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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, 25th Anniversary Edition (精装)
by Douglas Adams
| Category:
Science fiction, Fiction |
| Market price: ¥ 158.00
MSL price:
¥ 148.00
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| Stock:
In Stock |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
Combining comedy with science fiction, the book is laugh out loud funny. The characters, the hilarious storytelling and dialogue, the comical, strange situations, make this a good read from start to finish |
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AllReviews |
  1 2 Total 2 pages 16 items |
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Ian (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-29 00:00>
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a unique book all in itself. It is hard to compare it with any other book because there is nothing like it! It is the tale of Arthur Dent as he escapes Earth's destruction with his friend, Ford Prefect. This would not be possible if Ford himself had been born on Earth; he was from somewhere in the vicinity of Beetlejuice. They manage to get on board one of the construction ships that are destroying Earth to make room for an intergalactic superhighway. From there, the adventure just gets more interesting in later books, traveling through time as well as space, from the dawn of man to the end of the universe in a five star restaurant. Douglas Adams describes every little thing to great detail, making every little oddity worth reading. This first book of the series is in every way one of the best books I have ever read. It even brings about the meaning of life, the universe, and everything; 42. But what is the question? Read the book to find out. |
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Mark Fowler (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-29 00:00>
Humor, and our perception of humor, is subjective. What is funny to one person isn't necessarily funny to the next. For example - I think Dave Barry is hilarious, and I think his first novel "Big Trouble" is a laugh riot - but I found the movie "Big Trouble" pretty tedious, and not very funny.
A friend turned me onto the Hitchhiker's Guide 20 years ago, and I laughed until I cried, and couldn't wait to move on to the next book, The Restaurant at The End of the Universe.
I see LOTS of reviews of this book trying lamely to describe the "plot" of the story, which would give a reader as much reason to read the book as it would to give a potential movie-goer the "plot" of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail". The story isn't the point. The enchantment lies within Adams' incredibly witty descriptions of the mundane and the extraordinary.
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Here is an early passage where our hero discovers that his friend is not English at all:
"Alright," said Ford. "How would you react if I said that I'm not from Guildford after all, but from a small planet somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse?"
Arthur shrugged in a so-so sort of way.
"I don't know," he said, taking a pull of beer. "Why - do you think it's the sort of thing you're likely to say?"
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Consider this exchange a few chapters later when space traveling Ford prepares earthling Arthur for his first travel in hyperspace:
"You'd better be prepared for the jump into hyperspace. It's unpleasantly like being drunk."
"What's so unpleasant about being drunk?"
"You ask a glass of water."
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I remember, reading the book for the first time, thinking "this book hits my funny-bone much the same as the movies of Monty Python."
So - if THAT style of witty/wacky British humor hits your funny-bone as well, and you HAVEN'T yet read Douglas Adams, I say:
Don't Panic. You're in for a treat. You may also want to scout around - there are many editions of these stories, including at least two "series" books that include ALL of the Hitchhiker's Books in a single volume. |
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Chaffey (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-29 00:00>
I must admit that I went about this backwards - I saw the recent movie before reading the book. Having done so, I think the movie did an admirable job in portraying the story at heart; but reading the book is an even more enjoyable experience. Douglas Adams' sci-fi satire is a blend of all the best of every world.
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" is the story of Arthur Dent, an earthman who discovers one Thursday (while trying to keep his house from being bulldozed) that his close friend, Ford Prefect, is from another planet, and that in a matter of minutes, Earth will be destroyed. The two hitchhike a ride on the Vogon ship that destroys Arthur's home planet just as said destruction is taking place. What follows afterwards is a wild ride through the universe with the President of the Imperial Galactic Government, Zaphod Beeblebrox, an earth girl whom Arthur struck out with at a party, and the robot Marvin, who has been given a Genuine People Personality, and is therefore depressed by everything. Their travels bring them to find out who was behind the destruction of Earth, the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything, and just who happened to be the most intelligent being on Earth before it was destroyed.
There's no doubt why Adams' classic satire has become such a classic. The story is witty, laugh-out-loud funny and, oddly enough, one that readers can identify with. I look forward to reading the books that follow for more instructions on how to not panic. |
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A kid's review (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-29 00:00>
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is an interesting book about the 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 recommend this book to anyone who's seen Monty Python, called it stupid, and still laughed at it. I would definitely not recommend this book to anyone who can't laugh at themselves, 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 reading 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. |
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Marvin (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-29 00:00>
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is the number one best selling book in the galaxy for many reasons. One it is slightly cheaper than others, but most important is that it has the words 'Don't Panic' written in bold letters on the cover. The story of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy revolves around this remarkable book. This story strangely begins when the earth is destroyed by a Vogon construction fleet clearing the way for a hyper space express way. The last Earthman, Arthur Dent, is saved by his best friend Ford Prefect, who is actually an alien that came from a small palnet somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse. They are soon thrown out of an air lack and rescued by the Heart of Gold using the Infinite Improbability Drive. Inside they meet up with Zaphod Beeblebrox, the two headed, three armed president of the galaxy, Trillian, an Earthwoman who Arthur failed to pick up and went with Zaphod, and Marvin, a paranoid android. This book tells of there amazing adventures throughout the galaxy. These adventures involve mice, an abandoned planet, a rather surprised sperm whale, and the number 42.
I loved this book for many reasons. One reason is that it is filled with unexpected humor. Another is that it gives a good spin on life. I could always count on this book to cheer me up. Don't just stop with this book there are many others in this series. |
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Steve Kennedy (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-29 00:00>
My initial reaction to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was that Douglas Adams tries to mask the book's sheer stupidity and lack of plot with big words and other nonsense that seem to be attempts at humor. The novel was completely devoid of plot, making the reader ready to put it down after only a few chapters. It was also rather confusing at some points and the reader is led to believe many occurrences of improbable events that are explained as intentional because of the "improbability drive" in the main characters' space ship.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy severely lacks plot. The story focuses on the travels of four unlikely comrades and their morose robot, Marvin. The entire plot of the story can be summarized in a few sentences: The two characters from Earth get a ride on a spaceship, seconds before the Earth is destroyed, only to be kicked off of the ship into open space. Conveniently, they are picked up by a stolen ship powered by an "improbability drive", hence the convenience of the Earthlings' pickup.... The book is pointless and has really no theme, symbolism, or any of the elements of literature that are to be expected in a novel.
There is also surprisingly frequent use of common grammatical errors such as missing commas, misplaced modifiers, and sentence fragments. The grammar in the book makes it hard to respect the author much for his writing ability. There also seems to be large words used where they are unnecessary that just seem to be attempts to make the book seem better and the author smarter.
One thing I liked about the book was the author's use of the character Marvin, the eternally depressed robot programmed only to make lives miserable. Although Marvin was rather annoying, he accurately represents and criticizes people who act very much like him. Marvin was so depressing in fact that he saved the heroes lives by talking to another machine, making it feel compelled to kill itself. Obviously, Marvin is an exaggeration of people who only see the bad side of things, but he still brought forth thoughts of how people could be like that.
Overall, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy was a rather poor piece of literature that seemed to be more of a waste of time than an enjoyable novel. Douglas Adams shadows some aspects of the real world, but the poor writing, lack of plot, and undeveloped characters made the book less interesting and made it harder to notice a theme or relation to my life.
(A negative review.)
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