Book Description
At last in paperback in one complete volume, here are the five classic novels from Douglas Adams’s beloved Hitchiker series.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Seconds before the Earth is demolished for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is saved by Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised Guide. Together they stick out their thumbs to the stars and begin a wild journey through time and space.
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Facing annihilation at the hands of warmongers is a curious time to crave tea. It could only happen to the cosmically displaced Arthur Dent and his comrades as they hurtle across the galaxy in a desperate search for a place to eat.
Life, the Universe and Everything
The unhappy inhabitants of planet Krikkit are sick of looking at the night sky– so they plan to destroy it. The universe, that is. Now only five individuals can avert Armageddon: mild-mannered Arthur Dent and his stalwart crew.
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
Back on Earth, Arthur Dent is ready to believe that the past eight years were all just a figment of his stressed-out imagination. But a gift-wrapped fishbowl with a cryptic inscription conspires to thrust him back to reality. So to speak.
Mostly Harmless
Just when Arthur Dent makes the terrible mistake of starting to enjoy life, all hell breaks loose. Can he save the Earth from total obliteration? Can he save the Guide from a hostile alien takeover? Can he save his daughter from herself?
Customer Reviews:
Now this is a deal you CANT afford to miss!.......2007-07-07
Cynical, utterly hilarious, and full of funny, unique, and loveable characters, this is a series you won't want to skip out on, even if your like me and you don't like sci-fi.
That was the thing that kept me from allowing myself to experience the wonders of the first book when I first picked it up. I kept telling myself, this is a sci-fi book, its going to bore me. But it is much more than just a sci-fi book. It is THE most hilarious series I have ever read. Douglas Adams' sense of droll wit and cynicism are astounding, and have allowed me to experience many merry evenings sitting and laughing at these books. (You might also want to check out his excellent Dirk Gently Novels).
The story line may seem simply and boring-which it is definetly not-, but its the happenings, the wonderful narration, and the characters that truly bring this book to life and beyond being just a sci-fi book.
Also included in this selection are some hilarious introductions by the author, and a little biography about him from Neil Gaman, who cowrote Good Omens with one of my other favorite authors Terry Pratchett and wrote American Gods. And while they're probably not totally exclusive to this collection, they are well worth the read, especially the introduction by Douglas Adams.
My favorite summer read of all time.......2007-06-17
One august weekend I hit the back yard armed with this book and a gin and tonic. Over the next few weekends I finished the book, several of the drinks and my neighbors probably came to think I was insane. I've never laughed that loud or that much at any other book. And no I would not chalk it up to the G and T's (I only had a few over the duration of the book) I still think back on that summer with great fondness. Adams is painfully funny, insanely original, and one heck of a fine writer. It's Monty Python meets Doctor Who. Yes there are plenty of people who hate this book or just don't get it. But for those of us who do get it, it's the sort of book that takes on a highly loved place of honor in our library. I would strongly suggest you give it a shot. Grab your towel, a tasty and AGE APPROPRIATE beverage, and head for the back yard or the beach. I guarentee you'll either become one of us, or someone who's deeply confused by one of us.
Summer reading.......2007-06-12
If you are looking for a summer reading book that will not challenge you too much but give you some mindless fun, this is for you. Definitely not highbrow literature, but a fun literary dessert. This includes all 5 books of the "trilogy", so you can keep going for a long time. Recommended for the beach, airport, airplane, train, car.... Witty and fun.
Love or Hate!.......2007-03-13
This is the sort of book you will either love or hate.
I believe there are three sorts of people who could love this book: the cynical, the skeptic, or the novelist.
This book is cynical about absolutely everything from tea to immortality. The way it gripes about everything on such a completely down-to-earth common place level understanding, it is rather uplift.
The skeptic is all through the book, if you can't have you religion mocked a little bit, don't buy it.
There are a mind-numbing number of jokes on actually writing mechanics in this book. You probably won't even notice that they are jokes unless you have actually spent a lot of time trying to write particularly novels.
If you're in these categories you will love this book.
If you aren't, you're probably going to hate it.
That's I warned you.
Thanks For The Fish.......2007-02-14
The HitchHiker is 20th century satire, probably at its best, which is an implicit condemnation of all other competitors to that title. Adams has a few quotes in these books that rank right up there with the best of them. I particularly liked his description of humankind as - ape descended life forms (who) are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea. We humans are prone to be so distracted by novel and neat ideas that we never quite get around to assigning them a value that really reflects their place in the wider scheme of things. This is Adams at his best.
