I fell asleep while listening to this one... twice.



I fell asleep at the beginning of the book, and then at the end of it. I googled the ending because I didn't want to go to sleep again.

Don't get me wrong. I didn't dislike the book. It's just that I didn't like it either. It's not my kind of humor, not my kind of story. But I'm sure to remember to take a towel next time I hitchhike through the galaxy.

I had such a great time reading this book. If I wasn't laughing out loud, I was grinning from ear to ear. xD
After planet Earth is demolished to build a hyperspatial express route, Arthur Dent is rescued by his friend Ford Prefect and together they travel through space.

“How did we get here?” he asked, shivering slightly.
“We hitched a lift,” said Ford.
“Excuse me?” said Arthur. “Are you trying to tell me that we just stuck out our thumbs and some green bug-eyed monster stuck his head out and said, Hi fellas, hop right in. I can take you as far as the Basingstoke roundabout?”
“Well,” said Ford, “the Thumb’s an electronic sub-Etha signaling device, the roundabout’s at Barnard’s Star six light years away, but otherwise, that’s more or less right.”
“And the bug-eyed monster?”
“Is green, yes.”
“Fine,” said Arthur, “when can I get home?”

This review describes my feelings much more coherently  J.G. Keely's review

Best part of the book:  
“We are the ones who will hear,” said Phouchg, “the answer to the great question of Life…!”
“The Universe…!” said Loonquawl.
“And Everything…!”
“Shhh,” said Loonquawl with a slight gesture, “I think Deep Thought is preparing to speak!”
There was a moment’s expectant pause whilst panels slowly came to life on the front of the console. Lights flashed on and off experimentally and settled down into a businesslike pattern. A soft low hum came from the communication channel.
“Good morning,” said Deep Thought at last.
“Er… Good morning, O Deep Thought,” said Loonquawl nervously, “do you have…er, that is…”
“An answer for you?” interrupted Deep Thought majestically. “Yes. I have.”
The two men shivered with expectancy. Their waiting had not been in vain.
“There really is one?” breathed Phouchg.
“There really is one,” confirmed Deep Thought.
“To Everything? To the great Question of Life, the Universe and Everything?”
“Yes.”
Both of the men had been trained for this moment, their lives had been a preparation for it, they had been selected at birth as those who would witness the answer, but even so they found themselves gasping and squirming like excited children.
“And you’re ready to give it to us?” urged Loonquawl.
“I am.”
“Now?”
“Now,” said Deep Thought.
They both licked their dry lips.
“Though I don’t think,” added Deep Thought, “that you’re going to like it.”
“Doesn’t matter!” said Phouchg. “We must know it! Now!”
“Now?” inquired Deep Thought.
“Yes! Now…”
“Alright,” said the computer and settled into silence again. The two men fidgeted. The tension was unbearable.
“You’re really not going to like it,” observed Deep Thought.
“Tell us!”
“Alright,” 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.
  

I would definitely be reading more of Douglas Adams's work! This was light, fun, and yet so very memorable.

Arthur Dent is having a bad day his home is being demolished, a new highway bypass is needed progress you know, it's for his own good...really, so goodbye house. On the bright side (by the way), it does not matter either. Earth too will no longer be, soon just billions of inconsequential floating pieces scattered throughout the cosmos, no one left to remember. The powers of the galaxy have decided this little insignificant, dull planet at the edge of the Milky Way must go. A hyperspatial express route is being built, Earth is in the path no big deal to the rest of the universe, just a few souls disappear think of the convenience to others , people... His friend drops by, Mr. Ford Prefect and finds Arthur lying in the mud in front of the bulldozers, and asks him what's new ? And can he go to the local pub for a drink, they must talk... Seems okay to Dent, but first the intelligent man gets a gentleman's solemn sacred promise, from a bureaucrat (who shall remain nameless), that his house will still be standing when he gets back. Even has Mr. Prosser, replace him in the dirt (I can never keep a secret). After a few drinks which relaxes Arthur, Ford tell's his friend he's an alien from a another planet in the vicinity of the great star Betelgeuse, just 600 light-years away. Dent always thought Prefect was an eccentric man but this being England, perfectly permissible, goes on to explain he's a researcher for something called, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". A weird sound emulates from the outside disrupting this enlightening discussion, Arthur jumps up runs out the door and sees that there are no more gentlemen in the world now. Home gone, but the over excited man starts calling the wrecking crew unkind names. Such language (I will not repeat them, in mixed company, besides this is a family site ). People should be calm, always calm nothing to be concerned about, remember you are English...Looking up, odd yellow streaks in the sky Dent wonders, Ford did say the Earth would be destroyed today but he is strange...Stiff upper lip ...But something is occurring, though. Ford arrives and the noise level rises also...A short time later the waking, Dent...Mr. Dent, comes to in the dark in an alien spaceship , one of those that vaporized his not quite beloved planet, with Ford there... Evil green, and very ugly aliens the Vogons who like to torture people by reciting bad poetry, I mean really bad Vogon poetry, resulting in captives welcoming death, rather than listen to another word... Captain Jeltz hates hitchhikers, and Ford had a devise to enter the ship, secretly. But the clever friends say they loved the excruciating poem, of the captain's; obvious lying, the angry poet has the two rudely thrown off the craft into space, without... spacesuits...these aliens, are barbarians... They can hold their breaths for thirty seconds, so don't worry... A miracle, on the 29th second, they're saved by the President of the galaxy , in a stolen vessel. And the runaway politician ( surprisingly not exactly honest), Zaphod Beeblebrox is on board, so is his two heads and three arms, with his girlfriend Trillian and Marvin, the paranoid robot, don't talk to it, he's very depressing, you would want to crush him, with your bare hands ... As the semi cousin (what's that?) of the president, Ford Prefect is in luck. All the galaxy, are after the Heart of Gold, the new spaceship which can cross the Milky Way, in a flash, on ship the greedy, seek the legendary, lost and fabulously rich planet, Magratha. In the vastness of the whole endless Universe everything's is possible, except an android like Marvin...Remember the Guide's motto, "Don't Panic"...

