Very clever "...the Best Bang since the Big One..."
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I'm not really a science fiction fan, which might go some way to explain why I only read this for the first time at the age of 28!
Born in the year of it's release, I remember being vaguely aware of the TV series, but had never watched it. This is a book that everyone has heard of. Even if you've never read it, it's one that's in your consciousness. I remember seeing the book in the library as a kid but passing it over as I thought it was "a boys book". (This was a girl who wanted to read Anne of Green Gables and Little Women).
I wish I had read this as a pre-teen. Although some of the humour and observations made in the book would be appreciated by adults, on a different level, it is written in a pre-teen style.
Hitchhiker's is a lot of fun. It's silly, comical and satirical. It also makes some fascinating and pertinent observations on politics, beauracracy, philosophy and human nature in general. Douglas Adams was clearly a hugely intelligent, perceptive man and a great conceptual thinker. Obviously, written in 1979, some of his references are a little outdated - such as the digital watches; and of course the Guide itself exsists today, in the guise of an on-line encyclopaedia such as Wikipedia! However, despite this, many of the ideas in the book have stood the test of time.
I would definitely recommend this book, even if you're not a sci-fi fan. As sci-fi goes, it's more Red Dwarf than John Wyndham. Adams is a cracking comedy writer and some of the lines in the book are hilarious. I now look forward to reading The Restaurant at the End of the Universe".
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Dont panic just buy read and enjoy
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I read these books ( please get all of them ) every year and they never fail to make me smile or enrich my life. So many wonderful ways to approach the mysterys of the universe and make it fun. It should be in every school and part of every teenagers life. Mr Adams , thank you , wherever you are. This ranks with Spike Milligans war memoise, the Pythons and The Simpsons.
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Revisiting a classic
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I re-read the Hitchiker's Guide over the summer while on holiday and had an interesting reaction. I first read it in my teens and thought it was a masterpiece, side-splittingly funny. It became the originator of a host of catchphrases among my circle of friends and we circulated dog-eared copies around our school until everyone seemed to be a fan. Revisiting it, I found it slightly annoying and repetitive, somehow. Maybe I've become an old bore. The repeated, completely random interruption of fate became the very opposite of itself - slightly predictable. There are still some wonderful moments and the dialogue bears up well, but on the whole, it felt like something best left in my early teens. One interesting thought - the Guide itself is a massive computerised reference book, updatable by users. Surely it's the precursor of Wikipedia and all things Wiki-related?
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A classic and very funny.
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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a classic, cult space caper, which follows the adventures of Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect and Zaphod. Although I usually avoid Sci-Fi, but I found it still possible to enjoy it for it's humour value. Of course it can get a little irritating (some funny devices are repeated until their humour decreases) but usually Douglas Adams's talent overweighs the negatives.
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Recommendable..
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"The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy", written by Douglas Adams, is a humorous and original novel. The book is targeted to a very wide audience. Pre-teens to adults may enjoy this book.
This novel is all about Arthur Dent who is saved from planet Earth by his strange friend Ford Prefect. Arthur flees as Earth is being destroyed by the Volgons (an alien race). Ford turns out to be an alien from the distant planet of Betelgeuse.
Ford was a hitchhiker that travelled the galaxy by hitching rides and writing entries for the book he helped create, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". The book was a guide for people travelling the galaxy.
Soon after, the pair are picked up by the 2 headed, 3 armed President of the Imperial Galactic Government named Zaphod Beeblebrox. Beeblebrox managed to acquire a state of the art ship called the Heart of Gold. The ship's crew has 3 other members: Trillian (a female human), Marvin (the computer) and a very paranoid Android.
They set out to find a supernatural planet which has been in doubt of existence. The planet was the heart of the ancient galaxy. What they find is breathtaking. A whole reawakening planet who has been in preserve for hundreds of millions of years, all for one question, the question which the 2nd most powerful computer will answer that very day.
This is a fascinating book with some very amusing parts. The story is almost always lively and will not bore you. It gives you a very different and fictional outside perspective on life. This book is written unlike any other book. However its only downside is that, although very funny, it does not have a distinctive plot and tends to wander a lot. This is its strength in some ways but also it's weakness as it sometimes it gets away from the point. On the whole a very entertaining and interesting read.
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