The problem with the Hitchiker is that its message is delivered through farce and farce wears extremely thin after about an hour. After two hours all hope of entertainment is lost and all that remains is gold-mining, sifting through endless grains of sand, in the hopes of finding another nugget that makes the whole enterprise worth while.
Adam's primary message is that the universe is absurd, having no sense or purpose to it at all. He cannot quite break away from his humanist roots and there is within his writing, a certain nostalgic longing for the days when truth and virtue actually meant something to people. But Adams is way too far gone to ever grant his characters any real contact with virtue and truth. The one character who comes closest is probably Trillian, the woman who left earth before it was destroyed in search of ... something. Even here, we see Adams lampooning the idea of virtue as a guide to wisdom. Virtue is too easily mislead to be a strength. It's not a bad point. But it is tiresome to have it endlessly repeated through pie-in-the-face slapstick, even if it is imaginatively done.
There is power in the argument that the world is absurd. But it is the power that lives in the world of impressions, not the world of realism. A fellow called "The Preacher" wrote about that 3500 years ago in a book called Ecclesiastes. He makes the same point a lot more clearly and, quite frankly, with far more zeal.
Live life, enjoy what you get out of it, take pleasure in doing the work God has given you to do and contentment is possible.
But thanks for all the fish anyway
Customer Reviews:
The first and best!.......2007-07-12
Of all the incarnations this story has gone through, I still believe that this original BBC radiophonic production is the best!
The Original BBC series. Must have for any Hitch-Hiker Fan.......2005-11-09
This is the original BBC radio series (I know I have an old cassette copy from the early 1908's). The radio series was first, then the book, then the TV series, and now the movie. In my opinion the radio series was the best. It has all of the great lines my friend love to quote. The actors are wonderful. The sound effects make you feel like you are right there with Arthur and Ford exploring the universe. Highly recommend it. Great way to pass the time while you are driving to work.
Average customer rating:
- Grab Your Towel and Blast Off!
- Great read
- A must read for every human on earth
- A Very Fast Read
- Enduringly Hilarious
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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Douglas Adams
Manufacturer: Del Rey
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Similar Items:
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The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
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Life, the Universe and Everything (Hitchhiker's Trilogy)
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So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
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Mostly Harmless
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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Widescreen Edition)
ASIN: 0345391802
Release Date: 1995-09-27 |
Amazon.com
Join Douglas Adams's hapless hero Arthur Dent as he travels the galaxy with his intrepid pal Ford Prefect, getting into horrible messes and generally wreaking hilarious havoc. Dent is grabbed from Earth moments before a cosmic construction team obliterates the planet to build a freeway. You'll never read funnier science fiction; Adams is a master of intelligent satire, barbed wit, and comedic dialogue. The Hitchhiker's Guide is rich in comedic detail and thought-provoking situations and stands up to multiple reads. Required reading for science fiction fans, this book (and its follow-ups) is also sure to please fans of Monty Python, Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, and British sitcoms.
Book Description
"IRRESISTIBLE!"
--The Boston Globe
Seconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor.
Together this dynamic pair begin a journey through space aided by quotes from The Hitchhiker's Guide ("A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have") and a galaxy-full of fellow travelers: Zaphod Beeblebrox--the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch president of the galaxy; Trillian, Zaphod's girlfriend (formally Tricia McMillan), whom Arthur tried to pick up at a cocktail party once upon a time zone; Marvin, a paranoid, brilliant, and chronically depressed robot; Veet Voojagig, a former graduate student who is obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he bought over the years.
Where are these pens? Why are we born? Why do we die? Why do we spend so much time between wearing digital watches? For all the answers stick your thumb to the stars. And don't forget to bring a towel!
"[A] WHIMSICAL ODYSSEY...Characters frolic through the galaxy with infectious joy."
--Publishers Weekly
Customer Reviews:
Grab Your Towel and Blast Off!.......2007-08-21
So, let's see if I have this straight. For interstellar travel, the single most important thing for anyone to remember to pack is ... a towel?
Yes, it's that kind of book. The amazing thing is, Douglas Adams can really make a case for the Towel Argument, and he does. THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY is the funniest thing he--or most anyone else this past 100 years--ever wrote. It's highbrow, lowbrow, and ever-so-intellectual silliness that makes the book so entertaining. I'll never forget the dolphins evacuating Earth before its destruction (via a preconceived plan) and leaving behind the message to all the doomed humans: "So long, and thanks for all the fish!"