I was right to not want to read this one.

It's so stupid. This is not even close to my kind of humour. I like clever funny, not stupid funny. This is just beyond ridiculous and I mostly cringed my way through it. I don't think I cracked a smile once.

I get that this is hilarious and delightful for some people but I am not one of them.

Thank god it was mercifully short.

He really wrote an entire series of this crap?

British humour, man. I just n  don't get it.n

This was book 13 of my #Dymocks52challenge refined. You can read more here.

***

n  Originally shelved as 'never gonna happen':n

Absurdist humour is not really my thing, and I've heard enough about this one to not even be a little tempted to read it. It sounds too ridiculous for my liking. I'd rather read something with clever humour.

Wow! I cannot articulate just how much I loved this book!

“Ford... you're turning into a penguin. Stop it.”

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is my first Douglas Adams novel, and it is going directly to my favorites shelf. The humor is wonderfully dry and the writing oh so clever. This is the kind of novel that will stick with me forever; the kind that I will read over and over.

I can't wait to jump into The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.

“So long, and thanks for all the fish.”

This feels like an accomplishment to have finally read. Not because it was a challenging read or anything, but simply because it’s one of *those* books I’ve had on my radar forever and just never got around to reading. I’m happy to report I really enjoyed it!

I won’t even bother explaining this book here because it’s so well loved and widely regarded as a staple of science fiction. But I will say this reading experience took me back to some of the stories I read and loved as a kid. It has the absurdity of something like Alice in Wonderland mixed with the tongue-in-cheek writing of a Lemony Snicket novel. It balances that wit with sincerity and big questions really well.

My only complaint is that the ending felt a bit lackluster. I would’ve enjoyed a bit more resolution for this installment, but I know this is a big series. Maybe someday I will continue with it!

3/5

"En los remotos e inexplorados confines del arcaico extremo occidental de la espiral de la Galaxia, brilla un pequeño y despreciable sol amarillento.
En su órbita, ..., gira un pequeño planeta totalmente insignificante de color azul verdoso, cuyos pobladores, descendientes de los simios, son tan asombrosamente primitivos que aún creen que los relojes de lectura directa son de muy buen gusto.
Este planeta ... tenía el problema siguiente: la mayoría de sus habitantes eran infelices la mayor parte del tiempo. Muchas soluciones se sugirieron para tal problema, pero la mayor parte de ellas se referían principalmente a los movimientos de pequeños trozos de papel verde; ... ".

Así es como arranca la "Guía del autoestopista galáctico", escrita en 1979 por Douglas Adams, que después se transformó en serial radiofónico, serial televisivo y, finalmente en 2004, sería convertida en película de Hollywood, hoy de difícil acceso o al menos, yo no lo he conseguido. En cualquier caso, este arranque ya nos predispone para una novela de humor inglés, muy al estilo de Monthy Python, para lo bueno y para lo malo. Sobre la Guía se nos dice nada más empezar:

"En primer lugar, es un poco más barata (que la Enciclopedia Galáctica); y luego grabada en la portada con simpáticas letras grandes, ostenta la leyenda NO SE ASUSTE".

Todo esto da pie a una delirante aventura de ciencia ficción donde conviven algún terrícola y muchos alienígenas de diferentes procedencias, que componen una ingeniosa y divertida sucesión de situaciones disparatadas, en las que no faltan referencias a teorías físicas o astronómicas sobre diversos aspectos. Como ejemplo, puede servir la descripción que hace de la toalla como complemento indispensable en la mochila de cualquier autoestopista galáctico. Para los amantes de las matemáticas o la física, es especialmente reseñable a alusión a la Teoría de la Improbabilidad, como fuente de alta energía, o a la R17 como límite superior y flexible de la velocidad máxima que puede alcanzarse. He aquí una muestra:

"La Energía de la Improbabilidad Infinita es un medio nuevo y maravilloso para recorrer grandes distancias interestelares en una simple décima de segundo, sin tener que andar a tontas y a locas por el hiperespacio".

