...
Show More
This is one of those books that I had been meaning to read for ages and thanks to my awesome friend, Roya, I finally did. I will be honest, this is one of those books that I couldn’t have finished by myself. Thanks Roya!
As a big fan of science-fiction, I felt obligated to read this book. This book is a classic and so many of my friends love it that I just had to try. However, I knew I might need help for reading this for two personal reasons. First, I am too used to a serious tone in my science-fiction stories. Science-fiction and humor in one book? Fascinating and a little hard to believe. I wasn’t sure this combo could even work. Second, I don’t easily laugh. Almost 90% of books and 98% of movies that are supposed to be very humorous and funny, only succeed in making me smile.
Now this book's introduction actually managed to make me laugh several times! The introduction raised my hopes and I started to look forward to the story. Unfortunately, I found the beginning of the story boring and I had to drag myself through it. As I continued to read, I kept wondering, where is the appeal? How come so many of my friends love this? Why is this book SUCH A BIG DEAL? I thought perhaps it's necessary to read the entire series. I reminded myself that sometimes the first book is more like a pilot episode and the series gets better as it continues.
I did love Arthur as the main character and I specially loved his reactions to all the madness. But I didn’t really care for all the other characters that were running around. Except Marvin. He was awesome too.
While I think the author has a very nice sense of humor, I didn’t find the story that hilarious. But the book IS filled with witty and memorable sayings and these sayings were one of my motivations to continue. Eventually I got so far into the story that I couldn’t leave it unfinished since I was very curious about several intertwining plots. I am sorry to say the book ended very abruptly and the story was left unfinished. I was like…what the hell did I just read?
So...I didn’t love this book while reading it. I didn’t enjoy it that much either. Many events were just a little too random for me. I actually really love nonsense stories that have their own unique logic, like "Alice in Wonderland" or "Howl's moving castle" but I had a hard time finding any kind of logic in many parts of this story. All the Petunias and whale sperms were just too random.
So…why 4 stars?
I actually started to really like this book when I finished it and got around to thinking about it. The thing is, this book was first published in 1979. I completely forgot this tiny important detail when I was looking in the story for the appeal. With this in mind, I came to see the ingenuity of the author.
I am sure there are people that find Startrek: the original series very silly and don’t pay much attention to the depth of the stories and their messages. I love this series and while I too laugh at many scenes that really are funny to today’s viewers, I also take this series very seriously. Startrek was a visionary series at the time of its creation and the same applies to Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy.
“To boldly split infinitives that no man had split before... “
This books contains many visionary elements, from electronic books, holograms and computers networked together to usable portable information devices and touch-sensitive objects. Even the guide, the book inside the book, is very similar to Wikipedia, a database full of instantly available information. The artificial intelligences like Marvin, the depressed paranoid Android and Eddie, the spaceship’s mind are very unique and memorable. The quotes and sayings that I mentioned above also play an important role in my rating. Many of them are unique, witty and simply unforgettable. Here are a few famous examples:
…"In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
…"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."
…“‘You know,’ said Arthur, ‘it's at times like this, when I'm trapped in a Vogon airlock with a man from Betelgeuse, and about to die of asphyxiation in deep space that I really wish I'd listened to what my mother told me when I was young.’
‘Why, what did she tell you?’
‘I don't know, I didn't listen.’”
…“Arthur: If I asked you where the hell we were, would I regret it?
Ford: We're safe.
Arthur: Oh good.
Ford: We're in a small galley cabin in one of the spaceships of the Vogon Constructor Fleet.
Arthur: Ah, this is obviously some strange use of the word safe that I wasn't previously aware of.”
…“The President of the Universe holds no real power. His sole purpose is to take attention away from where the power truly exists...”
…“Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?”
The plot IS too random and some events ARE too silly, but all the visionary elements, great quotes and funny commentary on human behavior and society, make it worth reading.
So...give this book a try if you are a big fan of science-fiction and want to read the classics. Give this book a try even if you are like me and might not find this story very humorous. Do keep in mind how old this book actually is and that it started out as radio broadcasts.
Don’t look too hard for logic. In this book, the universe is a joke and that’s kind of the whole point of the story.
“The last ever dolphin message was misinterpreted as a surprisingly sophisticated attempt to do a double-backwards-somersault through a hoop whilst whistling the 'Star Spangled Banner', but in fact the message was this: So long and thanks for all the fish.”
