این کتاب ترکیبی از استعاره‌های ناب برای اتفاقاتیه که در اطرافمون زیاد میفته و گاهی شاید حتی بهشون توجه نکنیم، در کنارش با فلسفه‌ی زندگی و این سوال بنیادی درباره‌ی زندگی جهان و همه‌چی روبه‌رو میشیم که دلیل پیدایش ماجراهای این کتاب بود.
طنز کتاب خاصه، من یه جاهایی باهاش قهقهه میزدم اما نمی‌شه گفت که هر کسی با این سبک کنار میاد و می‌تونه ازش لذت ببره.

Definitely one of the great sci-fi comedy classics with slapstick comedy, philosophical queries and the Answer 42. Always a fun book to read when otherwise life is throwing you curveballs!

So much fun to read.

Nothing to review here, awesome no matter how many time you read it.

Reread. Last read it 2020. Its funny how much reading tastes changes over the years. Still like it but not at all as much. Lower rating this time around.

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This. Was. Amazing! I wasn't at all prepared that this tiny book would hold so much greatness and other worldy amazingness. It's funny, it's quirky and it doesn't try to be serious but it doesn't feel forced or overly ridiculous. It's just have enough fun bits and it doesn't feel overpowering. It's short but feel like it has the perfect length. I'm glad I got the next book on hand and I can easily say it's one of the best book I've read this year!!

I love this … and can quote great swathes of it—yet until this year I had never read the book. Weird? Not really.

It started out in ... (was it really that long ago?) as a late-night radio comedy series. OK then, full disclosure, it was on BBC Radio 4 at 10:30 pm on Wednesday, 8th March … 1978. I distinctly remember thinking this is really quirky and odd, but I love it! Anyone else I knew who had been listening thought the same, and we weren’t quite sure what to make of it. Low budget and decidedly different, what was it supposed to be? The term “space opera” had been coined in 1941, but this was not space opera. It was unlike any Science Fiction we knew, and anyway SF (the acronym used at the time) was hardly ever humorous. It was very British, at a time when more and more producers were giving an eye to overseas broadcasts. What would those overseas listeners make of this programme? Americans in particular would not be likely to “get” it. The closest we could get in nailing the type of surreal humour was as a sort of “Monty Python’s Flying Circus in Space”—except that it clearly had an ongoing storyline. (In fact Douglas Adams was very briefly in a couple of episodes of “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”.) We fervently hoped that it would last the whole six episodes, and not be taken off the air by the then rather staid BBC…

We need not have worried. Despite the BBC’s cautious approach, the audience’s reaction was tremendously enthusiastic, even though this was radio, and it had hardly been broadcast at prime time. But people talked: friends, family, fellow students, and workmates. More and more tuned in for the next week’s episode—and we all hoped there would not be too much atmospheric interference—or one of the power cuts which plagued the late 1970s. These six episodes even received good reviews, and the BBC boldly commissioned a “Christmas special”: a one-off episode for the most popular British comedy series.

I have a memory of an interview from the time, or perhaps a little later, revealing that Douglas Adams would be writing, and making script changes, right up until just before the broadcast. He seemed excessively shy about his writing, although he had been on the outskirts of radio comedy for years and even written sketches for some, for example “The Burkiss Way (to Dynamic Living)”—a personal favourite of mine. I was in the live audience once; a very strange experience. I kept thinking: “It’s no use enjoying it and smiling broadly, I have to laugh out loud!” But none of this had come easily. Although Douglas Adams had eventually become a member of “Footlights”, the invitation-only student comedy club which has acted as a hothouse for British comic talent for many years, that had taken a while too. Douglas Adams’s humour was different, and none of us could have anticipated where it would lead. Anyway, back to the first series …

It quickly took the UK by storm, and was repeated twice in 1978 alone and many more times in the next few years. This led to an LP re-recording, (long playing vinyl records, now confined to history—or enthusiasts) and I was lucky enough to have this set bought for me for my birthday by my brother. It was the first comedy series to be produced in stereo, and Douglas Adams said that he wanted the programme’s production to be comparable to that of a modern rock album. In fact much of their budget was spent on sound effects produced by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. There was just one problem for me. The postman left it out in the rain while everyone was at work, and the result was a corrugated mess. So I never played it.

The BBC soon realised they had a success on their hands, and commissioned a second radio series. This consisted of a further five episodes, bringing the total number of episodes to 12, to be broadcast in 1980. Meanwhile Douglas Adams had been persuaded to reformulate the series as a novel, an idea he was not at all happy about to start with, feeling that his talent lay in revues and writing radio comedy. But he agreed to adapt the series as a book—this novel in fact—which was then published in 1979.

