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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
I am very late to the Hitchhiker series of books having just read this one a week or so ago. In fact, I saw the movie before reading this book. That being said, I can see what my friends have been recommending all these years. This is a very funny novel, very inventive and will stretch your imagination. One caveat would be if you know you don't like the British sense of humor, this book probably won't work for you.Though it made me laugh a lot and shake my head at its ingeniousness, it gets 4 stars because of some basic problems in that there is virtually no character development and the plot is razor thin. But it's a short book and easy to read and very funny.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's guide is an excellent story about a man named Arthur Dent and his adventures through the galaxy. The book has many interesting twists and turns along with large amounts of dry humor mixed in. The word play and puns quickly catch the readers' attention and hold it there throughout the book. And although the book is occasionally confusing, the wit and energy quickly ensnares the reader all over again. I would recommend this book to anyone who needs refreshment from the clichéd books they have come to know. Let Hitchhiker's dry humor, wit, and just plain compelling story line sweep you away.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
This edition (with the Movie poster on its cover) of The Hitchhiker's Guide is a novelization from the MOVIE SCRIPT!!! It is NOT the FULL Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. To get the real effect you need to read the true, full edition of the book. Get "The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide," which includes the entire series in one place for less than twice the price.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Earthman Arthur Dent and his spaz alien friend "from somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse" (12) Ford Prefect are each chugging three pints of bitter in an English pub prior to Earth's destruction. Able to hitchhike aboard passing interstellar crafts, Ford, a writer for "the most remarkable book ever to come out of the great publishing corporations of Ursa Minor (6)--The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy--saves his friend Arthur from its destruction and into the clutches of a Vogon Constructor Fleet, or rather, into the clutches of the insidiously inane personalities of the Vogon aliens. Whether a gift or a curse, Arthur is soon able to understand Vogon speech (and particularly awful poetry, including the wrenched poem beginning with "O freddled gruntbuggly..." [60]) due to "probably the oddest thing in the Universe" (55)--the Babel Fish. Considering the Vogon's ill-temperament towards hitchhikers, the unlikely duo are soon jettisoned into the expansive vacuum of space, which "...is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly hugely mindboggingly big it is" (70).With the probability of 2276,709 to 1 against being rescued by a passing craft, the two are normalized within the confines of the stolen starship, The Heart of Gold, which had been stolen by the Zaphod Beeblebox, the President of the Galaxy. The ship with the Infinite Improbability Drive is crewed by the widely eccentric president, his Section ZZ 9 Plural Z Alpha-native tag-along Trillian (Tricia McMillan), and the paranoid android himself, Marvin. Unbeknownst to even himself, Zaphod is out to find Magrathea, the industry specialist of "custom-made luxury planet building" (102).Their initial welcoming consisting of guided missiles, the ship turns on its Improbability Drive and is randomly shifted to the surface of the same planet a whale had recently descended upon in an amazing free-fall of self-discovery and splattered blubber, the occurrence their landing on the same planet 8,267,128 to 1 against. The seemingly abandoned surface and derelict innards of the planet factory's office give rise, after an unfortunate bout of gassing, to the wondrous facilities of the factory in full swing. Just who are benefactors of the colossal project, what are their objectives, and how in good name of fjord engineer Slartibartfast will the quartet escape to The Restaurant at the End of the Universe?------------The tumultuous cavalcade of silliness is typically unrelenting; something which can't be said for the remaining four books, in my memory serves me correctly. Arthur should be described as a protagonist if he wasn't also the whipping boy for the more free-willed, free-wheeling Zaphod and Ford. Arthur plays the silent role, more in the novel for comic relief at the expense of the monkey-like humans and their pathetic planet than for his sheer diligence, social prowess or keen insight. It's Arthur's role as lost boy amid the galaxy with a couple of crazies that's the most entertaining bit in the premise. Sadly, like mentioned above, Arthur seems to be left out or seems to have taken a passive, backseat role. Some resulting sections of "coincidences" are simply too random to be funny and borders more on absurd than witty. This absurdity over wittiness is more prevalent in the sequel: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
I LOVE IT!!!! I have always enjoyed this series as a totally nonsensical rambling about the universe, life and everything. It has provided me with many hours of laughs and chuckles!!!! The volume under reeview has a insightful history of this series, movies, tV and the author. Ts gives the reviewer and other fans a good background into the mind and thoughts of the author. Fun is the word and fun is the goal of this series as it has developed through the decades. I still wonder about the mind of this author who could come up with such delightful nonsense. But who cares; it is fun!
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
I had high hopes for this edition of HHGG, but I was really not impressed at all. There is a lot of interesting history and other behind the scenes type information about the book, but when it comes to the section with the book itself, they use huge borders around the text, leaving the readable area about the size of a trade paperback. That makes it very distracting and awkward to read. Also, I had somehow gotten the impression that all three books were included in this edition, much like the Ultimate HHGG. However, it is just HHGG and not the two sequels. I'm not factoring that into my review as I went back and read the description and didn't see anything mentioning it containing all three, but I wanted to point it out in case anyone else mistakenly had the same assumption I did. I'll probably keep this just for the extra information about the author and franchise, but I'm going to be purchasing a copy of the Ultimate HHGG as well.