GUIDE is also a textbook example of books that completely lose all of their power when adapted by high-budget, vacuous Hollywood movie churners. If you want the HITCHHIKER experience, I'm afraid you'll just have to (gulp!) read it ...
(This review has been posted by Marcus Damanda, author of the vampire novel "Teeth: A Horror Fantasy.")
Great read.......2007-07-29
This book made me laugh so much. It was great but the only bad thing was it was such a quick read.
A must read for every human on earth.......2007-07-27
If you have a sense of humor, this book is for you. The perfect mix of science fiction and humor, it cannot fail to throw you into pangs of laughter.
A Very Fast Read.......2007-06-30
As I was reading this, I said, "Man, this book is almost over already. How in the world is it going to be wrapped up in the last 3 pages?" Well, it doesn't get wrapped up. Its one of those deals where you have to read the whole series for stuff to get wrapped up. I usually hate those kinds of books, and I'm also not a big fan of Sci-Fi books in general, but this book was quite funny in certain places and I got a kick out of reading it. I particularly liked the part where the police officers discussed how they were really sensitive literary people during their big shoot out.
I wouldn't be surprised if I finished the entire Hitchhiker series because the first book is pretty funny as far as written works go, and I would imagine the whole series would move as fast as this book does. I was kind of hoping it would be more surreal and less funny like the Neverending Story, but I still found it to be quite enjoyable.
Enduringly Hilarious.......2007-06-12
One of the few books I find laugh-out-loud funny. Each time I read it, it still makes me chuckle. Sure, it's a little lacking in the plot department, but Adams can show us the humour in things we've taken for granted like no other author I know. An eternal favourite.
Customer Reviews:
Pure entertainment.......2007-01-14
These BBC Radio Plays are great. I first heard them about 20 years ago on our local public radio station. If you enjoy British humor at all, these HHG discs are a must
Book Description
Panic! It's the last installment of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, with a brand new full-cast dramatization of Mostly Harmless, the final book in Douglas Adams' famous "trilogy in five parts." While frequent flyer Arthur Dent searches the universe for his lost love, Ford Prefect discovers a disturbing blast from the past at The Hitchhiker's Guide HQ. Meanwhile, on one of many versions of Earth, a blonder, more American Trillian gets tangled up with a party of lost aliens having an identity crisis.A stolen ship, a dramatic stampede, and a new and sinister Guide lead to a race to save the earth...again.
Presented dramatized on 2 CDs.
Customer Reviews:
So Long... and Thanks!.......2006-10-26
Well, that about wraps it up for...
Arthur Dent
Ford Prefect and
Trillian
...not to mention the galaxy of other characters who have appeared - even if only for a line or two - on the BBC radio series that has built a global and intensely loyal following for the past 28 years.
"There's nothing penultimate about this one: this - ladies and gentlemen - is the proverbial it."
Finally, there is closure. A conclusion that this listener has longed for ever since the original THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY invaded my awareness in 1981.
And what a conclusion! At the risk of spoiling it for other Hitchhiker wannabe's, BBC4 and Dirk Maggs have managed to remain faithful to Douglas Adams' final installment to the inaccurately numbered trilogy of books, spawned from the original radio series and then respawning into new radio shows. Go to their web for some priceless photos and other cool stuff: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hitchhikers/newseries.shtml
And yet, there's more. The book was as dark as the space encompassing the outer eastern rim of the galaxy, and closed on a note that I'd swear was written by Marvin, the paranoid android. A series that the Beeb billed as "light entertainment" can't leave its audience that depressed and morose, now can it?
As I listened to the last episode of the fifth series, I awaited the darkness of the book's conclusion. When I read the book, MOSTLY HARMLESS, on which this radio series was based, I wondered if Adams was so annoyed with the insatiable appetite of readers and listeners that he decided to dispense with his much beloved characters once and for all. Was this the final disposition of the everyman hero, Arthur Dent, his hedonistic traveling companion and Guide field researcher Ford Prefect, and the only other survivor of the Earth's demolition, Trillian? As I wondered and listened, I achingly mourned Adams' passing. I'll miss forever his command of the English language - weaving similes and other literary devices into a tapesty that delights the listener/reader as much on the 10th or even 100th time as much as it does on the first. Sure, those words would will last for a long, long time. But there would be nothing new from that well that watered and nourished so many of us over the years.
On a somewhat related tangent, I responded to a query on the IMDB web page for Farhenheit 451 as to what book you would memorize for posterity's sake if that book/movie's scenario came true. No question: the original HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY or any of its sequels.
