DOUGLAS ADAMS
1 Hardcover Edition of the Brilliant First "Hitchhiker's"
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.
----------------------------------------------------------
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?"
---------------------------------------------------
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."
------------------------------------------
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.
2 Excellent and Pleasurable book
I'm in the seventh grade and wanted to read book for enjoyment. I usually don't but this book was reall great. I am now going to start to read the second book in this excellent series.
