Kitabı okurken kahkahalarla güldüm ve bitirir bitirmez Douglas Adams evreninde tüketebilecek başka neler var diye internetin altını üstüne getirdim.

Otostopçunun Galaksi Rehberi, bana göre, bizim kendimizi pek dahil hissetmeyeceğimiz bir evrende aptallığın ve saçmalığın hakim olduğu bir tesadüfler silsilesi etrafında şekilleniyor. Bu evren bir absürt komedi için bile çok saçma, ama ahmaklık tüm karakterlerin ortak noktası ve bu o kadar tanıdık ki, hayata bakışımızdaki ciddiyet perdesini biraz olsun aralıyor.

Douglas Adams kıvrak zekasını sonuna kadar kullanıyor. Okuyucuyu ters köşeye yatırmayı seviyor. Esprilerde yaptığı beklenmedik vurucu tespitlerle kalmıyor, her noktada bilim kurgunun sahip olduğu imkanları kullanmaktan çekinmiyor. Ama ne yaparsa yapsın sıradan olanın dışına çıkma konusunda müthiş başarılı. Örneğin zeki bir bilgisayara kişilik verdiğimizde ortaya Marvin çıkıyor ya da bir restorandaki hesap çözme probleminin yarattığı belirsizlik bistromatik seyir sistemi gibi icada dönüşüyor.

Beş kitabı bir arada okumak süreklilik anlamında iyi oluyor çünkü hiç beklenmedik noktalarda geriye referanslar görebiliyorsunuz. Öte yandan kitapların temposu epey farklı. Zaman zaman sıkıcı gelse de devam edin çünkü hiç bir alt hikayede oyalanmıyor yazar.

Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy (5-star)
What a blast! This zany, whacky, completely absurd story has a plot, a reason for being, a vision. It's so off the wall! I loved the absurdness and the way events came together so well, for all their craziness.
I have read this "trilogy" of 5 books many years ago. I've remembered so much of it incorrectly. I've forgotten even more than I remember. It's wonderful to have the zaniness brought back to life in this rereading.
Marvin is still my favorite character.

The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe (5 star)
Originally, this was my favorite scene in this entire book. I hope the Restaurant is as great as I remember it to be.
Update: Yes, it is. Milliway's (the restaurant at the end of the Universe) is still an amazing restaurant to visit. The concept is so imaginative and spectacular.
The rest of this book continues in the zany, wonderful unfolding of a very good story.

Life, The Universe and Everything (4-star)
The Room of Informational Illusions...…. brilliant! What a marvelous way to learn history.
The planet of Krikket….great story. A people who so cannot imagine a universe or others besides themselves who, when they learn of these things, feel the need to destroy anyone that is not them. They simply cannot imagine others. Also, I loved the reason why Earth is avoided and ignored by all the other planets and how it related to the planet Krikket.
The never-ending party!
A wonderful continuation of this series. Full of off-the-wall, zany situations and feats of logic.

So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish

I read most of this series when I was younger and had only one book left to complete it. I saw this gorgeous piece of paper and ink in the bookstore and knew it was finally time to finish her off. Since it had been so long in between I decided to give the first four a reread which is not my usual at all. I'm a read it once and move on kind of girl. I found the introduction to be super interesting because I had no idea there were so many different versions of this story out there and I do love a little behind the scenes fact sharing.

Here is my book by book review of this amazing collector's edition with a little canned cream corn talk mixed in for fun:

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (5 Stars)

My grandparents had a closet full of canned goods and books in their back bedroom and it was where I happened upon this book a quarter of a century ago (I’m old enough now that I can say ‘ol timer shit like that). The absurd amount of canned creamed corn was amazing to behold, but this book with its quirky cover was where it was at. I’m pretty sure I devoured it in no time and was ready for the next installment of Arthur Dent does the Universe.

n  This is the story of a man named Arthur Dent and what happens to him after a friend rescues him moments before Earth becomes no more. Hitchhiking across the universe with a towel in one hand and a ridiculously written guide in the other, with barely a moment taken to absorb each new and exciting thing that comes his way.n

I found the writing to be superb with the perfect blend of dry humor, sarcasm, wit and randomness that I love. The characters were stellar, and the story was out of this world (if you aren’t rolling your eyes after reading that sentence you should be).

Five stars to a book that is a gazillion times better than canned cream corn.