As a big fan of science-fiction, I felt obligated to read this book. This book is a classic and so many of my friends love it that I just had to try. However, I knew I might need help for reading this for two personal reasons. First, I am too used to a serious tone in my science-fiction stories. Science-fiction and humor in one book? Fascinating and a little hard to believe. I wasn’t sure this combo could even work. Second, I don’t easily laugh. Almost 90% of books and 98% of movies that are supposed to be very humorous and funny, only succeed in making me smile.
Now this book's introduction actually managed to make me laugh several times! The introduction raised my hopes and I started to look forward to the story. Unfortunately, I found the beginning of the story boring and I had to drag myself through it. As I continued to read, I kept wondering, where is the appeal? How come so many of my friends love this? Why is this book SUCH A BIG DEAL? I thought perhaps it's necessary to read the entire series. I reminded myself that sometimes the first book is more like a pilot episode and the series gets better as it continues.
I did love Arthur as the main character and I specially loved his reactions to all the madness. But I didn’t really care for all the other characters that were running around. Except Marvin. He was awesome too.
While I think the author has a very nice sense of humor, I didn’t find the story that hilarious. But the book IS filled with witty and memorable sayings and these sayings were one of my motivations to continue. Eventually I got so far into the story that I couldn’t leave it unfinished since I was very curious about several intertwining plots. I am sorry to say the book ended very abruptly and the story was left unfinished. I was like…what the hell did I just read?
So...I didn’t love this book while reading it. I didn’t enjoy it that much either. Many events were just a little too random for me. I actually really love nonsense stories that have their own unique logic, like "Alice in Wonderland" or "Howl's moving castle" but I had a hard time finding any kind of logic in many parts of this story. All the Petunias and whale sperms were just too random.
So…why 4 stars?
I actually started to really like this book when I finished it and got around to thinking about it. The thing is, this book was first published in 1979. I completely forgot this tiny important detail when I was looking in the story for the appeal. With this in mind, I came to see the ingenuity of the author.
I am sure there are people that find Startrek: the original series very silly and don’t pay much attention to the depth of the stories and their messages. I love this series and while I too laugh at many scenes that really are funny to today’s viewers, I also take this series very seriously. Startrek was a visionary series at the time of its creation and the same applies to Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy.
“To boldly split infinitives that no man had split before... “
This books contains many visionary elements, from electronic books, holograms and computers networked together to usable portable information devices and touch-sensitive objects. Even the guide, the book inside the book, is very similar to Wikipedia, a database full of instantly available information. The artificial intelligences like Marvin, the depressed paranoid Android and Eddie, the spaceship’s mind are very unique and memorable. The quotes and sayings that I mentioned above also play an important role in my rating. Many of them are unique, witty and simply unforgettable. Here are a few famous examples:
…"In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
…"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."
…“‘You know,’ said Arthur, ‘it's at times like this, when I'm trapped in a Vogon airlock with a man from Betelgeuse, and about to die of asphyxiation in deep space that I really wish I'd listened to what my mother told me when I was young.’
‘Why, what did she tell you?’
‘I don't know, I didn't listen.’”
…“Arthur: If I asked you where the hell we were, would I regret it?
Ford: We're safe.
Arthur: Oh good.
Ford: We're in a small galley cabin in one of the spaceships of the Vogon Constructor Fleet.
Arthur: Ah, this is obviously some strange use of the word safe that I wasn't previously aware of.”
…“The President of the Universe holds no real power. His sole purpose is to take attention away from where the power truly exists...”
…“Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?”
The plot IS too random and some events ARE too silly, but all the visionary elements, great quotes and funny commentary on human behavior and society, make it worth reading.
So...give this book a try if you are a big fan of science-fiction and want to read the classics. Give this book a try even if you are like me and might not find this story very humorous. Do keep in mind how old this book actually is and that it started out as radio broadcasts.
Don’t look too hard for logic. In this book, the universe is a joke and that’s kind of the whole point of the story.
“The last ever dolphin message was misinterpreted as a surprisingly sophisticated attempt to do a double-backwards-somersault through a hoop whilst whistling the 'Star Spangled Banner', but in fact the message was this: So long and thanks for all the fish.”
