I found this a bit lacking in enthusiasm. A bit too much hopelesness, being stuck, anger, confusion. I felt that Adams has run out of ideas and was repeating himself, with less humor. I was quite bored for parts of it. Overall it is worth finishing and still has some amusing moments.

با تموم شدن این مجموعه، من به طور رسمی کتاب‌های علمی‌تخیلی کلاسیک رو بوسیدم گذاشتم کنار

Έχω μείνει με το στόμα ανοιχτό! Δηλαδή,τι; Αυτό ήταν;

Κριτική συντόμως (όλα σχετικά είναι σε αυτή τη ζωή)..

Το "Σχεδόν Ακίνδυνος", το πέμπτο βιβλίο της τριλογίας " Γυρίστε το Γαλαξία με Ωτοστόπ" τελείωσε με το πιο απρόσμενο τέλος που έχω συναντήσει σε βιβλίο!! Απόλυτα κατανοητό, αλλά αναπάντεχο! Προσπαθώντας να συνέλθω από το σοκ, προχωρώ στον Οδηγό του Neil Gaiman με τίτλο "Don't panic". Σοκ.

Now this is what i call a GREAT way to end a saga as weird, unorthodox an bizarre as The Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy.
For starters, this book is WAY better than the previous one, it goes back the to stuff that made the first one great, the sense of humour, the adventures, the craziness and the awesome story behind it all.
Our beloved characters get together again, well, not together, but they are all involved in the same story, Ford, Arthur and Trilian... the future of the Guide, the future of planet Earth and the future of all the universe rests on their shoulders, their actions and their decisions...
In different places of the Universe, they are all living some weird story, strange things start to happen to them, the past is starting to change, events that should have happened never did, events that are happening they just cease to be, all reality is shifting, and there is someone behind it all.
In here you will learn about what happened to Elvis, how hard it is to raise a child, about the vastness of the universe, and of course, how to make the best sandwiches in the galaxy.

If you are a fan of the series, this one will not let you down, read it, and discover why the Earth is Mostly Harmless.

Pretty disappointing ending to the series. There were some funny moments and great quotes I’ve taken away, but the lightheartedness is not as prevalent. You can tell Adams was in a bad headspace when he wrote this book, and it carries through in the tone of the book. I think he should have ended the series in the previous book, or sat on this one to write another draft. The ending was pretty bad. It’s a shame he chose to end it the way he did.

Another brilliant audiobook from Martin Freeman! With this fifth book in the series, I have completed my first reread in over 20 years. I liked this book quite a bit. It is not as good as the first two in the series, but it is closer to the fourth (So Long and Thanks for all the Fish) than the third one (Life, the Universe and Everything). The pro - lots of Arthur, Ford and Trillian/Tricia AND no Zaphod. The con - it is a very dark ending. I think I listed some of the previous books as “comedy” and this one still has humor, but overall it’s a very dark humor. Of course, this is how the whole series is, but as this is the final one it rings darker.

Actually, this is NOT the last one! There was a sixth book published which I totally missed in the twenty years since I read the series. I guess I’ll have to check that one out!

و اولین کتاب ۲۰۲۵ و پایان مجموعه

This is the fifth and final book in the series with a quirky and bittersweet conclusion to the adventures of Arthur Dent. Narrated with Martin Freeman’s dry wit and charm he manages to again capture Adams' trademark humour and absurdity while delivering a darker, more reflective tone than earlier instalments.

The characters are familiar and hilarious on each of their adventures and sometimes the plot can feel a little disjointed however this is part of the world of Adams which is the most enjoyable. While not as lighthearted as the first books, it still offers plenty of sharp, entertaining moments that make it worth a listen for Hitchhiker enthusiasts.

So I have read the whole series. It has been one of the most fun things this year has brought me. This series is not for everyone. If you are into british humor, than you will have a blast.
I stumbled upon this book in Elon Musk's favorite list and just gave it a try.

Also, Im very impressed with how Douglas Adams predicted what we would be able to do with our technology. He presents tons of philosophical questions and debates in this book which have raised my awareness of some things in life. Overall I'm content with the way this series has ended.

Hard to follow. Not near as good as the first one. I put it down for several weeks and was completely lost and forgot everything, which of course is my fault but the book has so much going on in like 150 or so pages it’s confusing. Didn’t hold my attention like the first (which I read in a day I loved so much).

Is That It?
25 February 2017

tI’m not really sure about this book. At first I was going to suggest that it didn’t have any point but then again this is a part of the Hitchhiker’s Guide series, which basically means that the books aren’t going to have a plot, or a point. Well, I guess the lack of a plot, and a point, is a point in and of itself because it simply goes to demonstrate the absurdity of existance, and that is that there really seems to be no point to this whole thing we call reality and in the end we should probably all just go and jump in the sea and go for a swim.

tThe thing is that this particular book didn’t seem to even explore the absurdity of reality, which, in a way, was the whole purpose of the series anyway – it seemed as if Adams had simply reached a point where he was writing a Hitchhiker’s Guide novel simply for the sake of such a novel, and when he finished it sent it to his publisher and then went around the corner and had a pint at the local pub (most likely English Ale, but then he could have had a Stella, but from my visits to England my impression was that respectable people don’t drink Stella).

