Writing Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

[Manic Webb]

Just recently, I picked up Douglas Adams' first novel in the hitchhiker series, [u]Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy[/u]. Frankly, I think it's hilarious. Given, some of the jokes are a little era-specific (such as the fscination with digital watches), but the characters themselves stand out. Maybe it's just the way I read it, but Ford seemed so calm throughout some of the most urgent parts of the book. Zaphod is such a politician. And it's fun imagining their reactions to the ship's computer.

What I liked most was the way Adams explain everything. Some chapters would just consist of meaningless backstory over something the reader isn't going to care about. The book is so randomly put together, you simply think some of the points brought up in the story are irrelevant and used only for the sake of humor. However, everything comes together in possibly the dumbest (yet somehow clever) way possible.

Not the greatest novel ever written, but I don't read many humor-driven books. It makes a for a fun read when you don't have anything to do, and I'm waiting for the movie to come out... but that's for a different forum.

[DeadSeraphim]

[COLOR=Indigo][SIZE=1][FONT=Arial Narrow]Douglas Adams books are brilliant. I have all five books in Hitch hiker's trilogy (weird eh?) And, even if the humour does start dying in the fourth book to be replaced with arkward writing, it is an awesome series. My favourite and most quoted quote comes from those books: [/FONT] [/SIZE] [/COLOR] [QUOTE][I]A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools[/I][/QUOTE] [FONT=Arial Narrow][SIZE=1][COLOR=Indigo]The think is, a lot of his humour actually relates to real things, which makes the books even better. The Hitch Hiker's Guide explanations are hilarious, and sum up Earth and humans in general perfectly. [I]Mostly Harmless. [/I] Pure comic genius.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[Megumi]

Ooh, I loved Hitchhiker's guide! Granted, I read it three years ago, and can't remember much of it. I think I got to the third book and started getting bored... the writing style was funny for a little while, but once the novelty wears off, it's a little irritating. I remember especially the main course of the day offering to carve himself up, I think I found it mildly disturbing... and I remember the babel fish. Why those things out of the whole book, I don't know.

[Muad'Dib]

Ohhh, yes. Hitch-hiker's Guide... been a while since I read it, but it is hilarious. You gotta admit, the funniest character is Marvin, the paranoid andriod. "What a depressingly stupid machine..."--Marvin. His name was Marvin right? God, I hope it was.

Just theway it's written makes you laugh... it makes the most ridicualous things sound perfectly logical. Like, "The Universe is infinate, but there are only a limited amount of habitated planets, and anything divided by infinity, is so close to zero, it might as well be zero. So, we do not exist." Not the exact words, but it was something liek that that Doulgas Adams wrote.

You could go on and on about how funny it is... and we shall!

[Lady Asphyxia]

[font=Verdana][size=1]I've only read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, not the continuing stories, and while I enjoyed it, I don't particularly want to read any more. Now, before I get completely attacked by die-hard Douglas Adams fans [or fan girls, heh], let me explain why.[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]First of all, while it was to some extent funny, I prefer my humour to be less random and more...well placed, less obvious, and rather sarcastic, heh. Reading Hitchhiker's Guide made me feel very scattered at the end. I enjoyed it, definately, but it was [i]very[/i] light reading for me at least, and I couldn't deal with more light reading like that. [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]I'm also not much of a fan for Sci-Fi. [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]So while I did have fun reading it, I'm not sure that I'll read anymore of the books in the series.[/size] [/font]

[Godelsensei]

[COLOR=Gray][FONT=Courier New]The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy [I]was[/I] essentially thrown together. And this is what makes it so wonderful to read.
It was written in the way whipped cream is made: to be light, enjoyable in any circumstance, and to make you keep wanting [I]more[/I].

It is packed with delicious little tidbits of humour and serves you so much of the author's mind, it's almost as though you know Adams personally.
Marvin was a brilliant addition to the story: the cherry on top, if you'll have it. His existance can almost come across as a statement about something or other, but that would take away from how simply [I]fun[/I] this book is.