Those of us who had been in at the start as it were, were initially resistant to reading a book (and I have stayed resistant for far too many years) feeling that it could not possibly be as good. And indeed, it isn’t as sparky and with that sense of the ridiculous that radio comedy can have, although the novel of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (one word, no hyphen is the author’s preference) does include a few more details. If anything these slow the panic-filled action down, and seem to add very little.

The next step was to “graduate” to TV. In Britain, this usually signals a commercial success, but sometimes in the conversion, a lot of the spontaneity and characterisations which have marked the radio series are lost. However the BBC were very canny in casting the comedy actor Peter Jones as “The Book”, both for the radio series, and the TV versions. Peter Jones was cast after a three-month long casting search and after at least three actors (including Michael Palin) had turned the role down!

We grudgingly agreed that the TV version was not too bad an attempt, and to be honest, we were pretty gobsmacked at the time by the “new” type of graphics. This was before CGI, but the onscreen graphics more than made up for any loss of the listeners’ imagination, which is such an essential feature of slightly surreal radio comedy. It was just different again. So a six-episode television series aired on BBC 2 in January and February 1981. Many of the actors from the radio series were in it, and it was based mainly on the radio versions of the first six episodes. A second series was at one point planned, with a different storyline from the second radio series, but it was sadly never made, because Douglas Adams had various disputes with the BBC.

So the TV series fizzled out, but the radio series went on and on, and so did the books. There was a film too, but the less said about that the better. Made many years later, it premiered on 20th April 2005. Douglas Adams had died during the film’s production, although he had still helped with the early screenplays, and new concepts introduced with the film. The script was completely different, and the film was a modest success, commercially. In the film, Stephen Fry was the voice of the Guide/Narrator, which led to him recording the version of the novel most often listened to as an audio book.

I actually listened to the audio book on this occasion, which seems a little odd, but it was the only way I could access it easily, as the library e-book was out on loan. The edition I listened to was an RNIB disc, read by the excellent actor Gordon Dulieu, using his panoply of voices. The narration was superb. It did of course continually remind me of the radio series, which was perhaps inevitable.

The radio scripts are prescient and priceless. I ordered the CD set for a Christmas present, and the young guy on the phone said, quoting the pack: “The best-selling audio CD of all time? That’s quite a claim isn’t it? Perhaps I should listen to it…!”

You can imagine my reply.

What surprised me about this novel is that it just seemed to stop randomly. How this reads to someone approaching it for the first time, I have no idea, but the first radio series continues going straight into “The Restaurant at the End of the Universe”. There are then 4 subsequent novels in the series: “Life, the Universe and Everything”, “So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish”, “Mostly Harmless” and the final “And Another Thing” (most written by Eoin Colfer with additional unpublished material by Douglas Adams) as well as some short stories.

What’s with the title? Well, Douglas Adams had at times claimed that the title came from a 1971 incident while he was hitchhiking around Europe as a young man with a copy of the “Hitch-hiker's Guide to Europe”. He said that while he was lying drunk in a field near Innsbruck, and looking up at the stars, he thought it would be a good idea for someone to write a hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy as well. But this could be apocryphal.

What is it about? Oh, that’s what you want from a review … well the main character is a sort of Everyman called Arthur Dent. We learn very quickly that he is the last surviving man, following the demolition of the Earth by a Vogon constructor fleet to make way for a hyperspace bypass.

He has a friend called by the unlikely name “Ford Prefect”, after a misreading of an electronic travel guide The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Unbeknownst to Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect is a human-like alien writer for the aforenamed eccentric reference book, and he proceeds to rescue Arthur Dent from Earth’s imminent destruction, by hitching a lift on a passing Vogon spacecraft.

Following this rescue, the pair explore the galaxy, meeting Trillian, another human who had been taken from Earth (and whom Arthur Dent had met at a party in South London —this is easily explained by the Improbability Drive)—and also the two-headed and self-centred President of the Galaxy Zaphod Beeblebrox, and the terminally depressed Marvin, the Paranoid Android with his “brain the size of a planet” ... surely he must be based on A.A. Milne’s perennially depressed donkey “Eeyore” in “Winnie the Pooh”?

This all sounds far lamer and less absurd than it really is! You’re just going to have to read it—or even better, track down the radio series—for yourself. And just for those who already know and love this gem, here are a few quotations which quickly became catchphrases:

“Don’t Panic!”

“Space is big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist’s, but that’s just peanuts to space.”

“Ford … you’re turning into a penguin. Stop it!”

“A towel, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have …”

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

“Ford!” he said, “there’s an infinite number of monkeys outside who want to talk to us about this script for Hamlet they’ve worked out.”

And of course we can’t leave without remembering that Answer to the Great Question … Of Life, the Universe and Everything:

“Forty-two”.

