I'm feeling some series fatigue after binge-reading this and the second book over the weekend. I don't know if this was indeed a weaker/more confusing volume or was it just the fact that too much of a good thing can sometimes be bad. Either way, I had some difficulty finishing it and I think I won't be reading the 4th and 5th book anytime soon. It gets 3 stars (2,5 actually) because despite it being really confusing and at time frustrating, it still had a lot of fun and hilarious moments.

Another brilliant and hilarious space romp!

Romanian review: Nu știu dacă de vină este faptul că a trecut mult timp de când am citit primele două volume, iar gusturile mele s-au schimbat, ori acest volum nu a fost la fel de bun ca celelalte. Dar, pur și simplu, nu mi-a plăcut la fel de mult ca primele două cărți.
Cartea a fost, cât de cât, amuzantă, umorul absurd, în genul Monty Python, este prezent și în acest volum, doar că de data aceasta glumele nu mai sunt la fel de reușite. De asemenea, acțiunea nu mai este la fel de interesantă, mă simt de parcă autorul și-a pierdut din inspirație.
Mi-a plăcut destul de mult această carte, dar parcă tot simt puțină dezamăgire, gândindu-mă la cât de mult mi-au plăcut ,,Ghidul Autostopistului Galactic'' și ,,Restaurantul de la Capătul Universului''. Sper ca volumul 4 să fie mai bun decât acesta.
În rest, nu am prea multe de spus. Aș adăuga că mi-au plăcut în special partea cu Agrajag, pe care Arthur reușea să-l ucidă în orice formă se reîncarna în urma unor coincidențe incredibile, și partea cu zborul, dar având în vedere că titlul cărții este ,,Viața, Universul și tot restul'', mă așteptam că vom afla mai multe despre Întrebarea Supremă, al cărei răspuns este 42.



English review: I'm not sure if it's because so much time has passed since I read the first two volumes and my tastes have changed, or if this volume just wasn't as strong as the others. But I simply didn’t enjoy it as much as the first two books.
The book was fairly amusing, and the absurd, Monty Python-style humor is still present, but this time the jokes don’t quite land as well. Also, the plot isn’t as engaging; it feels like the author’s inspiration may have faded a bit.
I did enjoy this book, but I can’t help feeling a little disappointed when I think about how much I loved "The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy" and "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe". I’m hoping the fourth volume will be better than this one.
Beyond that, there isn’t too much to add. I especially enjoyed the part with Agrajag, whom Arthur manages to kill in every reincarnation due to some incredible coincidences, and the section about flying. But considering that the title of the book is "Life, the Universe, and Everything", I was hoping we’d learn more about the Ultimate Question, to which the answer is 42.

This time the all the nonsense and absurdity felt repetitive and a little too much for me. Maybe I should've let some time pass after devouring book 1 and 2 a few days ago.

Yo Wowbagger!

An ancient danger threatens to resurface and destroy the universe. The townsfolk of Krikkit doesn’t like to see so many bright dots on their night sky, so they plan to correct it, by wiping out every planet in the galaxy. Dent, Ford, Trillian and Zhapod, the crazy quartet of misfortune, will simply try not to make things worse.

An interesting new installment. Arthur and Ford back on the spot light, Trillian with a brief protagonism nearing the end, and, thank God, a whole lot less Zhapod. Adams writing ever so magnificently satirical, far from that perfect #1, but much better than #2. A certainly entertaining sequel, hilarious from time to time, and with some memorable moments. Just loved the introduction of Wowbagger. Marvin was my favorite character, but the throne now belongs to Wowbagger, a highly controversial character, but with an admirable purpose.

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n  PERSONAL NOTEn:
[1982] [224p] [Humor] [Not Recommendable] [“Krikkit believe in peace, justice, morality, culture, sport, family life, and the obliteration of all other life forms”] [“His name was Wowbagger. He was a man with a purpose. Not a very good purpose, as he would have been the first to admit, but it was at least a purpose that keep him on the move.  He would insult the Universe. That is, he would insult everybody in it. Individually, personally, one by one, and in alphabetical order.” ]
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★★☆☆☆ 0.5. Young Zaphod Plays It Safe [1.5]
★★★★★ 1. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
★★☆☆☆ 2. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe [2.5]
★★★☆☆ 3. Life, the Universe and Everything
★★★★☆ 4. So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
★☆☆☆☆ 5. Mostly Harmless
★★★☆☆ 1-5. The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy  
★★★☆☆ 6. And Another Thing... [2.5]

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Hey Wowbagger!

Un antiguo peligro amenaza con resurgir y destruir el universo. A los ciudadanos de Krikkit no les gusta ver tantos puntos brillantes en su cielo a la noche, por lo cual planean corregirlo, borrando del mapa todos los planetas de la galaxia. Dent, Ford, Trillian y Zhapod, el disparatado cuarteto de la desgracia, simplemente tratarán de no empeorar las cosas.

