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The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the…
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The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Five Novels in One Outrageous Volume (edition 2002)

by Douglas Adams (Autor)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations / Mentions
19,392165239 (4.43)1 / 55
Fun and original at the beginning it slowly gets tiring and annoying to read his chaotic style. Gave up after the third part or so. One of very few books (3 in total) I didn't finish ( )
  julia.romanov | May 24, 2020 |
English (160)  German (1)  Finnish (1)  Danish (1)  Slovak (1)  Dutch (1)  All languages (165)
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I enjoy having a beautiful copy with all the books. The first book is the best, The quality of the later books are not as good. There is a cute short story included - Young Zaphod Plays is Safe. ( )
  nx74defiant | Mar 26, 2024 |
The hitchhiker's guide to the universe
I re-read this one the last few days. It's been a while, but it's still funny. Couldn't read it in long stretches, though. I guess the story is too incoherent for that...

The restaurant at the end of the universe
Amusing. What's more to say? It's got some good jokes and a convoluted story.

Life, the universe and everything was funny (but what would you expect) and chaotic. I can't read any of the HHG books in one go: the books are too disjointed for that. Instead, I read a few chapters every now and then, usually before I go to sleep. This does mean that the chaotic story line is difficult to follow. Now I realize that the HHG books are not about the story line. The story line is just there to hang the jokes on. Still, I think I may have missed some of the fun by not remembering how the characters got to their current position every other chapter. The book was entertaining however, so even though I know it's the worst book in the series, I'll continue with number 4. ( )
  zjakkelien | Jan 2, 2024 |
I really enjoyed Adams satirical style of writing. The underlying hints of humor. I really need to spend time to reread the whole series again. ( )
  Luzader | Oct 25, 2023 |
Having re-read this book for the first time in ~20 years, I'm struck with how unfunny this book (well, the books inside of this omnibus) is. I shouldn't have re-read it, and instead let it linger in my memory as a hilarious tome. I don't know if it's because I'm older, or times have changed, or what, but this book just sucked. And Trillian is literally the worst female sci-fi trope. ( )
  lemontwist | Sep 6, 2023 |
Satirical, funny, an interesting theory. I loved all the books contained in this massive volume, and finished the whole thing in a week. ( )
  LinBee83 | Aug 23, 2023 |
Dit boek is geen dijenkletser, het heeft een veel subtieler soort humor, waar niet iedereen van houdt. Ik vind het echter geweldig. Het is bizar, sarcastisch en enorm goed geschreven. Geen snackboekje, maar een zeer pikante vijfsterren maaltijd door een topkok die absoluut zijn dag had. ( )
  weaver-of-dreams | Aug 1, 2023 |
The series as a whole is excellent, and having all 5 novels together makes it super convenient. The descriptions Adams uses throughout are comical and make for a funny and enjoyable read. I personally thought that the series sagged a bit plot-wise in the middle, but the descriptions alone make it worth reading all of. ( )
  Griffin_Reads | Jul 15, 2023 |
This book is hilarious. It was so funny that it was banned from the bedtime reading list because we could not get through it without getting wound up. ( )
  OscarDara | Jun 3, 2023 |
I want to start by saying that I found this book rather funny (I should also mention that I find British humour in general, funny). I thought Douglas' thoughts on what whales might be thinking, or even a bowl of petunias for that matter were rather entertaining. I would almost class it as a 'comedy novel', were it not for the sci-fi subject matter, which although normally, has a tendency to become too overwhelming and almost technical, was very easy to follow even with some space jargon thrown in (although the hitch-hikers guide is very good with helping to make sense of these things). Whilst Trillion was a little one dimensional, I found the main Earthling, Arthur, rather charming in his 'human normalcy'. I became easily absorbed in this story and was eager to discover the secrets of the universe along with Arthur at the pace of life (there does seem to be a lack of plot or certain direction here, like in life, everything sort of just happens as it happens).

And then it suddenly ends with them wondering where to have some lunch - but it's OK, as the story continues on in the next novel, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. ( )
  spiritedstardust | Dec 29, 2022 |
Extra EXTRA BIG and fully loaded! ( )
  tenamouse67 | Oct 20, 2022 |
Clássico insuperável da ficção científica absurda e humorada, em 5 livros. Exceto o quarto, mais comedido, os outros são obras primas, que cheias de arbitrariedade hipercaótica, episódios deus ex machina e saídas extremamente improváveis, conseguem ainda assim serem muito consistentes e entre-costuradas, cheios de retomadas espirituosas e com um sentido de progressão narrativa surpreendente.

