Clever and funny but does not stand alone successfully. ( )

The sequel to the famed _Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_, in some respects I loved _Restaurant at the End of the Universe_ even more than it's predecessor, although both make the list of my all-time favourite books. Adam's hilarious narration makes these books a pure delight to read, they are full of comparisons, non-sequiturs and dialogue that will make you laugh. The plot is fast-paced, full of zany action and completely unpredictable turns. There's no telling where anyone (or anything!) will end up, but you're sure to laugh a lot on the way.

_Restaurant_ opens with an interstellar chase as the Vogons attempt to destroy the last of planet Earth - namely the last two human beings, Arthur Dent and Trillian. Arthur escaped the destruction of Earth via his friend Ford Prefect, an alien hitchhiker conducting field research for the _Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_, and Trillian had left the planet six months before that with the charismatic Zaphod Beeblebrox, the then President of the Galaxy.

Arthur, your typical Englishman, manages to freeze up all their ship's computers by requesting it to make tea for him, just before the Vogons launch their attack. This is bad (for Arthur, not the Vogons) and leads to an impromptu seance. ("Possibly the horror that Zaphod experienced at the prospect of being reunited with his deceased relatives led on to the thought that they might just feel the same way about him and, what's more, be able to do something about helping to postpone this reunion." - p.13)

The first half of the book focuses on Zaphod, and as he is an entertainingly charismatic, ego-filled hipster this is by no means a bad thing. Zaphod finally learns why he mutilated parts of his own brains (as was revealed in the previous book) and ends up on a quest, of sorts, though not because he wants to be. Marvin the Paranoid Android tags along with him and his hilariously depressing (yes, you read that correctly.)

In the second half of the book Arthur and Ford find themselves on a starship that appears to have a lot of dead hairdressers and telephone sanitizers stuffed in the cargo holds. When they get captured by the starship's security personnel it leads to some of the most hilarious dialogue between an overzealous guard, a very laid back captain (who in fact never even gets out of the bath) and a very confused Arthur Dent.

There's so much more I could say about this book, there are so many funny bits I would love to describe - from the restaurant of the title, to the ruler of the universe - but I don't want to give it all away, so I will wrap this up now by simply telling you to read this book. If you have any sense of humour at all you will love it. 5/5 ( )

As great as everything else Douglas has written. But still..: This is a review of the Restaurant At The End Of The Universe
(AUDIO CD rendition).The Book is fantastic! Totally hilarious. A welcome sequel to
any first-time reader of HGTG. The CD set consists of five (5)
CDs, and the story is read by Douglas Adams (the author) himself.
For anyone not familiar with the voice of DA, his reading,
inflections, and ease in switching voices during dialog passages
adds greatly to the presentation. The CD does have some
'electronically-modified' voices (Marvin & the ship's computer,
for instance), but they're all Douglas Adams, and he makes
it quite difficult not to laugh out loud while listening.
It's also pretty hard not to consume the whole book at one
sitting. My two complaints on this media presentation are that it is
simply a straight transfer to CD of Douglas Adams'
CASSETTE-TAPE recordings. They didnt even remove all of the
'End of Side' notations from the original. Imagine that
you're listening to the story, and in the *middle* of a
disc, you hear Douglas say "End of side TWO". Then the story
continues. I also have to mention my biggest
beef with this presentation (as with ALL of the CD renditions)
which is that each disc is comprised of only ONE track!
You cannot jump forward or backward by chapters. If you
cannot listen to an entire disc at one sitting (about an hour),
then you cannot resume midway if you happen to stop the disc.
In this regard, the cassette-tapes excel over the CD renditions.Considering that Douglas was pretty-much a techno-hound, I think
he'd be pretty disgusted that his works were being stamped-out
in such a shoddy fashion.All-in-all, the book is as good as, if not better than,
the HITCHHIKERS GUIDE. Adams fanatics will love it. It's a
book that demonstrates that DA was an accomplished wordsmith,
and that he spent considerable time and effort to add hundreds
of subtle cross-references between passages that cannot be
caught at first reading (listening). In this regard, you'll
find something new each time you consume this book.