Una interesante nueva entrega. Arthur y Ford vuelven a la escena principal, Trillian con un leve protagonismo casi al final, y, gracias a Dios, mucho menos Zhapod. La pluma de Adams tan magníficamente satírica como siempre, lejos de esa perfección del #1, pero mucho mejor que #2. Una secuela ciertamente entretenida, muy graciosa a veces, y con algunos momentos para el recuerdo. Simplemente amé la introducción de Wowbagger. Marvin era mi personaje preferido, pero el trono ahora le pertenece a Wowbagger, un personaje altamente controversial, pero con un propósito admirable.

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n  NOTA PERSONALn:
[1982] [224p] [Humor] [No Recomendable] [“Krikkit cree en la paz, justicia, moralidad, cultura, deporte, la vida familiar, y la obliteración de otras formas de vida”] [“Su nombre era Wowbagger. El era un hombre con un propósito. No un propósito muy bueno, como él hubiera sido el primero en admitir, pero era al menos un propósito que lo mantenía en movimiento.  El iba a insultar el Universo. Es decir, insultaría a todos en él. Individualmente, personalmente, uno por uno, y en orden alfabético.”]
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I didn't really enjoy this book. There's a sense of aimlessness to it that makes it hard to concentrate.

It's all just a game of cricket
25 October 2016 - Clifton Hill

tI'm going to have to be honest here and admit that I really wasn't all that impressed with this book. In fact the story was originally meant to be a six part Doctor Who series which was rejected by the producers, and I can see why – it just really didn't seem to be what I would expect from Doctor Who. Okay, the Doctor can be pretty tongue in cheek at times, and while there are suggestions that some Earth practices have extra-terrestrial origins, the who idea of cricket being a reflection of a huge intergalactic war really doesn't seem to fit well with the genre. I guess that having been rejected as a Doctor Who serial, being redrafted and made the third part of the Hitchhiker's Guide series sort of makes the story feel a little forced. Moreso it has a plot, and the one thing about absurdist literature is that it isn't really supposed to have a plot. Sure, the first book dealt with the search for the answer to the ultimate question, and the second dealt with the search for the true ruler of the galaxy, however they sort of sat in the background, and even then there was no real conclusion in the same way that Waiting for Godot really didn't have a conclusion.

tThe difference with this book is that the plot is front and centre. Arthur and Ford are trapped in prehistoric Earth however after parting ways for four years (and having some random person appear and insult him), they meet up again and discover a temporal anomaly in the form of a couch. So, what does one do when they see a couch in a place where it really shouldn't belong – well they sit on it. Anyway, the couch then proceeds to take them to Lord's at a time when the Australian Cricket Team simply cannot beat the English (and once again lose). All of the sudden these robots appear, hit bombs (that look like cricket balls) all over the place with bats that look like cricket bats, steal the ashes, and disappear. As it turns out the ashes aren't supposed to represent the 'death of English cricket' (well, they do, but that was only a representation) but rather are a piece of a key that is supposed to open the 'Wikit Gate' beyond which is imprisoned the world of 'Krikit'.

tWhat is then revealed is that eons ago the world of Krikit was isolated due to a dust cloud, however one day a spaceship crashed, and after examining the spaceship, and realising things existed beyond the sky, the inhabitants of Krikit decided to go and have a look, and it turned out that they didn't really like what they saw there. So, they proceeded to declare war on the entire universe. After a long and protracted period of hostilities the people of Krikit eventually lost (should I call them Krikitters? I'm not really sure) and they, and their world, were imprisoned in a field of slow time. However, a single spaceship full of robots managed to escape and proceeded to travel the galaxy and reassembling the key that would open the Wikit Gate. Ironically, parts of the key also included Marven's leg, a part of the infinite improbability drive, and the part of a trophy which represented the most gratuitous use of the word 'fuck' in a serious drama (though apparently when the book was released, this section of censored, so the world Belgium was used instead, which I have to admit is probably somewhat more clever that the other word that is used).

tLook, as I have already mentioned, I wasn't particularly enamored with this story, and I still have two more to go. I do remember liking the next one, but until I have read it I won't say anymore (though most people sort of write that one off as a load of rubbish). As for this book I don't want to write it completely off because there are some really good scenes, and jokes, in it, but it doesn't really have the panache that the previous books had. For instance, the whole discussion of flying being throwing yourself at the ground, and missing, was actually quite stupid. Okay, it did have a purpose in the book, but the Hitchhiker's Guide entry just simply didn't seem to be as clever as the entries in the first (and second) book. I guess that is the problem with a lot of books where they start off as a single book and quickly morph into a never-ending series (though Terry Pratchett seemed to have been able to solve that problem with his Discworld series).

