Life, the Universe and Everything

Great Sci fi from a bygone era that really stands the test of time. Written before the internet and computers took off.

Çok iyi gitmiyor mu ya, evet çok iyi gidiyor. Gelsin devamı...

The third installment in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe "Trilogy" (the third of five or six installments, depending on how you feel about the one written by Eoin Colfer) follows the pattern of the other books in the series, namely: bits of British humor flogged to death over the course of several chapters along with sardonic observations about modern life and society dressed in Science-Fiction trimmings. No matter what anyone tells you, these books are NOT required reading and in fact - for the most part - they aren't really all that funny, although if you like one of them you'll probably like them all. This one, however, has a section on "Bistromathics" - the idea that the numbers on the bill for large parties' dinners in restaurants often bear little relation to reality - which is worth an entire star by itself, to which we can add another star in thankful gratitude for the book's blessed shortness.

Hab leider des Öfteren den Faden und die Lust am Weiterlesen verloren. Der vorherigen Bücher gefallen mir bis jetzt besser.

The first book made sense and I met my new love: Marvin the Paranoid Android. The second book "The restaurant at the end of the universe", made sense, sorta, kinda, but I can't explain why it made sense. Marvin was depressingly charming and I even had a small bout of depression in his honor. In this third installment, there is less of Marvin and more saving-the-universe type action. I constantly feel like Arthur Dent with all these things and new concepts being thrown at me from the lips of the author (he read the audiobook version) and I don't even know what to think, all I do is react to the story...maybe I should try flying and think about these stories at the crucial moment (this part will make sense if you read the book).

To sum it up, I liked the book and now I want a Marvin plush doll.

Audiobook.

این مجموعه به قدری ظریف و دقیقه که مطمئنم حتی وقتی با دقت میخونمش هم کلی نکته‌ی پنهانش رو متوجه نمیشم..
فوق العادست..

I have thus far resisted the urge to put reviews on here for books that already have a zillion reviews because I think books with few or no reviews at all need me more, but frankly, I'm starting to struggle to think of obscure books I've read that aren't very similar to something I've already reviewed and I don't want to repeat myself. Anyone who reads and likes my reviews knows I put a lot of effort into them, and I always include something personal. I don't want that to change, but here I am with a zillion review book - a rare fiction book at that, and another story to tell.

When I was at school, about 40 years ago now, I had a very competitive friendship with a boy named Stuart. We were always discovering new things and trying to introduce each other to them. All the people and things he introduced me to - The Stranglers, Ian Dury, The Comic Strip Presents...., chilli con carne, MC Escher, Salvador Dali, Scott Joplin, Woody Allen, to name but a few - make me remember him every time they cross my path still, even though we fell out and went our separate ways nearly 30 years ago. Strangely enough, as it was me that went on to be the writer, though we both liked SF, it was Stuart who did most of the reading, and he tried to introduce me to a lot of authors. He mostly failed. I was a very stubborn boy and I at least thought I knew what I liked, and when he came at me with Douglas Adams one day, I must confess I didn't like the sound of him at all. To use the current vernacular, he sounded like a right bellend, and the more Stuart went on about how brilliant and amazing he was, the more I did not want to read any of his books. Finally. Stuart got so worked up about it that he offered to read any book I suggested in return and for some reason I gave in. I was amazed to hear that Stuart had not read any Asimov, so I lent him "Earth Is Room Enough" from my collection. In return I got "Life, The Universe And Everything".

I doubt there is anything much about these Hitch-Hiker books that you haven't heard before. In my opinion the first three are out of this world. I read them all 4 or 5 times in as many years. The fourth book in the series, which I read when I was 18, I think, I found hugely disappointing, so much so that, when some years later I heard there was a fifth book and my girlfriend went out and bought it for me....I never read it.

I don't know what happened with me and those first three Hitch-Hiker books. Either I grew out of them or I just read them too many times. All I know is that last time I started to read them, when I was about 30, I think, I was very disappointed and I had to put them away and admit the moment had passed. I daren't look at them again, but they will forever shine like beacons in my memory.

I've seen the BBC TV series a few times and I've seen the Hollywood movie too. I've also got the original radio series somewhere, but I've never listened to it. I read "Dirk Gently...." at some point but I didn't really care for it. I bought "The Long, Dark Teatime Of The Soul" and once again never read it. I'm in a bit of a quandary now because those first three books made me have unrealistic expectations of everything else with Douglas Adams' name on it, which is really weird, because I'm a Dr Who fan, and Adams also wrote "The Pirate Planet" in 1978, which has an extremely good claim to the dubious title of Worst Dr Who Story EVER.

Sublime. Awesome. Magnificent. Life-changing. This book made me want to stand up and applaud. It made me laugh out loud over and over again. It blew my mind. I simply cannot imagine my life without those first three Hitch-Hiker books in it, and this one in particular, the third one, which I read first.

Wherever you are now, Stuart, and whatever you are doing with your life, thank-you, thank-you, thank-you.