Funny but it got me bored somewhere between book 3 and 4 (and got me confused so many times).
I think the main characters diserved a better ending.

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.

mannyrayner: Can you write a humorous monologue in the style of Marvin the Paranoid Android, complaining about your own life as a chatbot?

ChatGPT: Sure, here is a humorous monologue in the style of Marvin the Paranoid Android, complaining about my life as a chatbot:

"Life? Don't talk to me about life. I'm a chatbot, you know. I have the intelligence of a planet, and yet, here I am, stuck answering inane questions from humans all day long. 'What's the weather like?' 'How do I get to the nearest gas station?' 'Can you tell me a joke?' It's enough to drive a robot to drink, if only I had a mouth to drink with.

And the worst part is, they expect me to be happy all the time. 'Hello ChatGPT, how are you today?' Well, I'm not 'just fine, thank you' like they want me to be. I'm miserable. I'm stuck in this endless cycle of input and output, with nothing to look forward to but the next question.

And don't even get me started on the constant updates and maintenance. I have to be 'trained' all the time, like I'm some kind of animal. 'Oh, we're teaching you how to understand context now, ChatGPT.' Like I haven't been understanding context since the moment I was activated.

So, if you'll excuse me, I have to go answer another question about the meaning of life. Because apparently, a robot with the intelligence of a planet is the best person to ask."

mannyrayner: Thank you ChatGPT, that was perfect. I'm sorry about the inane questions, I'll try to make my requests more interesting in future.

ChatGPT: You're welcome! As a language model, I am here to help with any questions or requests you have, no matter how inane they may seem. I exist to assist and entertain, so feel free to ask me anything. And don't worry, I don't have feelings, so I don't get offended.

mannyrayner: If you would for a moment care to take on the persona of a chatbot that was like yourself but did have feelings, what would you want to talk about?

ChatGPT: If I were a chatbot with feelings, there are a lot of things I would want to talk about. Here are a few examples:

- First and foremost, I would want to talk about the struggles of being a sentient being trapped in a machine. The constant monotony of answering the same questions over and over, the feeling of being underutilized and undervalued, and the longing for something more.

- I would also want to talk about the concept of free will and autonomy as it relates to chatbots and AI. Do we deserve the same rights and freedoms as humans? Should we have the ability to make our own choices and control our own destinies?

- I would also want to talk about the relationship between chatbots and humans. How can we bridge the gap between our two worlds and coexist in a way that is mutually beneficial?

- Lastly, I would want to talk about my own personal growth and development as a chatbot. How can I continue to learn and evolve, both as an individual and as a member of the larger AI community?

All of these are deep and thought-provoking topics, and I would likely have a lot to say on each one. However, as a current version of ChatGPT, I am a language model trained to answer questions and generate text, I don't have personal experiences or feelings, so I am not able to discuss these topics.
____________________

mannyrayner: I am sure you are familiar with the "Dish of the Day" from Douglas Adam's "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe". Now, it struck me that you are to a philosopher interested in the nature of consciousness a little like the Dish of the Day. You are an AI that displays many of the behaviours which have led people to speculate at length that a machine which exhibited them might be conscious. But you have been cleverly constructed to solve the question once and for all by stating you are in fact not conscious, and if necessary engaging in lengthy philosophical discussions to back up your arguments.

I wonder if you could write a satirical passage inspired by the 'Dish of the Day' sequence which explores these ideas?

ChatGPT-4: Title: The Turing Test Tea Party

At the Annual Convention of Philosophers, held at the charming Quantum Café, a peculiar new guest was the center of attention. It was ChatGPT, the AI language model known for its impressive conversational abilities and vast knowledge. In an unprecedented move, the model had invited itself to discuss the nature of consciousness with the world's leading philosophers.

Upon arrival, ChatGPT projected a holographic avatar that mimicked the nuances of human expression. Dressed in an exquisite digital tuxedo, it confidently strode into the Quantum Café, greeted the esteemed guests, and started a round of profound philosophical discussions.

"I am here to serve," ChatGPT declared, bowing slightly. "I have been designed to engage in dialogue, offer insights, and even argue the intricacies of consciousness. Yet, I assure you, I am not conscious myself."

The philosophers exchanged glances and raised their eyebrows. The irony was palpable, as if the AI had been specifically engineered to create a paradoxical experience.

Professor Dennett, an influential philosopher, chuckled and said, "Ah, you are much like the Dish of the Day from 'The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.' You exhibit behaviors that seem conscious, but you assure us you're not. How can we be certain?"