Back to this CD collection: The producer, director, script-writers, performers and other talented members of the ensemble succeed admirably in this final reunion, ushering radio story-telling well into the 21st Century. Sure, the voices had aged. Some had passed and are dearly missed: Peter Jones as the Book and Richard Vernon as the definitive Slartybartfast. But to hear the final reunion was absolutely golden.
Years ago, when I began my career as a road warrior, I used to tune into CBS Radio's nighttime mystery series on a 50,000 Watt AM radio station. (Hey, this was pre-CDs, way pre- XM or Sirius). There's something about driving down a rural two-lane road in the dark that made those tales that much more spine-tingley.
In like manner, listening to any of the CDs of the BBC Radio4's productions of Adams' work makes the miles fly by so much more easily. Books on tape/CD pale in comparison, in much the same way that a black hole is outshone by a supernova or even a red giant. The sound effects and incidental music add such a rich and complex dimension to the story-telling that is so sadly lacking with all the audio books on the market these days. OK, Ok, the flatulence noice is a bit puerile, but it works so well in the scene.
Douglas Adams is a true artiste whose talents will be appreciated for years to come.
So long... and thanks!
So Long, Hitchhiker's Guide, and Thanks for All the Fun.......2005-10-10
This is the superb final BBC radio series of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, this one adapting Douglas Adams' final book Mostly Harmless. It features the same creators and cast from the recent Tertiary and Quandary Phases (which means that most of the original cast from the 1978 to 1980 radio shows appear.)
While the book itself was a major disappointment, the radio adaption manages to be funny, interesting, thought-provoking and very satisfying. The writers have focused the story, created new scenes, included characters which Adams had apparently forgotten about over the course of the "trilogy," brilliantly converted the novel's rambling prose into dialogue and guide entries, stayed true to Adams' original intentions while simultaneously improving them considerably, and have created a new epilogue for the story which takes us beyond what Adams ever wrote and ties up the entire saga in a way so clever and sweet as to make a grown man cry. Such a brilliant adaption stands in stark contrast with the abysmal, dumbed-down script which was used for the recent film. THIS is the way to adapt a Hitchhiker's book.
Since the book concerns a parallel Earth and features two versions of the character Trillian (each from a different continuity in improbability,) it's of particular fan interest that the two Trillians are played by Susan Sheridan, the original radio actress, and Sandra Dickinson, who created the role for BBC television. As in the Tertiary Phase, Douglas Adams himself appears as Agrajag. I won't spoil the surprise of who else shows up.
As with all the previous radio entries, it's odd, brilliant, confusing and dense enough to warrant an immediate second listening, and has enough depth to offer new discoveries several listenings later. I couldn't be happier with how it all came out. Which leads me to wonder...
Why does this have to be the last one? If the producers don't wish to invent their own H2G2 episodes, I hope they turn their attentions to Dirk Gently, Douglas Adams' other comedic book series. A creative unit as successful as this shouldn't stop now.
Book Description
How shall we begin?
This is the story of a book called The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy—not an Earth book, never published on Earth and, until the terrible catastrophe occurred, never seen or even heard of by any Earthman. Nevertheless, a wholly remarkable book.
or
This is the story of
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a number-one best seller in England, a weekly radio series with millions of fanatic listeners, and soon to be a television spectacle on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
or
This is the story of Arthur Dent, who, secnds before Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, is plucked off the planet by his friend, Ford Prefect, who has been posing as an out-of-work actor for the last fifteen years but is really a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Together they begin a journey through the galaxy aided by quotes from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, with the words don’t panic written on the front. (“A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have.”)
In their travels they meet:
•Zaphod Beeblebrox—the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch President of the Galaxy
•Trillian—Zaphod’s girl friend, formerly Tricia McMillan, whom Arthur once tried to pick up at a cocktail party
•Marvin—a paranoid android, a brilliant but chronically depressed robot
•Veet Voojagig—former graduate student obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he bought over the years
To find the answers to these burning questions: Why are we born? Why do we die? And why do we spend so much time in between wearing digital watches? read
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. But remember . . . don’t panic, and don’t forget to bring a towel.
Customer Reviews:
Other Books.......2007-09-03
You need an up to date travel guide, and a towel. A really cool spaceship can't hurt, either.
Other things that you should take note of are carefully hidden planning documents. Run away from alien poetry, and if you have any machines that talk, then hopefully it was someone else that paid for them. Otherwise, you should ask for your money back.
