wild juxtapositions, and general mayhem.

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02/17/09

fbuser583291563 rated it:

(review of isbn 0517693119)

Read in February, 2009

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

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04/07/08

Nick rated it:

bookshelves: fiction

Read in March, 2006

Hitch a ride round the universe with Douglas Adams and laugh at the absurdity of existence. I re-read the first two books and then completed the other two parts of the trilogy (I know - you do the math!). The best science fiction uses SF to explore philosophical issues, according to Phillip K. Dick. That may be true, as Adams explores answers to God (illogical), probability (infinite improbability can drive a spacecraft), life (answer=42, now what's the question?), but in Adams' hands SF also e...more

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03/31/09

Ben rated it:

(review of other edition)

Read in January, 1996

i only give this 4 stars because of the 2 times i bought this version, the binding was terrible... the book fell apart on me. still the best series, but just not my favorite edition

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12/02/08

Glenda rated it:

Read in November, 2004

I think everyone, by now, knows this book is hilarious. If you haven't read it already, do so. There is an awesome audiobook version of this as well, read by Douglas Adams as well.

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03/08/08

Andy rated it:

Read in January, 1987

My old friend Tim, bought a BBC radio scripts version of this book. After the both of us read it and found it exceedingly funny. We decided to make our own radio show version of it. We sat down with a tape recorder and would record each scene, playing out all the characters between us. Tim was the narrator and Arthur Dent,and I was Zaphod Beeblebrox and Ford Prefect.. It sometimes was difficult to have a conversation with yourself in certain scenes, hehe.

Basically, the humor is ...more

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