tAnyway, let us consider the title of the book, which relates back to the original concept of the series, and in a way comes around to the question at the end of this book – what is life all about. The thing is that the answer to this question seems to be forever out of reach, or simply unobtainable through normal means (such as asking a computer, but then again how is a computer going to be able to answer such a question, particularly when the computer is limited by its creator). Okay, some people believe that they have the answer, which is what religion is all about. Actually, that is the prime definition of a religion, namely that it provides the answer to the questions of 'where did we come from, what are we doing here, and where are we going?'. Sure, most religions boil down to God, God, and God, but not all of them. Dare I say that scientific materialism answers those three questions: dust, whatever we want it to be, and dust. However I suspect that this whole scientific materialistic view of the universe is what created absurdism in the first place because despite providing the answers to these questions the answers weren't satisfactory.

tSure, the answers that end with God can be considered satisfactory answers, yet for some reason we insist on killing each other over the exact interpretation of what 'God' actually means. Okay, it technically means, as Bill and Ted put so well, 'be excellent to each other and party on dudes' yet this simple thing seems to be beyond us. Sure, there are some (such as myself) that imply that being excellent to each other also involves being excellent to God, but that sort of comes hand in hand. The baffling thing is that despite the fact that we agree that being excellent to each other is a really good idea we seem to not actually want to do it where we are concerned. In fact Adams even touches on that point namely because anybody who comes along and suggests that being excellent to each other would probably solve all of our problems ends up getting killed.

tThe problem is that our interpretation of being excellent to each other pretty much involves letting me do what I want to do and anybody who stops me from doing what I want to do is not being excellent to me. So, when we do things that are technically not being excellent to each other (such as polluting the world because, well, we want to live our hyperdisposable lifestyle) and people pull us up on it then we get upset and claim that being excellent to each other is not actually as great as it is cracked up to be and we might as well look for another solution to the ultimate question that doesn't involve me giving up all the really cool things that I have. Okay, I'm sure I could participate in this challenge that one of the social justice organisations is suggesting– namely living on one power socket, but I would cheat by having lots of powerboards and lots of extension cords so that my life isn't actually impacted all that much (or I could just live off my laptop as opposed to desktop and computer in the lounge room, but that is beside the point). Actually, come to think of it, there is a computer in the lounge room that I don't use – I think I should format the hardrive and turn that into my video machine as opposed to using my laptop, but I think I have drifted so far off topic that I might bring my story to an end now.

Empiezo a sospechar que el lema de vida de Douglas Adams era "Al final nunca nada es tan terrible" y por extraño que parezca era el mismo lema que tenía mi papá y que muchas veces me repitió

No doubt about it: Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and its sequel The Restaurant at the End of the Universe were five-star novels. Anyone would want to read these laugh-out-loud funny books you'd again and again. But the third book in Adams' series, while amusing, doesn't prove to be as good.

Sure, there are some funny scenes, such as when Arthur Dent braves killer robots to return to Lord's Cricket Ground to deposit ashes. (Any more details on that would spoil the novel.) Life, the Universe, and Everything also shows Arthur Dent gaining confidence and coming into his own in his new life. But whereas the first two novels were uproariously funny and quite clever, Life, the Universe, and Everything feels tired and the plotting careens from chaotically comic to just chaotically confusing. It's worth reading, but don't get your expectations too high.

This was rather disappointing...

To fans of the series, I should mention that the book is still extremely quotable, there is still a lot of irony at the expense of the political/social system. But all in all, I found everything rather confusing.

Basically the story could be resumed like this:
Arthur Dent gets insulted
Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect travel through time, and are asked to save the universe.
Arthur wants to understand who/what/why is threatening it, while Ford just wants to go to a party. Also, really complex Maths is done in a Bistro.

My favorite parts:
1.

My doctor says that I have a malformed public-duty gland and a natural deficiency in moral fibre and that I am therefore excused from saving universes.

2.The alien, who had immortality thrust upon him, and decided to pass the time by insulting every living being in the universe. I actually found it quite clever, how the story had both started and ended, with him coming to insult Arthur.

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review of the 2nd book: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

اتمام..
۳۰ تیر ۱۴۰۰
ساعت ۰۲:۲۶

”There is an art to flying, or rather, a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

”My doctor says that I have a malformed public duty gland and a natural deficiency in moral fiber,” he muttered to himself, “and that I am therefore excused from saving universes.”
Ford Prefect

Volume three of the Hitchhiker’s series, in which Arthur Dent learns to fly, we are introduced to the ancient and terrible Krikkit Wars, and we learn about the Rory, a prestigious award presented for the most gratuitous use of the word Belgium in a serious screenplay. Oh, and Slartibartfast rescues Ford and Arthur on his Bistromath powered spaceship to commence upon a quest to save the Universe from premature destruction.

Life, the Universe, and Everything presents a classic example of a joke being carried on too long. It still contains much of the mad wit of the earlier two volumes, but begins to get thin and worn around its edges. Perhaps the biggest mistake was introducing something actually discernible as a plot into the inspired madness (the book-long quest to save the Universe). Somehow this structure distracted from the inspired madness I had grown accustomed to.