Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams > Reviews > "Life? Don't talk to me about life?"

Author's product rating:   

Advantages:	Gives you a whole new way to look at the world
Disadvantages:	It turns logic upside down

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Yes the finnally made it into a movie but they changed the story and destroyed the effect. If you have watched the movie, the BBC series or listened to it on the radio then you must read the books or should I say books. For if you are into skewed logic and a new way to look at the world then you are in for a treat. Because Douglas Adams had a way of turning logic on its head and making it sound plausible.

The story follows the adventures of Arhtur Dent, Ford Prefect who are joined by characters such as Zaphod Beeblebrox, Trillian and the hilarious Marvin (the Paranoid Andriod). The story is interspersed with the real star of the show the book called the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. If the book is the funny man then everyone else is the straight man apart from Marvin who has some pretty good one liners and with a brain the size of a planet I should hope so.

One thing I don't wan't to do is spoil any of the gags and there is plenty of them from begining to end most take you unawares. Even the preface is funny as Douglas describes how he came to write the book. This sets the tone for the whole book which is some ways is a look at liffe from a completely bizarre angle. It is interesting that the book sets out to describe life by in the first instance destroying all life to make way for a hyperspace bypass. Not giving away to much of the plot Arthur Dent is thrown into a journey that has him travelling through the stars after being helped to escape by his friend Ford Prefect who turns out is a visitor from another planet.

The author Douglas Adams was a genius his play with words and logic is hilarious and has you thinking at the same time. His alternate view of the world and life in general is best summed up in Marvin a robot with a genuine personality, in this case an extremly funny depressed view of the world.

I don't want to say any more as it would give to much away but if you have watched the movie or the series (the book is by far funnier) then this book is a must read along with the other four it is the funniest read since they invented the book.