Revisitei na versão audiolivro, lida pelo próprio autor. ( )
  henrique_iwao | Aug 30, 2022 |
This is a nice compendum of the Guides to replace my falling apart paperbacks. Many years ago, my brother was given the first book for Christmas, so it was laying around. I picked it up not knowing anything about it, and after the first two pages, my mind was blown in such a wonderful, humorous way that I couldn't stop reading.
  JDRussell | Aug 27, 2022 |
I made the mistake of reading all five books one after the other. Near the end of the third book it started feeling like a chore (too many things that don't make sense in language that's trying a bit too hard to be clever). My reaction proved to be too soon, though, cause I straight up fell in love with the mundanity of the fourth book. The fifth one felt it had a lot going on, and I was worried a few chapters near the end cause too many subplots were happening simultaneously, and then bam!, it just... ends. So bleak. So sad. I need to read Eoin Colfer's reversal book. For Zark's sake. ( )
  kahell | May 12, 2022 |
This is one of those books that I can't believe I've waited soo long to read. Honestly, it's a bit of a travesty that I waited nearly 27 years of my life to get around to reading this. I made the fortunate decision to listen to the audiobook version narrated by Douglas Adams himself and I was not disappointed. He perfectly captured the essence of his work with his fast paced, British, odd humored narration. Perfection. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is the first of its series and hilariously recounts the adventures of Arthur (a human earthling) and Ford (an experienced alien hitchhiker) as they try to muddle their way around the galaxies. Ridiculousness abounds. Excellent, tongue in cheek book and I can't wait to read the next in the series. ( )
  ecataldi | Mar 25, 2022 |
One of the few books which started life as a radio broadcast in beginning 8 March 1978

I remember hearing the 2nd or 3rd episode back then on radio 4 and being confused as it was different to anything-else at the time.

My memory is hazy, but comparing the two, I preferred the radio version to the first book. Still very funny though. I thought Marvin in the TV version was a real let down. ( )
  NickDuberley | Mar 5, 2022 |
***after finishing the audiobook on zat. 15 mei 2021***
I adore the narrator Stephen Fry. So that was cool.

The thing is the story is ridiculous. Like it had everything in it I normally dislike but also everything I love and it still ended up working for me.

But I will say I did not realize just how dark the robot was. Dude. Also the nice were horrifying and I feel fully vindicated in not liking them.

***Before reading***
I'm reading this while also listening to the first book narrated by Stephen Fry. The reason is a bit dumb? This is a bind-up and only the first one counts for my challenge
  Jonesy_now | Sep 24, 2021 |
The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide: Five Complete Novels and One Story (Literary Classics - Gramercy Books) by Douglas Adams (2005)
  arosoff | Jul 10, 2021 |
I enjoyed the humour in this book, the references to things 'in the real world'.

I didn't panic and I have a towel.

After this big one, I'm quite fed up with the confusing act of travelling in time and space. I regularly lost track of the narrative, but then decided that I'd better not try to track and just take the world the book was talking about 'as is'. And that helped a lot to read it till the end. ( )
1 vote BoekenTrol71 | Feb 21, 2021 |
It's tough to know where to even start here. I first read these over 10 years ago and had been meaning to revisit them for some time. If I can get a bit haughty for a minute, David Mitchell said, regarding If on a winter's night a traveller, "however breathtakingly inventive a book is, it is only breathtakingly inventive once", and I think that's exactly the thing that sticks in my craw rereading these. Once you've gotten all the jokes (and don't get me wrong, Adams can still get a chuckle out of me after all this time), what you're left with tends to vary wildly. The threads connecting the books are tenuous at best (heck, even the threads keeping the individual books in and of themselves together are tenuous - I'm pretty sure the character Adams meant to be the main villain of book 2 vanishes halfway through) which makes them light and fun but also maddening to read in sequence like this.

The other thing that frustrates me, revisiting this, is the unevenness of the fourth and fifth book compared to the first three. I remember disliking the fourth book a lot the first time I read through these - I am happy to say I was a stupid little idiot, because it's tremendously excellent. Unfortunately, all of the great development there is squandered in the mean-spirited, bleak fifth book. (I feel a little guilty writing this, seeing on Wikipedia now that it was written at a bad time in Adams's life, but I feel like it'd be dishonest to say anything else.)

