The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Dit boek is geen dijenkletser, het heeft een veel subtieler soort humor, waar niet iedereen van houdt. Ik vind het echter geweldig. Het is bizar, sarcastisch en enorm goed geschreven. Geen snackboekje, maar een zeer pikante vijfsterren maaltijd door een topkok die absoluut zijn dag had.

Arthur Dent was an average British fellow. He had an average job, average friends, and he often visited an average bar not far from his average home to have some less than average drinks. He lived on an average little blue planet that he and the other members of his average species liked to call Earth. It wasn't until a far more superior species of life forms known as Vogons destroyed his home planet in The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy with their overly gigantic yellow ships that he realized that he may or may not be slightly more than average. His seemingly average friend, Ford Prefect, was, it turned out, from the faraway planet known as Betelguese, and had been trapped on Earth for the past fifteen years. Even more show more surprisingly, Ford Prefect was not even his real name--he had abandoned his original name that could only be spoken in a Betelguese tongue, and with the little information he had discovered about Earth, deemed the title of a British car model to be "nicely inconspicuous." Ford efficiently assisted in thrusting Arthur into completely unknown territory when they riskily boarded one of the Vogons’ giant yellow ships.

And so began a new chapter in Arthur Dent’s life, one full of flying ships and disgustingly hideous aliens (most notably, the two-headed president of the universe, Zaphod Beeblebrox) and space time continuums and oftentimes some selectively better than average bars (with more than average prices). Amidst this quest an overarching question loomed over his and all of his allies’ heads--the meaning of life, the universe, and everything. And they were not looking for the answer (an astoundingly high-tech supercomputer had spent billions of years calculating that the answer was in fact forty-two), but the question that would correctly produce the answer in a satisfactory way (“What is 6 times seven?” did not seem to suit their needs.). As he learned the ways of time-travel and the probability axis (really complicated stuff, you know), he also began to yearn to once again return to his home planet, Earth.

The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy saga by Douglas Adams is a thrillingly greater than average story. Readers never know what they are going to find next, from the humorously satisfying to the laughably inappropriate to the completely and utterly random. Also, with no shortage of action, comedy, romance, and science fiction themes, this is a thoroughly entertaining read for fans of many genres. It is extremely well-written, the details are plentiful and well described, and Douglas Adam flexes his expert writing prowess by fluently weaving vague sarcastic remarks and humorous numbers into the intricate bindings of a very serious yet comical plot. Any negative remarks by ignorant critics should be dismissed due to the obvious supreme intelligence and skill of this author. I would award this book five stars out of five. It is a remarkably profound tale that can still be understood by the majority of reading levels, from the avid and intelligent reader to the less enthusiastic audience. Douglas Adams is certainly a man who always “knows where his towel is.” show less

One of the grandfathers of sci-fi comedy, The Hitchhiker's Guide series is irreverent and yet reflective, pondering some of life's greatest questions, such as how to get rid of a hangover, keeping safe while traveling through space, and if god is dead, who killed him? I love returning to this series, and would probably be able to give it a 5 star rating if I was not American.

I made the mistake of reading all five books one after the other. Near the end of the third book it started feeling like a chore (too many things that don't make sense in language that's trying a bit too hard to be clever). My reaction proved to be too soon, though, cause I straight up fell in love with the mundanity of the fourth book. The fifth one felt it had a lot going on, and I was worried a few chapters near the end cause too many subplots were happening simultaneously, and then bam!, it just... ends. So bleak. So sad. I need to read Eoin Colfer's reversal book. For Zark's sake.

Clássico insuperável da ficção científica absurda e humorada, em 5 livros. Exceto o quarto, mais comedido, os outros são obras primas, que cheias de arbitrariedade hipercaótica, episódios deus ex machina e saídas extremamente improváveis, conseguem ainda assim serem muito consistentes e entre-costuradas, cheios de retomadas espirituosas e com um sentido de progressão narrativa surpreendente.

Revisitei na versão audiolivro, lida pelo próprio autor.

This is one of those books that I can't believe I've waited soo long to read. Honestly, it's a bit of a travesty that I waited nearly 27 years of my life to get around to reading this. I made the fortunate decision to listen to the audiobook version narrated by Douglas Adams himself and I was not disappointed. He perfectly captured the essence of his work with his fast paced, British, odd humored narration. Perfection. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is the first of its series and hilariously recounts the adventures of Arthur (a human earthling) and Ford (an experienced alien hitchhiker) as they try to muddle their way around the galaxies. Ridiculousness abounds. Excellent, tongue in cheek book and I can't wait to read the next in show more the series. show less

I've only read book one "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", and I thoroughly enjoyed it. A human unwittingly winds up a galactic hitchhiker, and of course meeting lots of aliens along the way. An absolutely crazy story, at times babbling gibberish and at other times you feel as if you almost have genius within your grasp, but are frantically grabbing air as you try to catch yourself. It's okay. Just go with it.

There were lots of little passages that made me chuckle, or perhaps just cock my head in wonder, and this book introduced me to what may become my favorite book passage of all times.

My final word: This book sort of makes me think of Saturday Night Live. I heard that Jeremy Renner called Jon Hamm for advice on appearing on the show more show. Jon Hamm suggested that Renner simply let loose and go with it. You can't take yourself too seriously or be self-conscious, or it just won't work and will come off awkward and uncomfortable. Just give into the childishness. This book is like that. An utterly ridiculous and preposterous story with moments of childish brilliance. A fun ride, and I look forward to the rest of the collection. show less