The first sequel to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy feels tired and mediocre, and the characters are quite dull. ( )

I took my time to start the second book in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series but I enjoy these books so much that I want to space them out so that I know I have the next one to look forward to! Makes sense?

I found that in this book things start to make a bit more sense and you discover that there was actually a reason why Zaphod Beeblebrox stole the Heart of Gold, although you don't find that out from him. The Frogstar Fighters are out to get him and this leads to a series of adventures for Zaphod, Ford, Arthur and Trillian. Oh yeah and Marvin too, who is as depressing as ever but is still there to save the day.

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe is just as amusing and fun as the first one in the series, some of the comparisons that Adams makes are just hilarious. The description of the Vogons in the beginning is too funny and really had me laughing out loud, I had to go back to it a few times just to read it over again. What I like most about these books however is that I never know what is going to happen next, you just don't know what to expect!

The ending left me curious as to what happened to some of the characters and now I can't wait to get to the next book! ( )

felt like dragged on, marvin brilliant as always(now always picture alan rickman lol) ( )

not as good as the first book but its still a really good laugh and full of the humour that Adams is known for. ( )

After loving Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I was mega-disappointed in this book. It took me a long time to get through and I found it plodding. Although I still like the characaters Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect and the ending gambit about Scrabble and the meaning of life is funny, and it bodes well for the third book in the series (which I haven't decided to read yet) overall, it was an OK book at best. ( )

The second book in Adams' "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe" trilogy, the ironic humor continues and the laughs just keep on coming. I think that there are two kinds of people in the world, people who "get" Adams and people who don't, and I consider myself lucky that I am one of them. : ) ( )

I didn't find it as good as the first one but it was still amusing and kept me interested throughout. I love Adam's humor and the complex ideas that he conceives. ( )

This is even funnier than the first book. I, in particular, was highly amused by Marvin the emo robot, and the fact that the restaurant is when the Universe ends in time, not at the far physical reaches. ( )

I read this solely out of curiosity. The first book had such an open ending I felt compelled to read on. Adam's is possibly one of the best literary minds I have ever read. I'm entertaining reading the rest of the series. ( )

Good continuation of Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy.

The wonderful second installment of the Hitchhiker series, "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe" succeeded in burrowing into my subconscious better that any other book in the history of the written universe. Though I swore up and down I had never read this book before, once I began, I had a serious and unshakeable prolonged feeling of deja vu. The images are fantastic, and the humor, as always is persistant and odd. Wonderfully odd. ( )

I enjoyed the book, but I can't say I'm blown away by it as much as other people claim to be. A nice read between other books if you've got time to spare. ( )

http://books.moonsoar.com/archives/20... ( )

Second of the series, again a breakfast read-aloud. It's a great start to the day if you've got the kids not only laughing but discussing complex stuff. Camden's using a page from this for his read-aloud assignment in school. He's practiced enough so he doesn't burst into laughter in the middle of it, though he can't quite keep from grinning. ( )

Personal favorite....purchased used hardcover copy to replace tattered paperback from my high school years. Was steered to the series by Ms. Bauer (JB), one of the best teachers I've had.

The second book in the Hitchhiker Trilogy takes place immediately after the first book concludes. The group of characters featured in the first book split up, with Zaphod finding out that he is the heart of a conspiracy to discover the true ruler of the universe (despite being president of the galaxy, it isn't him - specifically because he is president, and anyone who would want to be president shouldn't have any actual power). After some twists and turns Zaphod winds up at the Restaurant of the title with the others, and they all steal a ship.

The ship turns out to be unalterably programmed to dive into a star, and everyone (except Marvin, who stays behind to operate the machine) uses a teleportation device to escape. Zaphod and Trillian find the ruler of the universe. Ford and Arthur find themselves on an alien ship that crashes on prehistoric Earth - and discover that the aliens displaced the indigenous life on the planet becoming the actual ancestors of humanity. This, of course, disrupted the Earth's functioning, meaning that the question for which "42" is the answer may never be solved - Arthur discovers this when he tries to unravel what the correct question would be and gets the result "what is six times nine".

