The Ultimate Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

Product Details

This omnibus edition begins with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, in which Arthur Dent is introduced to the galaxy at large when he is rescued by an alien friend seconds before Earth's destruction. Then in The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Arthur and his new friends travel to the end of time and discover the true reason for Earth's existence. In Life, the Universe, and Everything, the gang goes on a mission to save the entire universe. So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish recounts how Arthur finds true love and "God's Final Message to His Creation." Finally, Mostly Harmless is the story of Arthur's continuing search for home, in which he instead encounters his estranged daughter, who is on her own quest. There's also a bonus short story, "Young Zaphod Plays It Safe," more of a vignette than a full story, which wraps up this completist's package of the Don't Panic chronicles. As the series progresses, its wackier elements diminish, but the satire of human life and foibles is ever present. --Brooks Peck

Product Reviews

(4 stars) - Nice version, just not really what it said it would be
Very good condition and speedy delivery. Item was promesed to be leather however, and it turned out to be fake leather

(5 stars) - Very happy!
The book was here within days. Longer would have been fine, but very happy.

(5 stars) - Classic
I don't have much to reveal on the quality of the story other than the fact that I really enjoyed the first 2 books. I've yet to complete them all but the collection is worth the price for the first book alone.

I actually bought this book off the strength of other reviews on this site without first reading it on my own.

It's a fun ride.

(2 stars) - Surprisingly Mediocre
Over many years now I have noticed with frustrating regularity that when things achieve cult status, then quite often a knock-on effect is created, whereby all honesty in any critique goes straight out of the window, and at a greater frequency, velocity and finality that Ford Prefect ever achieved. Despite this being just one instance of negativity in this sea of five star reviews, I am very sorry to have to say that in my opinion, the late Douglas Adams's three then four then five book 'trilogy', featuring the not-so-central-character of Arthur Dent along with a motley gathering of aliens, a splattering of humans and a few robots, is on the whole, mediocre.

The main culprit is, and it is so sad to have to say this, is: large chunks throughout all five books in the series, are, boring. These parts just seem like at best, filler outs, or even grand space holders as Mr Adams used to talk about a lot, at worst, inane drivel. Add to this a frequent tendency to fall back on well clichéd stereotyped spacey / physicy names and descriptions; Mugwump Sector 7 in the 9th Quadrant of the Corsair Triangle ( not a direct lift I know, but I am sure you get my point ) is funny, once, early on, but not again and again and again, ad nauseum. Mr Adams was a great Python fan as we know, but, Python knew to discern between silly-funny and silly-silly. Also, the strange episodic feel is not good, and for me means not enough care was taken in making something initially for the radio and screen into the fully written form. Odd this, as we know the books are not exact transitions / translations, but this just means even more care was needed. Loose / unfinished sub plots; I've noticed this tendency endeared ( and still does endear ) many fans to the author and is accepted as being an aspect of his writing style. For me, I tend to prefer large loose ends tied up somewhat better.

Now, mediocrity, does not thankfully mean, terrible / useless, and I know there are some good aspects to the saga. When Mr Adams was on fire, the story and dialogue were superb; Marvin's parts in particular were a sheer delight, it is a great pity he was not far more central than he was throughout. I laughed out loud and still do when thinking, even when walking down the road, about 'the first five million years were the worst, the next five million years were the worst also'. Brilliant. Actually, I had an inkling when reading the story that unless the crew put right their time tinkering, that it would take an unspeakably long haul by Marvin for him to catch up with them again.

The end, when it came, was tragic. I think Mr Adams had a sixth in mind, and thus allowed himself the leeway for such an open ended ending to Mostly Harmless, this is the only loose ending throughout the series I can understand, or at least accept. But, tragically, we lost Mr Adams before he could rustle up another.

(3 stars) - A Space Odyssey with Everyman
Am three-fifths into this legendary sci-fi series that even sci-fi fantasy icon Neil Gaiman is a fan of. The fact that he wrote the foreword to this version also attracted me to it.

So is it any good?

The first novel was fascinating with hapless earthling Arthur Dent being whisked off planet earth just before it is demolished for a galactic freeway (drivers in any urban city complaining about the intrusion of our expressways should be sobered by this nugget). He also realises that his drinking buddy Ford Prefect is an extra-terrestial researcher who's been compiling and updating the 'Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy', an electronic travel guide that looks like a precursor to the Kindle and other e-books. Earth was just one of his stopovers.

Along the way they meet the literally two-headed President of the Imperial Galactic Government, Zaphod Beeblebrox (who's a mere figurehead with dubious backround and credentials) while taking a ride on his stolen spacecraft, Heart of Gold. His oddball crew includes his moll Trillian, who turns out to be Dent's fellow survivor, and the manic-depressive robot Marvin the Paranoid Android. (Radiohead aficionados would clap their backs in appreciative recognition here.) Onboard, Dent learns to decode inter-galactic-speak through Babel fish inserted thru his ear... This motley crew then embarks on the quest for some legendary planet and the Question to the Ultimate Answer of the number 42...

The next 2 novels in this volume of 5 novels continue in this same madcap vein, but the novelty for me wore of halfway thru the third novel... Am going to take a break before embarking on the 4th novel...

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