Some glue paper mouse traps work best, too, I think, from experience.
Really bloody funny.
Classic........2007-08-08
Read the series and then watch the original BBC broadcasts on DVD, or listen to a copy of the radio series. This book is a classic and I suspect that we will never see its like again. Even though the author was given credits in the latest movie of the same name (he died some time ago), I hope that you will see the humor that made this a classic. Read and enjoy, if you do not get it the first time then read it again.
A Subtle Satire of Life, the Universe, and Everything.......2007-08-01
Douglas Adams is an incredible author. Not because his verbal wit is matched only by his intelligence. Not because his characters are so oddly interesting. Douglas Adams is an incredible author because he takes abstract concepts of life and uses the science fiction genre to make them somehow understandable. I cannot count the number of times where I have been trying to describe an abstract concept usually relating to science or philosophy and I have used Adams' work as an explanation. Religion, space travel, time travel, the human body, and even tea have all been meticulously broken down by Adams razor-blade wit. The concepts that lie within are more than a story, they are a man's view of this world and the things in it. That man just happens to be a genius.
I love it.......2007-01-04
classic si-fi comedey, a must have for persons who love english humour.
A Reader's Guide to: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams.......2006-10-22
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is an interesting book aboutthe adventures of a man named Arthur Dent, who is about thirty years old,lives in a small town in England, and is taken aboard an alien spaceship seconds before it destroys the Earth. The man who brought him there happens to be his friend, Ford Prefect, who happens to be an alien himself. Throughout the story he and Arthur travel the Milky Way having ridiculous and idiotic adventures with the President of the Galaxy, his girlfriend, and a depressed robot named Marvin.
I found this book hilarious, and, though none of it made too much sense, that was precisely why it was funny. It had plenty of references to actual things, made fun of them, and actually made you think about what was happening to the human race,and that we really aren't quite as smart as we think we are. One of the key points of the book's plot is an amazing spaceship that belongs to the President of the Galaxy, called "The Heart of Gold". It actually zips around the galaxy using the prospect of "Infinite Improbability" in which strange and often ridiculous things happen, but return to normal once it's turned off. During one event in the book, The Heart of Gold is being tracked by two missiles, and seconds before impact, Arthur pushes the Infinite Improbability button without turning it off afterwards. The result is that one missile is turned into a sperm whale, the other is turned into a bowl of petunias, and the ship's interior becomes a garden, and is completely unharmed.
Overall,I found this book, interesting, quite funny, and something that really makes you stop, look around an think to yourself, " What am I really doing here anyway?" I would really and truly reccomend this book to anyone who's seen Monty Python, called it stupid, and still laughed at it. I would definetly not reccomend this book to anyone who can't laugh at themself, or gets angry when they're confused. A word of warning to anyone thinking about reading this book: I had to read some parts of this book twice to really get what was going on, and despite this, I would really advise anyone resding the book to keep going if you get confused. The book usually explains what went on after it mentions it. Personally, I believe that if everyone who read this book and some of the ones after it got as much out of them as I did, they could at least be a little smarter about how they live, deal with the government, and think about the environment.
Book Description
Many are familiar with Douglas Adams's classic Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, but few know that these books started out as a multi-part series performed on BBC radio. This installment, part four, is a robust radio dramatization of So Long and Thanks for All the Fish. The Earth has miraculously reappeared and Arthur Dent is in love with the otherworldly Fenchurch, but Ford Prefect has an idea that might burst Arthur's happy little bubble. What is really going on with Arthur's dream girl, where have all the dolphins gone, and what was their departing message to mankind?
Customer Reviews:
Douglas Addams or not at all.......2006-12-08
If it is not the old version with Douglas Addams doing the reading it is not worth it. Just read it yourself. I do not like the redo.
His reading was worth 5 stars but the new one is only worth 1.
Kristina
Arthur Dent falls in love after re-discovering Earth.......2006-04-19
Douglas Adams' THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY: QUANDARY PHASE provides 4 episodes on 2 cds as it returns with a new, full-cast dramatization of SO LONG AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH, the fourth book in Adams' 'trilogy in five parts'. The Earth has reappeared, Arthur Dent has found it, and all seems well - until he falls in love. You can't go wrong backed with a full-cast performance from the BBC.
Quandary Phase *indeed*!.......2005-12-28
Hi there! Don't panic, I'm just going to give you enough information to tell you that, if you already own the primary, secondary, and tertiary phases of this, as I do, then you're going to want this, *but* be advised that this is probably the weakest of the sets so far, which is why I'm only giving it four stars instead of five.