The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (4 Stars)

This was another back bedroom closet find. I had it and the next two in the series tucked away in a hidden corner. I did not have any of that damned canned cream corn though. Seriously, who eats that crap? By how untouched they looked in my grandparents’ closet, not even them. I would like to believe it was an end of the world decoy canned goods stash. I’m thinking a person could peel the labels and put them on the good stuff and use the label free cans as weapons or something.

n  Arthur Dent continues his adventures through space forwards, backwards and possibly even sideways with the same fun-loving bunch of characters plus a few not so fun-loving ones.n>
Another excellent read. It didn’t feel like a new book but a continuation of a story I was dying to hear more of. The writing maintained its excellence and the characters were still quite entertaining. I didn’t love this read as much as the first, but it did get the job done.

Four stars to a book that made me excited to have a secret closet even if it contained canned cream corn.


Life, the Universe and Everything (4 Stars)

Pretty sure I liked this book more than I did the previous one but not enough to equal a star. I would say maybe a smidge over a half. I did however like it more than the canned cream corn it shared shelf space with. You are probably asking yourself right now, “Is she going to keep bringing up that damn canned cream corn?” and the answer is hell yes because annoying can be entertaining when you are doing it to someone else.

n  Arthur’s adventures turn a bit more serious when protecting the universe from destruction becomes the name of the game.n

Another great book that kept the story going in a way that didn’t bore or become repetitive. The author’s voice has to be the absolute best part of all this series. For once I can say it wasn’t the characters that kept me coming back for more but the man behind the words. I got the feeling his written word matched the way he was in person and he most definitely was a person I would have loved to have met.

Four stars to a book that almost made me forget about the closet canned cream corn for a moment.


So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish (3 Stars)

This is the book that had a cover that stuck out in my mind just as much as the first book in the series did. This is also the book that began the downward spiral into lower star ratings. Even though I didn’t love it as much as I did the first three, (wait for it) I did love it more than my grandparents love canned cream corn (I am not sorry at all).

n  Arthur falls in love.n

Honestly, this one felt out of place. I didn’t want it or ask for it, and I sure as hell didn’t expect a mushy love story to fall into my lap when it did. The story that took place around it wasn’t bad but this dip into cootie pool was more than enough to contaminate it.

Three stars to a book that made me think about romance mixed with canned cream corn and man that is so freaking gross.


Mostly Harmless (3 Stars)

This was my welcome back to the series book after twenty-five years of doing the school, work, marriage, children and lots more work life. It had been on my list for a while and when I happened upon the collector’s edition I knew it was time. I must admit that it was a little odd seeing this book on a shelf without canned cream corn keeping it company.

n  Doing your own thing is the name of the game for Arthur until the universe happens again.n

This was my least favorite of all the books. The story wasn’t as entertaining, and I found myself putting it down to do other things. I can’t blame my rereading of the other’s first because devouring a book series in one gulp is kind of my thing. The characters were just as zany as before and I had zero complaints about the writing style. I think the fault was all in the plot and there just isn’t much you can do when that isn’t top notch.

Three stars to a book that is coming dangerously close to blending in with the canned cream corn at grandma’s house.


Young Zaphod Plays it Safe (3 Stars)

I was left wanting more after reading this. If this had been a full book and stayed on track with the path it was on I would have liked it more than the last two books in the series. It reminded me of how entertaining Zaphod could be and why he entertained me so in the first book. I'm torn on the rating because it was good but there wasn't enough there to satisfy me.

Three stars to a short story that make me want to throw canned cream corn at someone.

Great science fiction combined with comedy, You'll laugh all around.

De inicio todos los libros en uno solo, mas que genial.
Que se puede decir de esa colección de historias. Personajes memorables, situaciones de todo tipo, viajes espaciales y temporales, y un humor siempre presente.
Aventura, comedia, robótica, heroísmo, de todo hay, y siempre divertido.

Parts were and at times remain the height of funny, but there's a lot of trash in there (wtf was going on with the last book?). Certainly an old friend, read and reread literally countless times. Back when I ate a lot of acid, I'd curl up with this big hardback as the sun rose and those horrible hours of introspection, self-loathing and promises to improve oneself tried to kick in. Everyone ought read it, but that also means everyone *can* read it, which kind of reduces the allure.

Seriously, I would read anything he wrote, even his grocery lists.

