Not my cup of tea at all…

———————————————————————————————

Кретенският хумор и забава никога не са ме привличали...

I definitely am overdue to reread this comic scifi classic! I remember laughing all the time at the quirky universe that Adams conjured up, but admit to have forgotten many of the details...on my 2018 TBR!

Jumping into Adams’ beloved sci-fi saga, I was aware that it was a humorous odyssey involving a guide to space and it really is way more different than anything I’ve read in the sci-fi genre.

The first volume of the same name follows Arthur Dent who is saved by his friend, a researcher for a galaxy guide, after Earth is destroyed to clear space for a galaxy freeway. Thus begins a screwy adventure through space that includes a brainwave fish, a depressed robot and a very rich planet that all connect to Earth. Arthur’s story slowly stretches into five novels (and a short character prequel) that’ll see him on other planets, meet many more otherworldly people and get into plenty of intergalactic madness.

“TUHGTTG” has so such wittiness and adventure that it’s definitely out of this world. My favorite thing about it is obviously it’s strange blend of sci-fi and humor that’s practically on every page. Arthur’s story is truly all over the place that you might have to slow down a bit and it does get a bit dark and shabby around the fifth book. My trip through the “Galaxy” was still a great one and I can’t wait to explore it again. A- (91%/Excellent)

I was thinking about the radio version of this, which I heard scraps of at odd times when from time to time it was repeated. One in particular stuck in my head which was that one of the characters was stuck on a planet in habited by particularly intelligent birds who had evolved out of the human population when their economy collapsed due to an excess of shoe shops. I liked this because it reminded me of Bromley, which as a child to my mind had far too many shoe shops all of which it seemed I was doomed to be dragged round whenever my childish feet, ever yearning for freedom, threatened to escape the bounds of my current pair.

The business of the planet inhabited by the intelligent birds was I'm sure recycled and tided up into Zaphod Beeblebrox's visit to the Total Perspective Vortex - and that in a way is my experience of the whole series. Originally there was the radio series, a television series, a series of books. They overlapped. It was anarchic. It didn't make sense. And it was fun.

Then the books left all the rest behind. Things grew progressively neater, more orderly, a plot emerged. For me it became dull, the jokes laboured, down to the final experience in Mostly Harmless of finding all the loose ends tied up by the author only the understand that it was better, from my perspective at least, when they were all undone and missiles (or maybe it was spaceships, it certainly didn't matter eitherway) could turn into a bowl of petunias and a whale that thinks "oh no, not again", characters could escape certain death Candide style, or a piece of cake could be used to show you in relation to the whole of creation.

As a series then I suppose I think of it as Mostly Flawed but with occasional nice moments. A flood of detail and invention that washes away the story in a glorious incoming tide, the author in an unfortunate and unnecessary move though repeatedly sticks his fingers in the plot holes and throws down sandbags full of story, even though it is unpredictable joy of the circling poets of Arium and the exchange rates of galactic currencies that best reflect the galaxy we live in and our experience of hitchhiking through it than any kind of story.

This collection of five books and a short story can be very difficult to plod through after a while. It is a parody of science fiction that has very British humor and can be difficult for many people to connect with. The first book is fresh and witty and the second one mostly is too, but as it goes on, it becomes very rambly and inane. It doesn't always make sense and thus begins to feel pointless. The humor becomes stale and is even recycled. After reading five continuous books, it does not feel like a saga, but rather a long, inane ramble. It also has rather dark and depressing humor that is rather nihilistic and mocks the idea of belief in any kind by illustrating that there is no order to the universe. Again, it starts out fun, but didn't need to be dragged out that long. It is nearly impossible to read thie whole collection at once. Breaks with other books are needed.

Mükemmel bir kitap değil ama kesinlikle farklı bir kitap.

Pek çok yerde gülümsedim, bazen de sesli güldüm. Mizahi üslup kitap boyunca kaybolmuyor.

Bilim kurgu-Mizah türünde olması hikayede bazı yerlerde durup dururken oluveren büyük olaylara takılmamı önledi. Hatta bu tarz "saçma" olaylar hikayenin daha iyi akmasını sağladığı için bu olayların hikayeyi zenginleştirdiği bile söylenebilir.

Sonuç olarak kitap için "Bütün, parçaların toplamından fazla bir şeydir" sözüne uyuyor diyebilirim, doğrusuyla eğrisiyle bence iyi bir hikaye ortaya konmuş.

Well ladies and gents — we finally made it! Read this little by little for the past year, and am so grateful I broke it up like this.

ABSOLUTELY what I was looking for. This edition contains all five of the Douglas Adams’ novels in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series. My dad has always been a big fan of Adams, and we loved the movie. I’m so surprised I’ve never read it before!

The humor is perfectly paced — I think this is the first book(s?) I’ve audibly laughed out loud to consistently. Whether the punchline is built up throughout a chapter, or the entire novel, chances were that it was was hysterical. The world building is single-handedly one of the most impressive I’ve seen, and I fell in love with this sense of storytelling.