طنزی پست مدرن و نگاهی غریب به پرسش های اساسی انسان
مدت ها بود اینگونه نخندیده بودم

4.5/5

DON’T PANIC

Always great to have a good tidbit of life advice thrown into a book.

well I see why this series has such a following. Wow I can’t wait to read the rest of it. It’s always fun to read a book that you can tell an author had fun writing. Each scene just brought so much joy to my life.

Something crazy would happen then the digital guide would bring it all together and fill me in on why a species acts a certain way. It was a really great way to fit exposition into a story while still pushing the plot forward because I was learning about the universe along with Arthur and as he read the guide I got to read it too.

Though I loved all the characters (particularly interactions between Ford and Zaphod) I have to tip my hat to Marvin. His ability to bring a room down in mere seconds is hilarious. He had the ability to make a ship commit suicide.

Anyway, I’m excited to read the remaining books and until then at least I can rest easy knowing the meaning of life is 42.

Full review now posted!

I finally know the answer to life, the universe, and everything.

This was my third attempt at reading this book, because it’s just so gosh-darned silly that I could never get past the first three or so chapters. Well, what was the difference this time, you might be asking. The difference was a British gentleman by the name of Stephen Fry. I would have never made it all the way through this admittedly short book without the voice talents of Stephen Fry. The man is a genius! Every character had a completely unique voice, and they were all engaging. I’m not positive which came first, the movie or the audiobook, but Fry’s version of Arthur Dent sounded incredibly similar to Martin Freeman, who played Dent in the movie.

I’m not usually an audiobook girl. I tend to get frustrated with the slow pace and pick up the print version of whatever book I was listening to, because I can just read faster. But I never had that desire listening to Fry. He was absolutely fabulous, and now I want to track down other audiobooks he’s read. Just another reason to wish I was British, so I could have Audible access to his readings of Harry Potter. *disgruntled sigh*

Onto the book itself. I’m pretty sure Douglas Adams is a national treasure of the U.K., as he well should be. These books are meant to be silly, and they most definitely are. The tone of his writing was great, and I love the idea of the story, but something about the humor didn’t translate well for me. It was just too much, somehow, as stated earlier. Honestly, the book itself would have been somewhere between a 2 and 3 star read for me (please don’t lynch me!) had it not been for Fry’s marvelous audio. His reading saved the day and bumped the book up to 4 stars for me. I did end up really enjoying listening to this story, though I’m not sure I’ll continue the series. However, I’m glad to have read this book, and to now understand the cultural references and impact Adams provided here.

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

For more of reviews, as well as my own fiction and thoughts on life, check out my blog, Celestial Musings

Quirk.
Quirk quirk.
Quirk quirk quirk.
Quirk quirk.
Quirk.

Read the above. Read it again. Read it seven more times.

The cute thing about language is that if you see, hear, or say a word enough, it just doesn't seem to make sense anymore. You know it's a word, but suddenly the q just doesn't get along with the u anymore, the r and the k just can't see eye to eye, and the i wants to run away from home.

Read it again.

That's this book.

It's quirky. It's so quirky it's quirks have quirks, and those quirks have little quirks of their own. By the time you finally work you way through the whole quirk family tree, the first quirk doesn't seem quirky anymore.

It seems annoying.

Douglas Adams has force-fed and painfully injected so much quirk into this worthless little novel that it makes your head spin. There is no point to this novel. There is no deeper meaning. The supercomputer chose '42' because I'm convinced that's the highest Adams can count.

Quirk.
Quirk.
QUIRK.

See my video review here: https://youtu.be/hfJJDQOroho

This is a book written in 1979 which follows the story of Arthur Dent who is having a bad day because his house is about to be torn down to make way for a highway. However, he has more things to worry about because the Earth is about to be demolished to make way for the galactic highway. Arthur Dent and his friend Ford Perfect are scooped up from Earth just a second before it is wiped out. The two of them travel through the galaxy and encounter many different people along the way including a depressed robot.

The first half of the book was really funny. I was reading this with a family member, and we both were laughing out loud every couple of minutes. The second half of the book was less funny because it was more plot driven. This book won't be for everyone, because some of the humor is a bit dry. I haven't seen the movie yet, but I am not sure if the jokes will really translate that well to the big screen.

Overall, it was a quick read and pretty enjoyable. However, as mentioned earlier, the pacing felt a bit off but keep in mind this book was written in the 1970's before the 8 second attention spans developed by YouTube.

2025 Reading Schedule
JantA Town Like Alice
FebtBirdsong
MartCaptain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
AprtWar and Peace
MaytThe Woman in White
JuntAtonement
JultThe Shadow of the Wind
AugtJude the Obscure
SeptUlysses
OcttVanity Fair
NovtA Fine Balance
DectGerminal

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To look on the bright side, at least it's over.

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.