All of that aside though, these are still tremendous fun. The interspersed segments of the Guide in the first novel are great (although I'm glad they were basically discarded in later stories as they would have worn out their welcome fast). The extended Pink Floyd joke in the second book is great. The third book's ending comes a bit out of nowhere, but I mourn for the loss of Adams on Doctor Who, because the climax is the best Doctor Who ending that's not in a Doctor Who episode. It's great, it's just that on some level I want to get back the feeling I had the first time I read these, when the jokes were new and I didn't have them all bound up in a single volume. Which, now that I think about it, maybe Mostly Harmless was more on the ball than I thought. ( )
  skolastic | Feb 2, 2021 |
I've heard a lot about these books the past few years, even saw the seperate volumes at a book sale, but decided not to purchase them (yet). Three months later, I wanted to buy the boxset, but opted for the omnibus instead, for some or other reason.

I had been postponing the reading of this brick of a books (815 pages) quite often, but in the end, you have to go through with it.

This omnibus contains 6 books:

1) "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy" - the classic that started it all.
2) "The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe"
3) "Life, The Universe And Everything"
4) "So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish"
5) "Young Zaphod Plays It Safe" (bonus story)
6) "Mostly Harmless"

It all started really well with "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy". As this is my first encounter with Douglas Adams's works, I find his writing style smooth, and I loved the witty and fun stuff. Plus, the story's ending was quite open, I found, hence the need for "The Restaurant". And this one contains more action, plus the required funny moments. However, the proof-reading could have been done a bit more profoundly, as here and there a comma is missing, which makes the reading a little less slow. Other than that, no complaints. Oh yes, Marvin rocks! That little, depressed robot.

"Life, The Universe and Everything" is, compared to the other two, rather mediocre. Not as funny, and as I read it directly after the first two, it became a drag to read it, mainly around halfway. After that things got a bit better. But not enough to increase my enthousiasm.

And the reading pleasure went more downhill in "So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish", which was good for a good portion. With regards to the bonus story, "Young Zaphod Plays It Safe": What sh*t is this? It's not a story, but an extract. Or rather, reads/feels like one. Barely 10 pages long. Dafuq? It's supposed to be a prelude to the series, but I fail to see any connection with the proper books, and this little story is really very short. It doesn't have a beginning or an end, not in the proper sense. Like I said, more like an extract. I feel cheated.

Last but not least, "Mostly Harmless". This one started pretty alright, also has its funny moments, some nice action pieces, lots of imagination (of course), but the ending? What is that? It is as if mr. Adams quickly needed to round things off, ran out of wits and imagination, didn't see the grand structure of the story anymore and just wrote something to get it over with. So, by itself, it's not that bad a story, but in the context of the series, it's another mediocre book, this time with, again, a bad ending.

In short: I'm glad I finally read this classic book, for it is indeed a good one. Or rather, the first two are very good, 3 and 4 are less good, but in the total picture still worth reading. The bonus story is not even worth mentioning, actually, and the last book is/was milking out the concept (read: wasn't that necessary). However, memorable and commendable is the fun stuff, the style, and the occasional psychological, and scientific elements. ( )
  TechThing | Jan 22, 2021 |
I am rereading Doulas Adams' Hitchhiker series and enjoying it just as much as the first time. Great fun! ( )
  lynnbyrdcpa | Dec 7, 2020 |
Douglas Adams' mind is not like other people's. His "Hitchhiker" stories are fun, silly, complex and full of wisdom on an infinite scale. His characters go on galactic explorations to find the answers to life's ineffable questions. The meaning of life? Bah! add the universe and everything to the mix then add extra dimensions and you get near the depth of the questions being raised. If you read this review, I can only say "we apologize for the inconvenience" ( )
  Saraishelafs | Nov 4, 2020 |
Who can't love a book this random and ingenious? I suppose it may be a bit much to recommend the whole series, but there are really funny parts in all of the books. The cricket game is a bit tedious, and if you put Hitchhiker's guide down for too long, you'll probably forget what was happening, but overall, it's quality. ( )
  librarymeanslove | Oct 1, 2020 |
Hitchhiker to the galaxy 7/5/16-7/7/16 5*stars*
review: Never mind your house getting tear down, the earth is going to blow up. A fun and short read. As I read this, I remember scenes from the movie I watch a long time ago. Must of been four or five.

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe 4/18/17-5/7/17 4*stars*
review: Not much of a plot. Douglas Adams relies on luck and humor along in his writing, which has little changes of making worth the read. ( )
  KSnapdragon | Sep 15, 2020 |
A really enjoyable read. I always thought this book was the Hitchhikers Guide, but in fact that book features in the story. I loved the concept of The Restaurant at the End of The Universe.... ( )
  danielibrary | Aug 26, 2020 |
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