Of the five books, this and the first are the best. The humor is funny without being frivolous, the satire is biting without becoming too nasty. As with all of the books, the plot serves as little more than a frame on which to hang jokes, satire, and comments on the absurd nature of the universe, but those elements are brilliantly well-done in this book. ( )

I found it harder to get into this book than THGttG, but once I finally got involved, it was funny. It's typical Adams humor, and at times you find yourself numb to it, but still there are quite a few laugh out loud moments in this book. Adams is witty as hell and I'm looking forward to Book 3. Especially since they think 6x9=42. ( )

Reading the second Hitchhikers book leads me to a conclusion - Douglas Adams is the master of the anti-climax. Climactic events are something he goes out of his way to avoid. If they have to happen, then everyone just ignores it anyway, or orders another round of drinks... Reading the second Hitchhikers book leads me to a conclusion - Douglas Adams is the master of the anti-climax. Climactic events are something he goes out of his way to avoid. If they have to happen, then everyone just ignores it anyway, or orders another round of drinks. ( )

Having read the first one, you know I had to keep going….it’s been several months since I read Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and I have to say, I didn’t enjoy this one as much…but I think that’s because it ended so abruptly (or at least it felt that way to me). I’ll certainly keep going…this one was every bit as amusing and fun as the last. I think this is one of the few books I would LOVE to hear as an audio book…I think the Adam’s writing lends itself to that medium very well. I would recommend this without hesitation…but you have to read them in order I think to really understand the story, these are not stand alone volumes. ( )

Not quite as good as Hitchhiker's, or am I just used to the humor by now? I don't know.

I still enjoyed this but can't say I loved it as much as the first book. ( )

Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz, of the Galactic Hyperspace Planning Council, does not like to leave a job unfinished. He was hired to demolish the Earth and is therefore personally offended by the continued existence of two humans, Arthur Dent and Tricia McMillan (AKA Trillian). When Jeltz sets out to destroy the Heart of God, Eddie, the shipboard computer, is too occupied working out how to make tea to be of any use to his passengers: Arthur, Trillian, Ford Prefect, Zaphod Beeblebrox, and Marvin. After a quick phone call to the deceased Zaphod Beeblebrox the Fourth, Zaphod Beeblebrox the Nothing saves the day and finds himself safely in a nightclub. Adams, whose style will appeal to fans of Monty Python’s improvisational humor and Lewis Carroll’s contrived word play and logic, leads us on a romp to discover who really is running the universe. The storyline follows Zaphod’s quest to bring the Heart of Gold to Zarniwoop, or rather the quest of that portion of Zaphod that burned its initials into both his brains before locking off both itself and its reasons and then disappearing. Along the way, we encounter the Total Perspective Vortex, an exceptionally late Transteller Cruise Lines’ ship, the amiable "Dish of the Day" bovine, and a man spending the year dead for tax reasons. This installment of the cult classic ends ripe for a sequel. The current Zaphod could care less about the former Zaphod’s quest; Arthur and Ford are stuck with the Golgafrincham on pre-historic Earth; and Marvin is left alone to complete the spectacular finale sundive for the universe’s loudest rock band. Although The Restaurant at the End of the Universe diverges more from the original radio series that the first book, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the plot, events, and humorous digressions will still be largely familiar to fans of the radio series.

Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz, of the Galactic Hyperspace Planning Council, does not like to leave a job unfinished. He was hired to demolish the Earth and is therefore personally offended by the continued existence of two humans. Adams, whose style will appeal to fans of Monty Python’s improvisational humor and Lewis Carroll’s contrived word play and logic, leads us on a romp to discover who really is running the universe.

http://home.comcast.net/~ktoonen/summ... ( )