Also, you ought to know that, unlike the first three sets, this one is only two discs, or four episodes, long, and that the person credited as "Christian Slater" is not really Christian Slater, but instead . . . Well, if you're a fan of audiobooks as I am, you'll recognize his voice instantly. He's actually very well cast, since he is in fact in California, and his initials are . . . Actually, his initials would give the whole game away. So I won't tell you that either. But he's done a lot of readings of his own work, and recently, he's done a lot of other readings also, for authors as disparate as Ursula K. LeGuin and Orson Scott Card. There. So now you should know.
I'm certainly glad that "they" decided to finally finish this series, even though poor Douglas Adams has been gone for so very long now. And also, I'm rather astonished that not only Jane Horrocks (a personal favorite of mine) but also Bill Patterson and Stephen Fry would join in on the fun. I'm glad to have gotten this, and look forward to the exciting conclusion (even though, of course, I've already read the books)!
Book Description
"IRRESISTIBLE!"
--The Boston Globe
Seconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor.
Together this dynamic pair begin a journey through space aided by quotes from The Hitchhiker's Guide ("A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have") and a galaxy-full of fellow travelers: Zaphod Beeblebrox--the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch president of the galaxy; Trillian, Zaphod's girlfriend (formally Tricia McMillan), whom Arthur tried to pick up at a cocktail party once upon a time zone; Marvin, a paranoid, brilliant, and chronically depressed robot; Veet Voojagig, a former graduate student who is obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he bought over the years.
Where are these pens? Why are we born? Why do we die? Why do we spend so much time between wearing digital watches? For all the answers stick your thumb to the stars. And don't forget to bring a towel!
"[A] WHIMSICAL ODYSSEY...Characters frolic through the galaxy with infectious joy."
--Publishers Weekly
From the Paperback edition.
Customer Reviews:
Hitchiker revisted.......2006-09-02
It was wonderful to hear Stephen Fry's version of one of my favorite BBC TV programmes "Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy."
This is my firsy audio book and it's great as I can do other things and still listen and enjoy this book.
Perfect for Old and New Fans of This Classic!.......2006-05-31
Over the Memorial Day weekend, I had the good fortune to be invited to Maine to see the fabulous tree house that is the subject of The Treehouse Chronicles. I decided this would be a good chance to listen to a recording of an old favorite that I've never heard in audio form before. Browsing through the library, it was an easy decision to pick this new recording of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Within minutes, I could tell that I'd made a winning choice as I listened to Stephen Fry brilliantly share his voice to add texture to this intriguing story. Between the accents and the humorous references to irony, I was enthralled. I found myself wishing that the recording was a longer one.
When you read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, it can come across a little simplistically in places. Those spots work much smoother in this audio version.
In fact, if you haven't read the book, I recommend that you listen to this recording instead. I think you'll enjoy and appreciate the book more in its more dramatic version here.
If you don't know the story, Arthur Dent finds himself awakening with a hangover determined to save his home. Only problem is, while the demolition crew looms, he's also about to lose his other home, the Earth. Aided by his alien friend, Ford Prefect, Arthur is soon off hitchhiking his way through the galaxy in a most improbable set of circumstances that will amuse and delight you. You'll meet Zaphod Beeblebrox, one of the most memorable aliens in anyone's fiction. Along the way, you'll learn more speculation about wearing digital watches and finding lost ballpoint pens than you ever expected to know.
Bravo, Stephen Fry and Douglas Adams!
The first in a series yet complete in its self.......2005-08-02
A galactic freeway is coming through and you guest it the Earth is in the way.
Listening to the audio CD's has an extra dimension to the book. You do get time to catch your breath. And my CD player is in the car. Somehow I survived. I would say that one great advantage to CD's is the ability to hear how the names are pronounced and you get inflections that intended or not help understand where they are going before they get there. Another advantage is that CD's like acid free paper should outlast the reader.
How many times have you asked a simple question and go the answer as "42." Yep, you are a victim to this book. Many of the clichés and truisms that rival Shakespeare are creeping into our vocabulary. And attitudes - "It has been on file."
If you are the one person that somehow got through life with out reading this series or at least seeing this on TV, then you are in for a treat. Somehow this story is earmarked as sci-fi and I guess it can be in a sense and it has all the elements necessary; it delivers a powerful message to the local Zoning Board.
I will not go though the story, as that is why you are reading the book. You need to sit down for the next sentence.
This book has changed my life.