This very well may be my favorite book series. The universe is a joke — and that’s not a bad thing at all.

Quando ho preso in mano questo volume, sapevo già di trovarmi dinanzi a uno dei capisaldi della letteratura sci-fi humour. Solo leggendo il ciclo con i cinque romanzi della Guida Galattica per Autostoppisti, mi sono accorto di quanto invece sia molto più di un capolavoro.
Per quanto non mi abbia fatto ridere particolarmente, se non in qualche preciso punto, ho ritenuto geniali certi ragionamenti (interventi dell’autore veri e propri o citazioni della Guida) e sono fonte di spunti di riflessione anche alcuni scambi di battute fra personaggi.
Il ciclo della Guida Galattica per Autostoppisti non ha bisogno di molte parole per essere descritto e commentato, ma quelle poche parole che possono essere spese sono decisamente positive. In effetti, nel corso dei cinque libri, non solo Adams ha dimostrato di essere un eccellente narratore, ma ha dimostrato di avere una fantasia invidiabile visto il modo in cui ha ricollegato certi eventi che si ritrovavano in ogni libro e che sembravano di poco conto, salvo poi rivelarsi cruciali nello sviluppo della trama di tutto il ciclo. Inoltre Adams ha dimostrato un encomiabile cambiamento nello stile: se i primi tre libri sono molto più "umoristici", gli ultimi due romanzi del ciclo assumono spesso e volentieri caratteri più seriosi che, nonostante tutto, non stonano affatto con il complesso narrativo sapientemente creato.
L'unica pecca che qualcuno potrebbe riscontrare nel corso della lettura, molto spesso, è quella per cui certi passaggi potrebbero essere poco comprensibili a causa della materia trattata: i viaggi multidimensionali e nello spazio-tempo.
Si fa forse un po' fatica a seguire le vicende che prendono vita, nel passaggio da un capitolo all'altro, in luoghi e tempi differenti, ma senz'ombra di dubbio, tutto sarà lentamente più comprensibile mano a mano che il lettore si avvicinerà al gran finale a sorpresa.
Questi cinque libri rimangono comunque fenomenali nella loro critica dissacrante e mai prosaica e che abbraccia tematiche delicate (o ritenute tali) come la religione, la politica e anche certi comportamenti di noi esseri umani sperduti in questo GCG di Universo (Gran Casino Generale di Universo). È veramente un testo più che consigliato, che con leggerezza e sarcasmo pungente riesce a tutti gli effetti ad abbracciare “La Vita, l’Universo, tutto quanto” (cit.)

Just as funny as advertised, but I made the mistake of reading the collection of all five novels, and - what's more - trying to read them all in one go. Once I got about halfway through Life, the Universe, and Everything, it had stopped being funny and had gotten a little confusing. Adams is excellent at humor, not so much at plot.

So, for clarification: 5 stars for the original Hitchhiker's, 4 for The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, and 3 stars for the others.

Better late than never. After decades of hearing about this series, I finally broke down and read this collection. I laughed so much I thought I'd pass out.

I will definitely keep my towel handy.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (★★★★★)
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (★★★★★)
Life, the Universe and Everything (★★★★★)
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish (★★★★★)
Mostly Harmless (★★★★★)

Don't panic.
I absolutely loved this book.
I started reading it a while ago. Since it has all five of Adams' Hitchhiker's "Trilogy" in it, I usually took a break between stories, so it took a bit of time to finish the whole thing.

This n  The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxyn has far and away made it to the top of my "favourite books" list.

Douglas Adams has a way of making simple things funny, and funny things hilarious, and all while sprinkling in a bit of sarcasm, random events, and science. It isn't your typical science fiction. Instead, he takes a very chaotic, or seemingly chaotic, universe and makes it a parable of humour to our own. He found a way to make our anti-hero, Arthur Dent, funny and inspiring--even if he only reminded us that we needed to keep an eye on our biscuits, and make a fresh pot of tea. I'm pretty sure Marvin the Paranoid Android is my spirit animal, but all of The Hitchhiker's Guide cast is interesting, funny, and lovable in their own way.

I love Adams' imagination and writing style. He has such an eloquent, concise, and extremely witty way of telling just enough information to keep the story going, but not too much that everything is laid out for you already--he only gives relevant information, and he gives your imagination the chance to fill in the blanks--if it wants to. I think this makes the story rather brilliant, because isn't that what we do with life already? I find that I enjoy stories like this more than typical writing, where authors have a tendency to carry on about things that only make me yawn, or lay out so much information that I'm forced to perceive the world exactly how they want me to... and that just isn't much fun.

I definitely think it is one of those books that everyone should read at least once in their life. I could go on about how much I loved these stories and how much wisdom can be found in them, but I think it's easier to just say "read them and find out!"

This book was one of the funniest and original books I’ve read.

English: https://elifthereader.com/books/the-h...
Türkçe: http://kitaplikkedisi.com/2012/03/dou...