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In this collection of novels, Arthur Dent is introduced to the galaxy at large when he is rescued by an alien friend seconds before Earth's destruction, and embarks on a series of amazing adventures with his new companion.
GaryPatella: Although the plots and writing styles are very distinct, it seemed to me like Douglas Adams and Joseph Heller had a similar sense of humour. I think that those who enjoy the humour in Hitchhiker's Guide will also enjoy the humour of Catch-22.
bluehooloovo: Humor in space! They're practically soul-mates, though Starfighters is a Star Wars book, with all that entails. But Aaron Allston really brings the funny, though it's a different kind of funny than most of Adams's.
bluehooloovo: Neil Gaiman wrote the introduction to this omnibus, and I think that most Adams fans will find a kindred spirit in Gaiman and enjoy his books.
Having re-read this book for the first time in ~20 years, I'm struck with how unfunny this book (well, the books inside of this omnibus) is. I shouldn't have re-read it, and instead let it linger in my memory as a hilarious tome. I don't know if it's because I'm older, or times have changed, or what, but this book just sucked. And Trillian is literally the worst female sci-fi trope. ( )
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. ( )
The series as a whole is excellent, and having all 5 novels together makes it super convenient. The descriptions Adams uses throughout are comical and make for a funny and enjoyable read. I personally thought that the series sagged a bit plot-wise in the middle, but the descriptions alone make it worth reading all of. ( )
Introduction: A GUIDE TO THE GUIDE The history of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is now so complicated that every time I tell it I contradict myself, and whenever I do get it right I'm misquoted.
The house stood on a slight rise just on the edge of the village. It stood on its own and looked out over a broad spread of West Country farmland. Not a remarkable house by any means—it was about thirty years old, squattish, squarish, made of brick, and had four windows set in the front of a size and proportion which more or less exactly failed to please the eye.
Quotations
Don't panic.
"You'd better be prepared for the jump into hyperspace. It's unpleasantly like being drunk."
"What's so unpleasant about being drunk?"
"You ask a glass of water."
"Well," said Ford, "if we're lucky it's just the Vogons come to throw us into space."
"And if we're unlucky?"
"If we're unlucky," said Ford grimly, "the captain might be serious in his threat that he's going to read us some of his poetry first."
Resistance is useless! (Vogon soldier shouting)
Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly hugely mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space.
Life! Don't talk to me about life. (Marvin the Paranoid Android's refrain)
Curiously enough, the only thing that went through the mind of the bowl of petunias as it fell was Oh no, not again. Many people have speculated that if we knew exactly why the bowl of petunias had thought that we would know a lot more about the nature of the Universe than we do now.
"All right," said Deep Thought. "The Answer to the Great Question..."
"Yes...!"
"Of Life, the Universe and Everything..." said Deep Thought.
"Yes...!"
"Is..." said Deep Thought, and paused.
"Yes...!"
"Is..."
"Yes...!!!...?"
"Forty-two," said Deep Thought, with infinite majesty and calm.
There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.
There is another which states that this has already happened.
"Look," said Zaphod, "I'm up to here with cool, okay? I am so amazingly cool you could keep a side of meat in me for a month. I am so hip I have difficulty seeing over my pelvis. Now will you more before I blow it?"
If you've done six impossible things this morning, why not round it off with breakfast at Milliways, the Restaurant at the End of the Universe? (Milliways advertising slogan)
"Funny," he intoned funerally, "how just when you think life can't possibly get any worse it suddenly does."
The average Vogon will not think twice before doing something so pointlessly hideous to you that you will wish you had never been born - or (if you are a clearer minded thinker) that the Vogon had never been born.
In this collection of novels, Arthur Dent is introduced to the galaxy at large when he is rescued by an alien friend seconds before Earth's destruction, and embarks on a series of amazing adventures with his new companion.
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