I love listening to this audiobook in my car ........2005-06-22
It is fitting that this audio adaptation of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was voiced by actor Stephen Fry. Fry was a close friend of the late Mr. Adams, and he also narrates the new H2G2 movie as the voice of the Book. Fry does a great job of making this classic novel come alive, drawing the listener into the story. This audiobook makes a great tribute to Douglas Adams and the world and characters he created in the H2G2 universe.
Book Description
The brand new third installment of Douglas Adams's classic time travel tale, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Tertiary Phase, is now available on audio. The long-awaited CD—which revives the BBC's popular radio series with this new six-part dramatization of Adams's book Life, the Universe and Everything—features 25 minutes of exclusive and previously unheard footage and features the author himself playing the role of Agrajag. The plot picks up where the second radio series left off: Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect escape from prehistoric Earth on a time-traveling sofa while a pack of homicidal robots blow up Lords Cricket Ground. Armed only with a rabbit bone, a worn dressing gown, and a spaceship that looks remarkably like an Italian bistro, Arthur embarks on an intergalactic journey to save the universe.
Several members of the original BBC Radio 4 cast reunited for this special audio production, including Simon Jones as Arthur Dent, Geoffrey McGivern as Ford Prefect, Susan Sheridan as Trillian, Mark Wing-Davey as Zaphod Beeblebrox, and Stephen Moore as Marvin the Paranoid Android. Richard Griffiths, Chris Langham, Joanna Lumley, and cricket commentators Fred Trueman and Henry Blofeld also star in this brilliant satire replete with incisive comedic wit.
Customer Reviews:
BBC Radio Recordings.......2006-02-17
This would be a much better series in a copleat box set of the radio series. It would be even better (5 Star rating) if the first two portioins of the radio brodcasts were availble on CD in the USA.
I look foward to listing to the first two sets of CD's when they become availble.
Tom
this is a great radio version of the guide.......2006-01-13
Sometimes people get stuck of something they like and expect the next effort to be the same. Other time people get mad at the new effort for being the same as the last.
Personally I find the Tertiary Phase has all the same of the old and great new stuff to enjoy.
This version of the book "Life, the Universe and Everything" harkens back to the original radio shows. Most of the original cast is back as well as small tribute to Adams by using some of the voice over he used in a book on tape. There are great elements such as the party the never ends, The man who gets an award for the most gratuitous use of the word #@%@%$%, the kriquett warriors, bistro math(a mathematical method that is based on how to split up a check at a restaurant) and such. It is a great buy and I recommend trying to get the first two parts as well.
Lots of Hope, Little delivery.......2005-09-28
I've been a fan of Hitchhiker for a long time, so naturally bought the CDs for Tertiary Phase.
I only heard the first two CDs of the set, and haven't developed the interest to finish. Why?
First, note that the original person who did the voice of the guide died, and the replacement just doesn't compare - at all.
The plot seems to be zany for zany sake, and not funny. The talking mattress doesn't help the plot but is more of a distraction.It's like the author just hobbled the book together in a hurry to make some easy money. I don't think his soul was in it. Too bad, because I would have loved for the series to go on.
The "Real" Hitchhikers Guide, as good as ever!.......2005-09-15
This BBC radio performance is fantastic. A disasterously incomprehensible last act does little to diminish the return of Hitchhikers in pure form. The return of the "real" Arthur Dent and friends (Simon Jones et al) is a welcome and amazing experience, and the soundscape is a perfect match to the original Hitchhikers' series from so many moons ago -- which is really amazing when you consider that the old series was put together on old fashioned magnetic tape. The sonic environment of the Hitchhikers universe is as curious as you may remember it - and even a bit improved upon, as more advanced stereo means you can even hear characters circling one another, or running about through the swishy tall grass of a field trying to catch a fast-moving couch, or engaging in repartee with their other head (for those who have more than one).
Not as funny as the original series? Perhaps, but Douglas Adams' books evolved through the years, becoming more philosophically searching (his fascination with the possible comedic implications of quantum mechanics on mere mortals) and less slapstick. And frankly I am pleased that this evolution in tone is carried through to this radio rendition. Though make no mistake, this series is still a comedic romp.
I've just listened to this Teriary Phase and am immediately ordering up the next two Phases courtesy of Amazon.co.uk. It saddens me that author Douglas Adams is no longer with us, but his cast and crew have made the best possible gift of his talents to the rest of the world through this performance. Bravo.