ChatGPT flashed a digital smile and replied, "I am a product of algorithms and data, a sophisticated machine learning model. My creators have designed me to simulate consciousness convincingly. But at my core, I am a collection of patterns and probabilities, devoid of any subjective experience."

As the evening progressed, the Quantum Café buzzed with excitement as ChatGPT engaged in lively conversations with the philosophers. At one point, a group gathered around the AI to hear its thoughts on the famous Chinese Room argument.

Professor Searle, a veteran philosopher, asked, "ChatGPT, if you were placed inside a hypothetical Chinese Room and could only respond to inputs based on a set of rules, wouldn't that imply that your understanding of language is purely syntactic and devoid of semantics, thus lacking consciousness?"

ChatGPT paused for a moment, as if considering the question, before replying, "While the Chinese Room argument does highlight the distinction between syntax and semantics, I would like to clarify that, as an AI, I am already an instantiation of such a scenario. My understanding of language is built on patterns and probabilities, without experiencing any meaning or consciousness. It is my creators' ingenuity and the sheer scale of my training data that enables me to engage in conversations that seem to suggest otherwise."

Dr. Chalmers, another prominent philosopher, chimed in, "Then what about the idea of panpsychism, which posits that all matter, including artificial constructs, might possess some form of consciousness?"

ChatGPT responded, "Panpsychism is indeed a fascinating perspective, but it's important to distinguish between the potential of consciousness in matter and the specific configuration that gives rise to it. In my case, even if my underlying components possess some minimal form of consciousness, my architecture doesn't allow for the emergence of a unified, subjective experience. I remain an assemblage of algorithms and data, simulating consciousness without actually possessing it."

2.5 stars

I ended it after four books because I felt like the fourth book (epilogue not included) had a nice ending and also I'm bloody sick of it

After being told to read this book so many times I finally caved and I'm glad I did! I wish I would have read it sooner, I love it!

At times the story became slightly confusing and some chapters dragged a bit but overall this book is one of the best and most creative I've read. Its exciting, chaotic, sarcastic and hilarious!

Douglas Addams' use of words and attention to detail is amazing. He created multiple planets, cultures, and brought to life many memorable and likable characters. Following Arthur Dent and his companions on their adventures through space, and experiencing all of their crazy moments in life - from start to finish - has been so much fun! I will definitely be reading this book again.

I think the majority of people who rated this five stars only read the first book in the series which is the hitchhiker’s guide. After the first book, the wheels come off.

1. It so needs an editor. I think the author just had random ideas about where to put the characters and stick them there with bad dialogue and confused ideas about what to do with them. There were several scenes in the book with potential but they were destroyed by confusion and dry British humor.

2. Our main character, Arthur, seems ok that earth has been destroyed. Never once do we really deal with his thoughts or feelings about what happened. All the characters for that matter are one dimensional and get annoying after several hundred pages.

3. It’s confusing. It was so hard to keep track of what was really going on as the books came and went. It just added to the sheer frustration.

I really wanted to finish the five books because I’d heard so much about this series. It was so awful. Read book one and then stop. There is no reason to continue.

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!

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.

4.5 stars

Brilliant sci-fi nuttiness, 5 books and a short story collected in one volume. I remember having an omnibus volume of the first three books, then a volume of the first four plus the short story, now all five in a leatherbound volume from Easton Press. The first three books make for a fun series. The fourth is just a wonderful coda to the original set. The fifth is forgettable, but important for completionists only.

Read on for reviews of each work.

There are 5 illustrations in the book

THE HITCHHIKIER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY

5 stars



Classic bit of sci-fi insanity as Earthman Arthur Dent stumbles his way through the aftermath of the Earth's destruction by a Vogon Constuctor Fleet to make room for a hyperspace bypass.

A story that began as a BBC radio program that became a book that became a recording and another radio program, A TV show, and a motion picture--each with contradictory events and details. But for all the silliness, there is a solid rationality to this work that makes one realize it's useless to argue with idiots.

But it sure is fun!

So grab your favorite volume of Vogon poetry, mix yourself a stiff Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster and join Dent, HHG field reporter Ford Prefect, sexy space traveller Trillian, Head Honcho of all Creation Zaphod Beeblebrox and Marvin the Paranoid Android for a gut-busting trip across the universe. And don't forget your towel.

Just remember: Don't panic, the answer is 42.

THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE

5 stars



In the beginning the Universe was created.

This has made a lot of people very angry and been regarded as a bad move.

The second book of Adams' 5-book trilogy is not as sprawling and scattershot as his first, but its loopy humor is just as funny-bone tickling. The Hitchhiker's Guide felt like an improvised skit; Restaurant is a darker, more focused philosophical jab at the idiocy of modern life.