Y por si esto no parece lo suficientemente disparatado, ahí va otra cita sobre la existencia de la Tierra:

" ... el planeta ... fue encargado, pagado y gobernado por ratones. Quedó destruido cinco minutos antes de alcanzarse el propósito para el cual se proyectó, y ahora tenemos que construir otro".

La razón por la que afronté la lectura de este libro se la debo a "La anomalía", donde uno de los diseñadores del protocolo de actuación es fan declarado de esta novela y hace referencia a la respuesta a la Pregunta Última de la Vida, del Universo y de Todo, proporcionada por el super-ordenador Pensamiento Profundo. Y claro, ya había oído hablar antes de la novela y no pude resistirme.

Resumiendo, la novela es divertida y disparatada y seguro que hace las delicias de aquellos que os apasione este tipo de humor, pero no busquéis argumento más allá de estas consideraciones. En cualquier caso, os hará pasar un buen rato. En mi caso, opino que el tiempo no le ha hecho mucho bien y se ha quedado un poquito anticuada, de manera que no ha conseguido engancharme demasiado y, desde luego, no para leer las tres novelas que tiene como secuelas.

I am not one of those who think this is the best book ever written. It does not affect me on any deep emotional level and this kind of quirky sci-fi comedy is just not really my thing. However, that being said, Adams' has some of the best quotes EVER (not all of these are from this exact book):


"In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."



"For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much—the wheel, New York, wars and so on—whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man—for precisely the same reasons."



"The Guide says there is an art to flying", said Ford, "or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss."



"A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools."



"Would it save you a lot of time if I just gave up and went mad now?"



"The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't."

چی میگید اگر بهتون بگم توی این کتاب رئیس جمهور شدن "ترامپ "پیش ببینی شده؟
(کتاب سال ۱۹۷۹ نوشته شده )

کتاب طنز بانمکیه، توش میتونی جمله های فلسفی باحال پیدا کنی برای استوری اینستاگرامت و خودتو کول نشون بدی. درباره‌ی معنای زندگی ام سوال می پرسه و جوابشم نمیده طبق معمول. نکته‌ش اما این نیست . چیزی که همه‌ی این کتاب میخواد بگه اینه که برو زندگی کن،حالشو ببر و سوالاتی رو که جوابشون دو به توان بی‌نهایت غیر محتمله، بیخیال شو. مثل منکه هیچی از فیزیک کوانتوم حالیم نمیشه بنابراین وانمود میکنم اصلا وجود نداره.
راستی شاید براتون جالب باشه بدونید معنی اسم من به زبان ساکنان سحابی ماژلان میشه *دختری که هیچی از فیزیک کوانتوم نمیفهمه و هیچ وقت ته دیگ سیب زمینی هاش نمیسوزه.*
..
همه‌ی کتاب رو توی چهار ساعت خوندم. نه اینکه خیلی خفن و پرکشش باشه‌ها، فقط برای اینکه صدای رعد و برق و بارون نمی ذاشت بخوابم.
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عذاب وجدان گرفتم ...بی‌انصافی نباشه داستانش‌هم بانمک بود خب. احتیاج داشتم به طنزش. جلدهای بعدی رو هم میخونم.
فکر کنم نوجوونا بیشتر ازش خوششون بیاد. شاید!

3.5 Stars

I checked out the audio and I loved Stephen Fry’s narration. I love him anyway. I also checked out the book digitally so I could see Chris Riddell’s artwork which I loved of course and seriously, Stephen Fry makes it great with his voices.

Don’t forget your towel!!!

Mel

What a weird little book.

Something I'll do, almost immediately after finishing a book, is Google the heck out of the genre it belongs to. For example, after finishing Furiously Happy, I wanted to find a book that would make me laugh as much as it did. When in doubt, turn to Google. I have googled "most funny books" , "funny fiction books" and " comedy books". Each time, this was one of the top results. And since, I got Audible for Christmas, I thought I would give it a try. (But also because Google is shoving it down my throat.)

I'm still not totally sure how I feel about it. I keet waffling. One chapter, I'd be laughing and thinking I would definitely rate it 5 Stats but the next, I would be bored and wanted to rate it 3. (I decided on 3.5 stars).

This book is described as sci-fi AND comedy. A very very weird combo. I like both of those genres separately but together they were just weird. I love chocolate and I love grilled cheese but would I put them together? Heck, no. (Well, I might but I've been known to have weird food combos. Cheese and chocolate. Eggs and syrup. Apple's and chips.)

Aside from the genres, the plot was very creative. They story open a with the end. The end of earth. Two aliens and two aliens the travel the Universe and hilarity ensues. That's all fine and good but then the book just ended. I can only describe at as like when your walking and reading and you run into a wall and your nose gets all scraped up. (Not that that's happened to me or anything

I read this book about 51,017 times when I was in seventh grade. I wore my copy out. That was a time in my life when I very much would have preferred to belong to some alien species, trapped here through no fault of my own. Also: "The ships hung in the air in much the same way that bricks don't." How can you improve on writing like that?

Q: What's so bad about being drunk?
A: Just ask a glass of water.

ahhh, good times.