The Hitchhikers' Guide To The Galaxy

[DATo]

I'll add my recommendations of the series. I've read the books several times and still pick up little bits of irony through each read. The style does change with the later books, though. You can tell the first two were pulled almost directly from the radio series. The later books I think are a little more structured like novels. Adams' Dirk Gently books, whilst very different from Hitchikers, are also worth looking over. steve

It was no secret that much like Arthur Conan Doyle, Douglas Adams was burnt out on 'Hitchhiker' early in the game. As you read the later books you get the impression that he was struggling to come up with output. Many of his later books included plots involving surrealistic stories about toothbrushes, pens, sofas coffee cups ect .... you get the impression that he just looked around his rooms and wrote about the first thing he saw. Amazing as it seems even these otherwise inane attempts to invent a story resulted in some of his best writing.

[steve p]

I'll add my recommendations of the series. I've read the books several times and still pick up little bits of irony through each read. The style does change with the later books, though. You can tell the first two were pulled almost directly from the radio series. The later books I think are a little more structured like novels. Adams' Dirk Gently books, whilst very different from Hitchikers, are also worth looking over. steve

It was no secret that much like Arthur Conan Doyle, Douglas Adams was burnt out on 'Hitchhiker' early in the game. As you read the later books you get the impression that he was struggling to come up with output. Many of his later books included plots involving surrealistic stories about toothbrushes, pens, sofas coffee cups ect .... you get the impression that he just looked around his rooms and wrote about the first thing he saw. Amazing as it seems even these otherwise inane attempts to invent a story resulted in some of his best writing.

Yes, I heard he suffered terribly from writer's block, not that I'm sure such a thing exists! Possibly it was a form of perfectionism, where nothing he wrote quite matched up to his aspirations. That, as well as the humour sub-genre being difficult to write well without sounding forced, probably made his writing life difficult.

[Redlegs]

I think the book is a bit over-hyped. I enjoyed the the first half or so, but I got bored with it eventually and couldn't wait to finish it. I think the fact that it wa swritten as radio play scripts contributes to the factthat it just doesn't hang together as a novel. I thought it deteriorated from funny to just plain silly.

[happyguy142]

Absolutely awesome book series! The latest movie was pretty good, they did an awesome job with the improbability drive.

From the looks of your post you haven't read it yet, but one thing to consider. The book is full of nonsense (in a good way) it's funny, makes you think, makes you question reality sometimes...I consider it one of my favorite books ever! In my opinion it's in a genre all of it's own.

I remember reading it as a summer reading book when I was in elementary school. I had already read it once before this and couldn't believe my eyes when it was one of the books in the list we could choose from.

If you haven't read it yet I wont go into any details but needless to say when I wrote down my notes about the book and handed them to my teacher I'm pretty sure she started questioning my sanity.

[LoniJo]

Okay, you've convinced me too.....I'm definitely going to read these books!

[Maud Fitch]

Read it with an open mind because it was written way before CGI bombarded our brains on the big screen.
It's one man's amazing thoughts put into words, mentally creating sci-fi imagery better than any computer.

[DATo]

Read it with an open mind because it was written way before CGI bombarded our brains on the big screen.
It's one man's amazing thoughts put into words, mentally creating sci-fi imagery better than any computer.

Yup .... what she said .... *Pointing up*.

[Carla Hurst-Chandler]

I concur (and LOVE the avatar, Maud)

[Evil Overlord]

Very funny, and definitely worth a read. They get progressively less funny as they go, but the first few books are great. In order of preference:

• the original radio scripts. I'm happy to say that I actually did hear this show on the BBC when it first appeared. Hilarious.
• the books - they're quite different from the radio show, but still very funny. In places, more than than the show. One of my favorite comedic moments of all time is when Ford and Arthur are about to die, and Ford wishes he'd listened to what is mother said.
• the movie/TV show - I frankly just didn't find these that funny, though I thought Martin Freeman was an inspired choice as Arthur.

I actually wrote a story at one point explaining the line "Oh no, not again" - only to find that it actually is explained by Adams in the only book I never got around to reading. For those interested in my version, search for BMorrisAllen and Laboratory, or just look for ScrivenerialCatafalque. Very short, and only interesting for people who know the books.

Sadly, I didn't find that most of Adams' other work (Dirk Gently) measured up, but the Hitchhiker's Guide was genius.

[Bearsfan]

This is one of the few series that I have gone back to reread. Great fun!

[Carla Hurst-Chandler]

"It's times like these I wish I'd have listened to what my mother said."

What did she say?

"I have no idea...I wasn't listening."

[rekha123]

Hillarious book!