tSo, what can I say about the book – well, it is about Arthur, and Ford, and Trillian, but that is about it. Arthur has lost his one true love due to a freak hyperspace accident, and the one thing that gave him meaning in life – a partner – was suddenly gone. So, he basically travels the universe bored out of his brains, and then settles on a planet to become a sandwich maker, which is basically the only thing he is good at. As for Ford, well, he uncovers a conspiracy at the Hitchhiker’s Guide headquarters, but then heads off to find Arthur only to have his ship stolen by a daughter that Arthur never knew he had, and can’t for the life of him ever remember making her, at least with the mother that is (who happens to be Trillian).

tTrillian is the odd thing with the book – is she a journalist or is she an astrophysicist? At first I was a little confused because it seemed as if Adams had completely forgotten what her original profession was, but then it turns out that she got a lucky break, or a not so lucky break as the case may be. Apparently an alternate version of Trillian gave up astrophysics because she missed out on the ride of a life time when she rushed off to get her bag and Zaphod left without her. Then she missed out on another job of a lifetime when she left her bag in her room only to discover that she wasn’t wearing her contact lenses. However, as it comes to light, even if one does get the scoop of a lifetime it doesn’t mean that the newscasters will run with it, especially if they some something much more interesting – we’ve been visited by aliens, well, that’s going to clash with the royal wedding, and the royal wedding is so much more important than aliens that we might as well leave the aliens for another time, maybe a slow news week.

tThen again when does news cease to be news – well quite quickly so it happens. If one alien spacecraft lands that is a scoop, but when the next, and the next, and then the next, it ceases to be news and simply becomes part and parcel of everyday life – a politician is corrupt! Hey, all politicians are corrupt so why are we going to run with that story when a baby hippo has just been born in the London Zoo (why is it that, having only spent less than a month out of my entire life in London that I am starting to treat London as if it is my home town? ).

tWhat about the absurdity of life? I find it interesting that this whole concept of absurdity came about when people decided that religion just wasn’t for them – it is as if religion actually gives people a sense of worth and purpose and when you throw that away that sense of worth and purpose suddenly vanishes. Well, not really, because we begin to define ourselves by our possessions, which includes our jobs, our families, and of course our stuff. Yet what happens when all of these things cease to give us pleasure, or even purpose. No wonder the divorce rate is so high because we are measuring our worth by our happiness and when our relationships cease to make us happy we simply discard them. Mind you, the media doesn’t help because they help us define our purpose through the constant bombardment of their propoganda. What if our job doesn’t satisfy, and we aren’t agile enough to get ourselves another job – I guess we are a failure them.

tYet defining ourselves, and defining life and purpose, are huge money spinners. Self help books, universities, and even religious institutions, make bucket loads of money off of people seeking purpose, and sometimes I wonder if they all sit down at their weekly meetings and laugh about our stupidity. Mind you, our purpose could actually be sitting there staring us right in our face yet we would pretty much ignore it because, well, it is too simple and finding out the meaning of our existance couldn’t actually be that easy (or even simply that), so we all wander off back into the misty streets, find the local bar, and return to our beer.

The fifth and final installment in the Hitchhiker “trilogy” is generally regarded as the weakest in the series (it’s the lowest rated on this site, for example). The story is focused on Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect. Poor Arthur, who finally found happiness at the end of book four, has the love of his life whisked away from him senselessly and is back to wandering the galaxy alone. He finally settles down to a life that many would find mind-numbingly dull but that suits Arthur just fine. Just as he begins to grow accustomed to his new role in the universe, Trillian and then Ford show up to pull Arthur back into their chaotic adventures. Ford has discovered a plot that puts not just the Guide, but the universe itself at risk and, once again, a reluctant Arthur is pulled along for the ride.

The book has two problems. The first is that it simply isn’t as laugh-out-loud funny as the first three Hitchhiker books. Series staples like Zaphod Beeblebrox and Marvin the Paranoid Android are nowhere to be found, and Trillian plays a relatively minor (if complicated) role. I think that part of what makes the first two books so hysterical is the interplay between all of these larger than life characters (including Ford) and the bewildered Arthur. Like a sitcom with a great cast, it’s at it’s best when all the key players are together. The comedy slips a bit in book three when the characters begin to drift apart, and by the fourth entry some of the regulars are beginning to disappear entirely. But in book four, Adams shifts the story from intergalactic mayhem to a (relatively) conventional love story. Unexpectedly sweet, the fourth book is able to alleviate the pain of losing the Zaphods of the galaxy by telling a different kind of tale.

But very little is sweet about this book, which brings us to problem number two. Mostly Harmless is kind of a downer. Adams was apparently going through some personal problems when he wrote this, and described it as “a rather bleak book.” He expressed interest in writing a sixth novel to finish the series on a more upbeat note, but died before he had the opportunity. We are left with a somewhat sad ending to a great series, particularly  the grim, fatalistic conclusion. While I begrudgingly accept that comedy is subjective and not everybody’s funnybone is tickled the same way, it’s hard for me to imagine somebody not liking the first two books in this series (even though I know these readers exist). But this one…let’s just say I can see how a reader would find Mostly Harmless to be mostly bleh.

That said, it’s still Douglas Adams and I still liked the book. There are some really funny bits interspersed through all the melancholy: Colin the Android, Ford’s heroic crusade against the Guide’s expense accountants, and virtually every exchange between Ford and Arthur. It’s not the same caliber as the first two books in the series, but if you enjoyed the third and fourth books you’ll probably like this one. Readers who like happy endings may want to call it a day after book four, however. 3 stars.