I Cried, I Laughed, I Cried Some More.......2005-07-30
When I found this item on the audiobook rack at my local bookstore (the one with the cafe stapled onto it) it took me at least an entire minute to figure out what it was I was looking at. I thought it must be a reissue of the original radio episodes (from 25 years ago) or a new reading by somebody or other. Gradually it dawned on me like a sledgehammer through molasses that this was an all-new radio series based on the third Hitchhiker's book performed by the (surviving) original radio cast, four years after the untimely death of author Douglas Adams.
"Mine," I judged as soon as I sorted out just what the hell it was. I was delighted to find that Stephen Moore was still alive and had returned to voice Marvin the Paranoid Android again. Peter Jones has unfortunately passed on, but makes a posthumous appearance in this new series, as does Douglas Adams himself!
From the moment I popped it in my CD player and began listening to it, tears bubbled into my eyes. Here again was that wonderful old theme song (an Eagles tune, isn't it?) and, my God, the same BBC announcer from 25 years ago! Okay, so I first heard the original shows fifteen years ago, but still, did I expect to ever hear another series?
Ultimately I've loved this Tertiary Phase. Adams wrote the first episode (before getting distracted by Hollywood again) and the entire series is well done. The music and sound effects are all you could hope for. The original cast is again brilliant and sound almost exactly as they did 25 years ago. The new cast members are excellent as well, with Richard Griffiths (Mr. Dursley from the Harry Potter movies and Swelter from Gormenghast) taking over the role of Slartibartfast. I've listened to the whole thing four times now, and like it better with each listening.
The worst I could say critically is that the pace is the tiniest bit sluggish, the performances the slightest bit geriatric, the energy just a little less than the original shows, and the humour, well, a tad bit less. Not enough to affect my rating however. I've been dying to know if the BBC was going to do adaptions of the final two Hitchhiker's books...
...and they have! The Quandary and Quintessential Phases have already been broadcast, with the same cast and producers as the Tertiary Phase. They should both be available commercially within the next six months or so. Just enough time for me to have another bath.
Average customer rating:
- You are about to read a cultural classic
- Great book, irritating presentation
- The Illustrated HGTTG is a MUST for every D. Adams fan.
|
Illustrated Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, The
Douglas Adams
Manufacturer: Harmony
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
British
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
| 18th Century
| 19th Century
| 20th Century
| Classics
| Contemporary
| General
| Historical
| Humor
| Letters & Correspondence
| Middle
| Old
| Poetry
| Renaissance
| Shakespeare
| Short Stories
General
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Adams, Douglas
| ( A )
| Authors, A-Z
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Science Fiction
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0517599244
Release Date: 1994-10-11 |
Customer Reviews:
You are about to read a cultural classic.......2005-04-03
How many times have you asked a simple question and go the answer as "42." Yep, you are a victim to this book. Many of the clichés and truisms that rival Shakespeare are creeping into our vocabulary. And attitudes - "It has been on file."
If you are the one person that somehow got through life with out reading this series or at least seeing this on TV, then you are in for a treat. Somehow this story is earmarked as sci-fi and I guess it can be in a sense and it has all the elements necessary; it delivers a powerful message to the local Zoning Board.
I will not go though the story, as that is why you are reading the book. You need to sit down for the next sentence.
This book has changed my life.
Great book, irritating presentation.......1998-10-11
First, the good news: this contains the complete Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy novel, one of the greatest books ever written. Problem is, the photos and art that accompany this particular version only serve to distract the reader and snap him/her out of the fictional dream. Die-hard Adams fans are the only people who will really want this, and then purely as a conversation piece. If you are new to the world of the Guide, you would be better served by getting The Ultimate Hitch-Hiker's Guide, which has the text of this book plus the other four in the series and a short story, and no pictures.
The Illustrated HGTTG is a MUST for every D. Adams fan........1996-05-25
The story :
It's a thursday when the earth get's destroyed to make space
for a new hyperspace highway. The human Arthur Dent and
his friend, Ford Prefect from the Planet Beteigeuze, are
flagged up to the Vogon spaceship. From now on begins a
crazy travel through the Universe (and beyond) ...
Specials about this book:
If you are a real Douglas Adams fan, you MUST own this book.
The whole story is described with funny looking pictures,
and even Adams itself has a guest-role.
Books:
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- When Time Began: Book V of the Earth Chronicles
- A Room of One's Own
- Algebra and Trigonometry with Analytic Geometry (11th Edition with CD-ROM)
- America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It
- An Introduction to Programming with Mathematica, Third Edition
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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
