The Hitchhiker's Trilogy (5-in-1)
Hitchhiker's Guide to Galaxy/ Restaurant at End of Universe/ Life, Universe and Everything/ So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish/ Mostly Harmless
by Douglas Adams
Mem. Ed. $14.99
You pay $1.00
The Hitchhiker's Trilogy (5-in-1)
Suppose a good friend calmly told you over a round of drinks that the world was about to end? And suppose your friend went on to confess that he wasn't from around here at all, but rather from a small planet near Betelgeuse? And what if the world really did come to an end, but instead of being blown away, you found yourself hitching a ride on a spaceship, with your buddy as traveling companion?
It happens to Arthur Dent.
An ordinary guy from a small town in England, Arthur is one lucky sonofagun: his alien friend, Ford Prefect, is in fact a roving researcher for the universally bestselling Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy...and expert at seeing the cosmos on 30 Altairian dollars a day. Ford lives by the Guide's seminal bit of advice: Don't Panic. Which comes in handy when their first ride--on the very same vessel that demolished Earth to make way for a hyperspatial freeway--ends disastrously (they're booted out of an airlock). With 30 seconds of air in their lungs and the odds of being picked up by another ship 2 to the power of 276,709 to 1 against, the pair are scooped up by the only ship in the universe powered by the Infinite Improbability Drive.
But this (and the idea that Bogart movies and McDonald's hamburgers now exist only in his mind) is just the beginning of the weird things Arthur will have to get used to. For, on his travels, he'll encounter Zaphod Beeblebrox, the two-headed, three-armed ex-President of the Galaxy; Trillian, a sexy space cadet he once tried to pick up at a cocktail party, now Zaphod's girlfriend; Marvin, a chronically depressed robot; and Slartibartfast, the award-winning engineer who built the Earth and travels in a spaceship disguised as a bistro.
Arthur's crazed wanderings will take him from the restaurant at the end of the Universe (where the main dish of the day introduces itself and the floor show is doomsday), to the planet Krikkit (locked in Slo-Time to punish its inhabitants for trying to end the Universe), to Earth (huh? wait! wasn't it destroyed?!) to the very offices of The Hitchhiker's Guide itself as he and his friends quest for the answer to the Question of Life, the Universe and Everything...and search for a really good cup of tea.
Ready or not, Arthur Dent is in for one hell of a ride!
Includes The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; The Restaurant at the End of the Universe; Life, the Universe and Everything; So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish and Mostly Harmless. Jacket art by Gary Ruddell. (839 pp.)
Hardcover: 848 pages
Publisher: Harmony Books ( January 01, 1992 )
Item #: 94-9126
ISBN: 9780739410127
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 8.25 x 1.437 inches
Product Weight: 29.0 ounces
Always a great Reread
November 18, 2009
I've read the series before and I loved it. Years later I decided that this book would be the perfect selection to go back and relive the humor. I am happy to say it is just as good if not better the second time around. The format makes it quick and easy to move through the series. I highly suggest this one for any comedy or scifi fan.
Reviewer: Nina F
Different, quirky, hilarious
October 12, 2009
I typically think of books as a spectrum with one end being the character novel and the other end the plot based novel. Really good novels are balanced in the middle, fantastic and engaging characters with a plot that builds and pulls you in. Take a Robin Hobb novel and you know you are going to get amazing and deep characters, but the plot may be lacking. Take a Michael Crichton novel and you know that the plot will flow like an action movie, but the characters will be forgetable. The best novels combine the both of these two worlds.
The Hitchikers Triology is neither. It really isnt. It caused me to make a whole new spectrum when I look at novels: the idea novel. Imagine someone with an interest in and lots of ideas about scienfiction, space, time travel, ect. Now give that someone a very quirky sense of humor. Instead of writing a typical sci-fi novel that revolves around amazing plots, each chapter in this book revolves around some interesting idea.
Imagine a plant where matresses are creatures that live in swamps- thats a chapter. Imagine a planet where all the alien species want to do is destroy the universe- thats a chapter. Imagine a tree with creatures on it that never leave that tree unless they question whether there is life in the universe outside of the tree (in which case they get kicked out of the tree)- thats a chapter. There is a very lose plot and some very weak characters that move throughout the universe, not for the purpose of telling a plot or developing the characters, but purely for the purpose of exploring these ideas the author had.
The strenght of the novel is the humor. It is quirky, understated, sarcastic, hilarious... To enjoy this novel, I had to get into the right mindset and read purely for the entertaining ideas. Once I got this and abandoned any desire to find a plot thread, I loved it. These books know what they are, embrace that, and in that, are a great read.
Reviewer: Micah H
just because I want to see my name in lights!
April 27, 2009
Do I really need to tell you anything about these 5 books that hasn't already been said by millions????? If you haven't read this stuff, SHAME ON YOU! You should go join the 'head in the sand book club'.... read it, you will be laughing out loud on the bus and everyone will stare... but you won't care... you'll be telling your friends about what happened in the chapter you just read like you were talking about an episode of 'the office'... these books are addictive, groundbreaking, hilarious, twisted, insightful and essential to modern human exsistence... enjoy!
Reviewer: Salt w
Best Book EVER!
December 02, 2008
These are my all time favorite books. Read again and again and always enjoy. Also have it on CD. Can't get enough!
Reviewer: Victoria L
Phenom
October 29, 2008
I have a set of this book that I got from a Borders a long time ago. I saw it in here and just HAD to add my review. I have always loved Douglas Adams and love the Hitchhikers series! It is witty, ridiculous and outright an awesome read! Please don't see the movie if you can help it before you read the books. The movie tanked and destroyed the wittiness of these books.
Reviewer: Kristi W
Copyright © 2010 Bookspan. Science Fiction Book Club® is a registered trademark used under license. Unauthorized use prohibited. All rights reserved.
51007201001ADFL