Şimdi nereden başlasam nasıl anlatsam ne desem bilemiyorum bu kitap için. Standart bir bilim kurgu kitabı değil onu söylemem lazım. Çok satan, bilmem ne ödülü almış, kitaptan sonra hemen filmi yapılmış teknik terimlerle dolu kitaplardan hiç değil. Zaten terimleri sadece bu kitapta göreceğiniz türden.
Bir yol hikayesi denebilir mi? Evet, belki bu olabilir. Galaksinin herhangi bir yerinde geçen, arabalar yerine uzay gemilerinin olduğu, yolların zemininin olmadığı bir yol hikayesi denebilir.
Alıştığımız şekilde bir olay akışı hiç beklemeyin. Standart bir gidişat asla yok. Olasılıklar sonsuz ve her an her şey mümkün olabilir. Neden olmasın? Değil mi ama olabilir herşey. Hayal gücümüzü evrene bağlayabiliriz.
Yazılacak çok şey var ama ben şimdilik bu kadar yazabiliyorum. Baştan sona olayları kafamda tekrar oynatıyorum ve Douglas Adams'ın nasıl bir kafa yapısı ile bunları yazdığını düşünüyorum. Sadece esprili bir bilim kurgu yol kitabı yazmamış, aynı zamanda gönderme yapmak istediği konulara tek tek giydirmeyi de bilmiş. Hem farklı, hem komik hem de sürükleyici bir kitap bırakmış bizlere. Okuyunuz okutunuz diyorum.
Baskı ile ilgili olarak Alfa Yayınları bir kez daha takdirimi kazandı diyebilirim. Kitap kapağından cildine, puntosundan dokusuna kadar herşeyiyle çok iyi bir kitap hazırlamışlar. Mutlaka her kitaplıkta olması gereken çok güzel bir eseri, çok güzel bir sunumla sunmuşlar.

OK. Where do I start with this one. It's a doozy.

Let's first of all say that I think this is one of the best uses of the English language. It's right up there with, well, anything else. I mean, just read the sentences. He is a lot like Tolkien, in that he makes the words themselves the art. But where Tolkien will take English and make it into a lush, broad canvas, Mr. Adams turns English into a plaything. Let's put my last sentence another way: The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy is the literary equivalent of juggling chainsaws. You read it through the first time, and you have no freaking clue how he did that with those words.

OK, we got that out of the way. How bout the story now? Sure, that sounds good, Nick.

There is no plot.

For all of you who need one, I'm very very sory. But frankly, it's better that way. Life doesn't have a plot, right? You just sort of muddle through your week doing the best you can with what Life can throw at you. Well, that's the point with this. He takes the most regular guy, the guy you'd like to hang out with, someone decent that you can introduce to your sister. And then Adams throws him out into space and just sees what happens.

Certain parts of this book, especially at the beginning, are an adaptation of the BBC Radio programme aired in 1977, which was also written by Douglas Adams. And he wrote H2G2 episodically, but also with no clear goal in mind. So when his characters come to a problem, Adams had no idea what would happen to them until he wrote the solution. Some rather large pieces of the story stuck in H2G2 this way. This is most true in the earlier books in the Trilgy (yes, it's five books in a series; The trilogy is inaccurately named), when the writing is fresher and better.

But the best part of H2G2 (and all of DNA's books, frankly, even Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency) is his worldview. Basically, it's all about taking what life gives you with patience, humor, and tea. Yes, he was an Atheist (Yes, I'm a Christian whose favorite thinker/writer/guy was an Atheist. Calm down, calm down.), and he disliked people using ideas and beliefs as a crutch. This is the part where it's hard to really write a coherent review for me, because so many loved ones of mine (hi Mom and Dad) would see this as a Very Bad Idea. So why don't you shoot me an email, and we can have a discussion about it? Maybe sit down, and have some coffee and some nice nosh and chat? You'll get more and better ideas out of me that way. Anyways, I've just lost my train of thought, so I'll just say you'll love the part about the Vogon poetry.

And H2G2 is an inaccurately named trilogy, because it is composed of five books. I recommend reading them all at once, even though there's no plot and things in one book will sometimes contradict things in another. Anyways, this trilogy is still one of my favorites.

One of the funniest books, and one of my favourite, ever. Read it now - it's got good writing, great jokes and the meaning of life thrown in. What more could you want?

Misafir, tatil hazırlıkları, tatil derken nihayet bitirdim.

ilk başta bilim kurgu okumak bana göre değil diye düşünmüştüm ama ilerledikçe keyif almaya başladım. Arthur Dent kendimden çok şeyler bulduğum karakter ve Marvin, sevgili hüzünbaz robot.

Eğlenceliydi. :)

Love it so much

This is an awesome series of novels. I was hooked by the first one (which I had gotten as a standalone novel) and went on to buy this. I was not disappointed. Having all the books in one makes for a rather enjoyable read, since you know that when one book is over, you have the next one right there to read. The stories are zany, the ideas far-flung, and the answer to life completely not what you expect - even though that answer has been parodied several times in popular culture.