Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

Advantages: Amazing logic, makes you laugh like you've never laughed before, the best ending ever
Disadvantages: It's long, but that shouldn't bother you - 100 pages and you're hooked and begging for more.

The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was written by the late, great Douglas Adams, who passed away recently. As it currently stands, there are 5 volumes (‘A trilogy in five parts’). These books are 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 Each is a compelling and original outlook on life. Adams is one of the few ...
...and wit is only matched by the amazing interaction between the volumes and the sheer logic that lies behind Adams’ ideas. I’m going to attempt to wrap up the introduction with out giving things away. The book begins with our hero – Arthur Dent, a typical middle-aged man living in a depressed environment. We meet him standing in front of his house trying to stop his house being bulldozed to make room for a new highway. Eventually, his friend, Ford ... Read review

Advantages: Everything!
Disadvantages: You need to read it more thanm once to fully appreciate it!

Stephen Fry once described Douglas Adams as "Not so much a man, as a force of nature". This may seem a little over the top, yet if you read this novel, you will understand the reasoning behind it. The book is funny, sarcastic, a little political and one of the most imaginative pieces of fictional writings I have ever read! This book was first published in 1979, after a Radio series and a television series were produced. This is probably the only ...
...only decent book. The hype surrounding the book was so huge that Douglas Adams was paid in advance for the sequel. With the death of Douglas at the age of 49 earlier this year, the book has become famous again and for anyone interested, the tv series of the radio series is on on Monday the 30th July, i.e tomorrow! If it’s anything like the book, you’ll love it! The book begins on Earth and we hear the story of Arthur Dent, a thirty-year ... Read review

Advantages: See opinion
Disadvantages: What we have is all we have

Ciao don't do general opinions on an author as such, so I'm making my own stand for the sake of Douglas Adams' memory. It's the least I can do. What a laugh. That's pretty much all you can say about the man, except to add that he was a clever, witty, caring and creative genius. Born in March, 1952 in Cambridgeshire, he was educated in a high school in Brentwood, Essex before returning home and attending St. Johns College, in the dreaming spires ...
...things, including getting outrageously drunk in Austria and having no money for a bed, crashing out in a field and thinking how brilliant it would be to just hop around the galaxy. People could use a sub-etha net to communicate their experiences of different planets, and tap into it whenever they wanted to find stuff out, or report their opinions. It feels incredibly eerie to be sitting in front of something which hadn't been thought of when the ... Read review

Advantages: Great story, great characters
Disadvantages: Some of the jokes just don't work

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy has long been regarded as a comedy classic and a milestone in science fiction writing, and has spawned a whole host of copycat books, most of which failed miserably to live up to the original and best. The beauty of it lies in the originality of the idea, even if some of the jokes try to be a little clever for their own good, and to be honest, some passages read quite awkwardly. That said, re-reading this ...
...enjoyable experience. A lot of it is probably because the characters and the plot are so familiar – I’ve heard the radio play, seen the 1980s TV series and read all five books in the trilogy (yes, a trilogy of five in classic Adams fashion...) so many times that I remembered bits of storyline before I’d even reached the right page. However, for those of you who might not be familiar with the course of events, here goes: This is ... Read review

Advantages: n/a
Disadvantages: n/a

When my husband phoned me at work to tell me Douglas Adams had died, I almost cried at my desk. I have been a fan since I first read 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' at around age 8, and since then I have read his work voraciously and waited impatiently for each new installment to come out. No other writer has ever made me laugh so hard, laugh out loud or keep laughing through as many re-reads as Douglas has. After some online research, it ...
...after suffering a heart attack at his home in Santa Barbara, California. He was only 49 years old. His personal assistant Sophie Astin is quoted as saying "It was a very sudden and unexpected death", and I'm sure this sentiment is echoed by his scores of fans throughout the world. Best known for his "trilogy in five parts" (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; The Restaurant at the End of the Universe; Life, the Universe and Everything; So Long ... Read review

Advantages: VERY FUNNY!!!
Disadvantages: needs quite a bit of imagination

...The "Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy" is the first part of Douglas Adam's trilogy in five parts and I must say it is truly amazing and once you have read it you can understand exactly why this is the book that made him a true famous, legendary and classic author! Douglas Adams has managed to intermingle science-fiction with humour to such an extent that when reading you can't help but laugh out loud quite often (even though you usually get odd looks from others in the room!). The story begins with a man called Arthur Dent, and to tell you the honest truth I don't want to tell you all anymore about it, because it might just ruin the hilarity of the book for you! But take my word for it, this book is amazing! Okay, if your still not entirely convinced by my opinion on this book, well just read the first chapter of the book and you... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Very funny, very surreal, four books in one
Disadvantages: A little alternative for everyone's tastes

...professional help, anyone know any good psychiatrists, or how to spell it? "The Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy - A Trilogy in Four Parts" Douglas Adams ISBN 0-330-31611-7 £9.99... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Funny, Funny, FUNNY
Disadvantages: All too short

...by hitching a lift on the Vogon Spaceship, are tortured by Vogon poetry before being thrown into the void of space. Miraculously they are rescued by Ford’s friend Zaphod and their adventures throughout the Galaxy commence, including meeting Marvin the Paranoid Android, the white mice who ran experiments on humans for years and witnessing the end of the universe. Seem like all a bit too much? Then take the advice of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and Don’t Panic! This is the first book in the DNA’s (Douglas Noel Adams) trilogy in five parts, and contains his inimitable humour from cover to cover – it had me in stitches of laughter many times. If you want a sci-fi book that doesn’t take itself too seriously and is packed with gags, then this is for you. The story moves at the speed of a ship powered by an infinite improbability drive... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful