The first book in an amazing series (The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams)

Member Name: defiler

Product:	The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Date:	18/05/01 (108 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Funny, Classic, Good story

Disadvantages: The ending that isn't really an ending, Books are fairly expensive if bought individually for their length

I was first introduced to The Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy (from now on known as THHGTTG) through the radio version which my Dad had bought and listened to, I really enjoyed it at the time but never really thought about buying the book. Years later I saw the hardback edition containing the entire 5 books (I didn't even realise there were 5 books until then) for a reasonable price and had to buy it, I then went on to read the entire thing quicker than most other books I have bought since or before.

--Humour--
The books strength lies in its humour, the humour varies from something that everyone will be able to relate to in everyday life to the extremely weird that only a few people (if any) will understand. Each page of the book seems filled with some kind of humour and while a few of the future books have managed to slightly surpass it this is a great introduction to the series.

--Characters--
The characters, much like the humour, vary greatly, from the very average seeming Arthur Dent to the weird seeming Zaphod Beeblebrox. Each character seems to have the depth to make them seem interesting while having elements to them that people can easily relate to themselves or other people they know (although obviously at times this is taken to extremes for the purpose of humour). Marvin certainly deserves a mention for the sheer fact that a constantly depressed robot somehow manages to constantly be funny.

--Story--
The story starts with Arthur Dent discovering that his house is planned to be knocked down (obviously his own fault for not taking full notice of the obscure plans the council had hidden away somewhere), obviously not happy with this fact he soon finds its the least of his worries as it is soon revealed to him by his friend Ford Prefect that the Earth is about to suffer a similar fate. Hitching a lift on a Vogon ship (never forget your towel! :) they manage to survive Earth's destruction. The story follows
on from here, revealing what happens to the main characters and slowly revealing more details about the existance of Earth and the characters themselves.

The book remains interesting throughout and is a fairly easy read due to it's easy language and reasonable length.

--Radio Version--
The radio version, while different in ways, maintains the majority of the humour and story and while summarised in places is a very interesting listen. In my opinion much better than the TV version as it's far easier to convince the listener of the reality of something happening rather than having to rely on (often limited) special-effects to show what is.

--TV Version--
This was interesting to me but never really caught my attention that much, if I'd discovered it before the book and radio version I'm sure I'd have enjoyed it and become interested in the other versions because of it, unfortunatly in my opinion it seemed inferior to them at the time and while still good, looked a bit dated in many ways.

--Computer Game--
A text based game exists of this book on the PC, maintaining much of the humour it is interesting even if you will get frustrated at its difficulty at times (especially after you die from something extremely simply for the 50th time). Unlikely to be a great experience, but if you are a fan of the series you may as well download it to try. Alternatively an online version of this game exists here:
http://www.douglasadams.com/creations/infocomj ava.html

--The Author--
Unfortunatly Douglas Adams died unexpectedly following a heart attack on the 11th May 2001, due to his relative young age this came as a shock to me and he will be sadly missed.

---Conclusion---
Whether you are interested in science fiction or not you should enjoy this book, the humour in the book is easily one of the best I've seen and it contains enough science-fiction elements to interest fans of tha
t genre while constantly making fun of science-fiction that will appeal to people who hate it. This is a classic book that people either have read or should read.

Note: Cost is a slight guess based on how I best remember it as I bought a complete version of the series rather than each book individually.

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