DOUGLAS ADAMS
1 His Best
It may be heresy, but the Dirk Gently books are actually better than the Hitchhikers' Guide books, and by a wide margin (the second book being slightyly better than the first). The fantastic way he ties all the threads of the stories together is unbelievable (as with Dirk as a gypsy fortune teller at the beginning of TEA-TIME and how he connects to an eagle, a missing pilot, and the fate of the story's villains). Among the most intelligent and well thought out comic novels I've ever read.
2 Put a fire in the fireplace
Put a fire in the fireplace, turn down the lights (except the small reading lamp), put on Ravel's "Bolero," grab a sixpack of Guinness Draft in bottles, lie back in your Laz-Y-Boy recliner, open the book, and immerse yourself in an alternate reality, become engulfed in mystery, experience the reading of Colerige as you've never experienced it before, learn from an electric monk, weep for the extinct dodo, consider applications of quantum mechanics even the physicists didn't think of, and pity a living-challenged (i.e., dead) poor soul for whom his demise was not a release but yet another challenge to deal with. And, try to do all this with a straight face, as this is the funniest ghost/time travel/alien/love/historical story you have ever come across. Learn where Bach really got his music. Find out why there's an Albatross in "Rime of the Ancient Mariner," and not the asteroid Colerige had obviously intended. Discover why Colerige never finished "Kubla Kahn." Find out who was responsible for the dodos' demise. Learn why it's easier to get face powder from the Pleides than from the drugstore. Find out why shooting off is a bad idea. Discover how telephones with big red pushbuttons are integral to solving murders. Douglas Adams is as irreplacible as Heinlein.
Then, read the sequel and never look at your refrigerator the same way again.
3 Literary slapstick in the tradition of Kurt Vonnegut
Douglas Adams, the author of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, followed up with the most whimsical character I have "met" since reading Vonnegut, and like Vonnegut, creates a slapstick creation for mankind. There are an alien or two, eccentric college professors, a Electric Monk, and many other labor-saving devices to be found in the two books. Roaring funny - if you like slapstick characters - the Dirk Gently books poke fun at everything from Apple Computer to Isaac Newton's discovery of gravity. Since these books were originally published, some of the jokes have aged, but their recent re-discovery was worth the trip all over again.
Dirk Gently is a detective who thinks nothing of charging his clients for a spontaneous trip to the Bahamas, because of his "holistic" approach to investigations. Everything is connected, you see, so he - well, investigates everything. The ride is fast, daring, and you won't anticipate what will happen around the next turn. Adams has penned a carnival ride that approximates the best of Vonnegut, and a joy these many years later.
Having not read the Hitchhiker's Guide books for some time, I will confess that I actually enjoyed the Gently books a bit more, as the writing is much faster paced, the lunacy a little more looney (with the possible exception of "So Long and Thanks for All The Fish"), and the names much easier to remember.
One of my favorite books.
4 thoughtful, unforgettable comic fiction
Douglas Adams is well known for his "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" series of books. They are filled with often smart, sometimes absurd and slapstick humor. This book contains two of his lesser-known novels--"Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" and "The Log, Dark, Tea Time of the Soul." While not quite as nonstop and rapid fire as the Hitchhiker books, they are possibly Adams' greatest work.
First of all, these books are unique. Where else in literature do science fiction and humor intersect with topics such as Quantum physics, Norse mythology, and the poetry of Samuel Taylor Coleridge? Adams weaves these elements into stories that entertain, provoke, and even educate.
Adams also creates lasting images: a wonderful depiction of the nonsense that so often surrounds academic and professional banquets, a great representation of the pitfalls of furniture moving, the absurdity of airline check-in lines, and a description of a "lurking" refrigerator that speaks to some universal human interaction with maltreated appliances.
These two novels are wonderful pieces of comic literature. They are also something more. Get a copy and experience them yourself.
I recommend this book.
5 Amusing, but not great
I read the Hitchhikers guide many years before I read this book, so my expectations are colored by the fact that I loved the Hitchhikers guide. Thus this review is mostly a comparison between the two.
I give the book a fairly high score, 4 of 5, but it is not quite as good as the Hitchhikers guide, which I would give a 6 of 5 if I could. The style of writing is the same, but where the Hitchhikers guide made me laugh out loud on several occations, this book just made me smile a little. It is also very easy to get thruogh, it is not the kind of book you need to devote an entire weekend to read, it can be completed in a few evenings. If you like Adams style of writing, then you will probably like this book as well, but don't expect it to be as good as the Hitchhikers guide.
6 Fabulous book
I would venture to say that these two books are better than the more famous Hitchhikers guide. Not only are these books funny, odd, and a genuinely fine read, I would say they are in many ways great examples of truly postmodern literature (and I have an A on a graduate level paper to back me up). Adams was not only a creative genius, but he saw how society was moving in a positive direction and was able to emphasize and poke fun at society's foibles. As a contrast to Sherlock Holmes these books point to how we truly are living in a different, and more fun, era. They are certainly silly, but very, very intelligent, and should not be passed up. (...)
7 Best book ever
Dirk Gentlys Holistic Detective Agency is my favorite book EVER. You cannot read this book once for a start, and each subsequent read gets better! Funny to the point of hysterical at times, these books are the best comedy sci-fi you will find.
8 MODERN DAY MIXED WITH MYTHOLOGY, I LOVED IT!
I ENJOYED THE STORY LINE AND PLOT. I LOVED THE INTERACTION BETWEEN GODS AND MODERN LIFE. I TRUELY ENJOYED IT.
9 DOUGLAS ADAMS THE MAN THE MYTH
MY FAVORITE ''sci-fi'' WRITER OF ALL TIME FROM HITCHHIKERS TILL' NOW ADAMS' HUMOR AND, HONESTLY PUT,WIERD TRUISMS CAUGHT ME FROM THE WORDS ''in the begining'' . AND SINCE I'M NOT HUMAN THAT SHOULD BE A PLUS FOR ALL OF YOU SMALL UNSIGHTLY CREATURES WHO CALL YOURSELVES ORGANISMS WHY, YOUR ALL NO BETTER THAN THAT PROSTENTIC VOGON JELTZ!!!! ANYWHO THIS BOOK IS THE STUFF THAT MAKES THE UNIVERSE GO ROUND.
10 DOUGLAS ADAMS THE MAN THE MYTH
MY FAVORITE ''sci-fi'' WRITER OF ALL TIME FROM HITCHHIKERS TILL' NOW ADAMS' HUMOR AND, HONESTLY PUT,WIERD TRUISMS CAUGHT ME FROM THE WORDS ''in the begining'' . AND SINCE I'M NOT HUMAN THAT SHOULD BE A PLUS FOR ALL OF YOU SMALL UNSIGHTLY CREATURES WHO CALL YOURSELVES ORGANISMS WHY, YOUR ALL NO BETTER THAN THAT PROSTENTIC VOGON JELTZ!!!! ANYWHO THIS BOOK IS THE STUFF THAT MAKES THE UNIVERSE GO ROUND.
11 These books are the epitomy of British humour at its best.
These two books revolve about a detective named Dirk Gently, whose specialty is tackling supernatural cases. If you like British humor, you will love these books for all their randomness, plot twists and just plain weirdness. If you don't like British humor, you may want to steer clear.
12 Two of the most wonderful books I have ever read
A series of two wonderfully inventive, sarcastic, and funny books, with a very imaginative, fantasy -like story line. Although the stories don't have that much to do with everyday life in London, the author throws in wonderful tidbits that sound so familiar to the reader that he/she is left howling with laughter, impatient to read on. I loved it