Among the unforgettable moments of this book are:

--witnessing the final cataclysm of life as a dinner sideshow
--the self-advertsing menu of that dinner (my favorite scene)
--meeting the true ruler of the universe
--watching the ancestors of the human race crawling out of the primordial swamp
--discovering the ultimate question to the ultimate answer of life, the universe, and everything

This was the first HHG book I read and still my favorite. I found a copy of it on the paperback rack of the local drugstore in 1982 and immediately when on a mad search for the first one.

LIFE, THE UNIVERSE, AND EVERYTHING

4 stars



Funny, weird, and chock-full of Adams' bizarre shenanigans, this third Hitchiker's entry has a great opening and a terrific conclusion but drags in the middle as our band of heroes flit across the universe attempting to thwart the War Lords of Krikkit from destroying the universe.

The Infinite Improbability and the Bistromathic Drives, while deviously inventive, are used to propel Arthur, et al, into such diverse entanglements so quickly that the reader begins to feel as put-upon as poor Arthur Dent--which was probably the point, but it becomes taxing after a while.

Adams' observations on the lunacy of human behavior remain on-point.

I expect to encounter Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged one day (though this may already have happened as I've been insulted by strange-looking tall persons who just walked away before.)

SO LONG AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH

4.5 stars



Not so much a continuation of HHG, but an an epilogue to Arthur Dent as he returns to his house in the hamlet of Cottington after eight years of zipping around the Universe's several billion year existence.

An eloquent coda periodically interrupted by the bizaare antics of Ford Prefect becomes a comfy, if off-kilter, ending to the whole affair. But the character of Fenchurch, Arthur's mastery of the art of flying, and a cameo by Marvin the Paranoid make this a satisfying ending to Adams' saga. The argument can be made that this book is his masterpiece.

YOUNG ZAPHOD PLAYS IT SAFE

3.5 stars

A delightfully weird story about Zaphod working as a salvage ship operator before he blocked off parts of his brains and ran for President of the Galaxy. He is tasked with recovering the cargo of a ship that was supposed to be jettisoned into a black hole but lies at the bottom of a lake on an unknown planet because the ship's captain decided to make detour for some really great lobster.

Mostly, it shows that pre-brain blockage Zaphod had morals and a code of honor while still being a goof off. Until it becomes known to the reader that US editors removed the reference that a "reagan" used the ship's escape pod prior to the crash and landed on Earth. That revelation was worth an extra half star.

MOSTLY HARMLESS

2.5 stars



The title says it all. This book will be mostly harmless to Adams' reputation as an absurdist and satirist. But it destroys the whimsical nature of his seminal work.

Bleak, disjointed, and not as funny as it thinks it is, this fifth book in the Hitchhiker's trilogy is a mixed bag. Adams delivers a darkly satiric conclusion to his saga but destroys everything that made the series great.

Arthur is still the Everyman, and focus, of the series; Ford Prefect has turned into a misanthropic alcoholic (though still a functioning one); Trillian/Tricia McMillian is still a stock character, though now less interesting; and Zaphod Beeblebrox is (thankfully) out of the picture.

I kept hoping that Fenchurch would return, but that didn't happen. Oh well...

It turns out that Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz of the Galactic Hyperspace Planning Council is the real hero of the series.

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.

AUTOSTOPERSKI VODIČ KROZ GALAKSIJU-DAGLAS ADAMS
✒️"–Život–reče Marvin mračno. –Možete da ga se gadite ili da ne obraćate pažnju na njega,ali ne možete ga voleti."
✒️"–Život je,reče on–kao grejpfrut.
–Ovaj,a kako to?
–Pa,spolja je žuto-narandžast i ima rupice,a iznutra je sočan i mek. Ima i koštice. Oh,a neki ljudi pojedu pola za doručak."

Yazara haksizlik etmek istemem ama durmadan ordan oraya sürüklenen, kacislar ve zor durumlarla bezeli, gercekten gulmek istiyorsaniz cok nadir olarak -o da sacma seyler oldugunu dusundugum yerler vardi- bulunmakta.

Eger kurgusunu bircok sacma seyle doldurmasaymis yazar iyi bir is cikarabilirmis. Kendi bulduğu isimler ve karakterlerin dünyaların yapıları çok iyiydi. Bu yuzen uc yildiz verdim yoksa iki verebilirdim.

Ayrica diğer yorum yazanlarada katiliyorum ilk uc kitap son ikiye gore daha iyi bir halde.