Needless to say: I love whipped cream. : D[/FONT][/COLOR]

[Lady Asphyxia]

[quote name='Godelsensei][color=gray][font=Courier New]It was written in the way whipped cream is made: to be light, enjoyable in any circumstance, and to make you keep wanting [i]more[/i].[/font'][/color][/quote]
[font=Verdana][size=1][color=black]You know, too much whipped cream makes you sick. :p [/color][/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]But yeah, I did enjoy the book. I thought the way Adams [who is dead now, unless I'm mistaken?] related it to life on Earth was lovely. And Arthur squelching in the mud was what first drew me in. [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]Zaphod was a lovely character, and the woman [can't remember her name!] was cool, too, heh. ^_^" I'll have to re-read it sometime, I think, just so I can remember exactly what I'm talking about. All I can remember at the moment are scenes.[/size][/font]

[Kopfgeldj]

i really enjoyed the book my self it was a great read, I have been brought up on monty python and it struck a similar cord in me when i read it, but last year in english for y11 in australia we did it and it got me some good marks so my love for the book has gone up heaps :wigout

Kopfgeldjäger

[DeathBug]

[color=indigo][size=1][font=comic sans ms]42

I liked the first book, and plan to read the others when I have time. While the pace and wit is enjoyable, the thing I remember most about it is how quateable it is. There's a qute in HGttG that covers durn near everything. ^__^

"Good bye, and thanks for all the fish!"

"Don't panic."

And my personal favorite, "Earth: Mostly harmless."
[/color][/size][/font]

[Sara]

[size=1]I can't remember the first time I read these books. My mom had the first four, and when I was little I would climb up the bookshelf (It was very tall, and I was not) and take them down to look at the covers. I loved how the "Don't Panic!" face got more and more--insert appropriate adjective here, because I can't think of it.

The girl's name is Trillian (Tricia McMillan, or something to that effect.) I used to love how her first and last name combined into something cool and space-worthy. I tried doing that with my name, but the best I could come up with sounded like some kind of sea slug, and not at all clever or spacey. (Samarin? Saartin?)

I love Ford. I really do. The whole demeanor of his character makes me laugh--very calm, and yet...completely insane. For example, his perfectly planned [spoiler]breaking-in of HHGTTG headquarters in book five.[/spoiler] Methodical and bizarre. I love it, heh.

When I first started flitting about the internet, I attached 42 to my screenames when the desired word was taken. Heck...my email is [i]still[/i] cynic42.

Plus, having read them makes me privy to several of the random geeky in-jokes floating around the internet. There's just so much fun humor in there. It's hilarious in and of itself, simply that you can quote almost any sentence in the book, and someone, somewhere, would know what you were talking about.

[list]
[*]I never could get the hang of Thusdays.
[*]Here I am, [i]brain the size of a planet[/i]...
[*]"[i]The[/i] Zaphod Beeblebrox?" "No, just [i]a[/i] Zaphod Beeblebrox. Didn't you hear I come in six packs?"
[*]...with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard.'
[*]He's spending the year dead for tax reasons.
[*]...and my satisfaction to close behind you with the knowledge of a job well done.
[*]I...just...want...some....tea.
[*]Life is wasted on the living.
[*][i]There are no lemon-scented napkins!!![/i]
[/list]

I could go on, but hey. What's the point?

But, yeah. I really do enjoy those books. I ought to find them and read them again, it's been a couple years.[/size]

[DeadSeraphim]

[COLOR=Indigo][SIZE=1][FONT=Arial Narrow]For anyone who actually wants to read them but is a lazy sod and can't be screwed buying/loaning the books:

[URL=http://flag.blackened.net/dinsdale/dna/book1.html]Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy[/URL]
[URL=http://flag.blackened.net/dinsdale/dna/book2.html]The Restaurant at the End of the Universe[/URL]
[URL=http://flag.blackened.net/dinsdale/dna/book3.html]Life, the Universe and Everything[/URL]
[URL=http://flag.blackened.net/dinsdale/dna/book4.html]So Long and Thanks for the Fish[/URL]
[URL=http://flag.blackened.net/dinsdale/dna/book5.html]Mostly Harmless[/URL]

Each book typed out by someone who obviously had no life.[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]