I finished reading this a couple of days ago and was waiting to post, but if I don't post soon I'll forget what I want to say. Especially since I'm reading another SciFi novel right now that might get blended in my memory.
I enjoyed reading this book a lot, but I'm not sure if I like it. The random sections were a lot of fun, but I found the actual plot to be frustrating and I didn't care for the end of it. I don't think I will be continuing the series. But, I might rewatch the movie to see if it makes more sense now.
I have a ton of excerpts I would like to highlight, so this might take a couple of comments:
Preface: After a paragraph about a girl who figures out how to make the world happy and safe... "This is not her story."
Chapter 1: The description of Mr. L Prosser and his descendance from Genghis Khan, which exhibits itself in flashbacks and laughter of of horsemen in his head.
Chapter 7: The very worst poetry of all. Do you think this is really someone that Adams knew and was poking fun at or completely fictional?
Chapter 10: What happened to the student who discovered the infinte improbability field generator. Did anyone else mentally see Sheldon (of Big Bang Theory) leading the mob?
Chapter 12: The problem with trying to listen to the radio without accidentally turning the channel: "It saved a lot of muscular expenditure, of course, but meant that you had to sit infuriatingly still if you wanted to keep listening to the same program."
And, "Parts of the inside of her head screamed at other parts of the inside of her head." I know this feeling!
Chapter 18: The sperm whale and "And the rest, after a sudden wet thud, was silence." Think how quickly this would have ended Moby Dick.
Chapter 19: "...a whale's graveyars is not on the whole a good place to stamp around in."
And finally, Chapter 29: "I don't seem to be letting myself into any of my secrets."
All in all, I found Zaphod to be an annoying character, but I really liked Arthur and Trinity. Good choice, A.
I liked this book; not one of my favorites but I’m glad to check it off my list. I think I would have liked it a lot more had I read it in my teens. Science fiction really isn’t my thing, but Adams does have a way with words.
Here are my notes: Ch 1, “The thing that used to worry him the most was that fact that people always used to ask him what he was looking so worried about.” I totally understand this. People at work are always telling me I look like I’m “up to something” and I constantly say “this is just my normal look!”
Ch 3, “a few things to say on the subject of towels” loved this whole section. “In moments of great stress, every life form .. gives out a tiny subliminal signal. The signal simply communicates .. a sense of how far that being is from the place of his birth.” How astute; I think we tend to pity people their situations more the farther they are from home.
Ch 6, the Babel fish. Well, that explains all the babelfish translation websites!
Ch 11, Marvin’s description “In fact they fitted perfectly well, but something in its bearing suggested that they might have fitted better.” “You watch this door,” he muttered, “it’s about to open again. I can tell by the intolerable air of smugness it suddenly generates.” I loved how Marvin hated the doors.
Ch 20, Zaphod erasing his memory and leaving himself clues that he did it. Pretty much the entire plot of Men in Black II.
Ch 22, “Late, as in the late Dentarthurdent.”
Ch 27, Arthur and the Sens-O-Tape, very similar to the pensieve in Harry Potter, no?
Ch 34, “R17 is not a fixed velocity, but it is clearly far too fast.”
Did anyone else mentally see Sheldon (of Big Bang Theory) leading the mob? -- YES I totally pictured Sheldon there.
CH 18 and 19 about the whale I really enjoyed, and had similar Moby Dick thoughts.
I, too, disliked Zaphod but found the other characters entertaining. I can’t help wondering though, why did Ford save Arthur? Maybe because he didn’t want to chance getting stuck alone for so long again?
The book was ok and seemed like a truly wonderful book for a 12 or so boy.
My favorites were: Chapter 1 - something "yellow" and the bulldozer
Chapter 3 - "There's a frood who really knows where his towel is".
Chapter 25 - the whole chapter about the philosophers
Chapter 25 - the computer comparing itself to other computers "a mere abacus", "pocket calculator stuff". Also liked the fact that the computer recognized that the next generation would have the question (ie n and n+1). And Deep Thought, play on Deep Throat?
The book "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" reminded me of my Kindle - a "book" with access to everything.
J - thanks for mentioning the Kindle, I had that thought as well and then forgot to include it in my comments.
I totally agree this would be better at a younger age. I wonder why I never read it back in the day? I was totally a nerd, and I remember a lot of my friends talking about it in high school.
Been reading the book. Can't help but wonder if the author was on an LSD trip when he wrote it. What an imagination. It is stupidly funny and makes just enough sense to keep me reading. Paul read the comments on the back cover, laughed, and said this was the kind of book he read when he is sitting for hours in his tree stand bow hunting. He is not much of a book reader so this was an unusual comment coming from him.
This was the funniest book I have read in a long time. When Deep Thought finally gave its Answer I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes. I am thinking of reading the other books in this series. And my final thought is.... 42
9 comments:
I finished reading this a couple of days ago and was waiting to post, but if I don't post soon I'll forget what I want to say. Especially since I'm reading another SciFi novel right now that might get blended in my memory.
I enjoyed reading this book a lot, but I'm not sure if I like it. The random sections were a lot of fun, but I found the actual plot to be frustrating and I didn't care for the end of it. I don't think I will be continuing the series. But, I might rewatch the movie to see if it makes more sense now.
I have a ton of excerpts I would like to highlight, so this might take a couple of comments:
Preface: After a paragraph about a girl who figures out how to make the world happy and safe... "This is not her story."
Chapter 1: The description of Mr. L Prosser and his descendance from Genghis Khan, which exhibits itself in flashbacks and laughter of of horsemen in his head.
Chapter 7: The very worst poetry of all. Do you think this is really someone that Adams knew and was poking fun at or completely fictional?
Chapter 10: What happened to the student who discovered the infinte improbability field generator. Did anyone else mentally see Sheldon (of Big Bang Theory) leading the mob?
Chapter 12: The problem with trying to listen to the radio without accidentally turning the channel: "It saved a lot of muscular expenditure, of course, but meant that you had to sit infuriatingly still if you wanted to keep listening to the same program."
And, "Parts of the inside of her head screamed at other parts of the inside of her head." I know this feeling!
Chapter 18: The sperm whale and "And the rest, after a sudden wet thud, was silence." Think how quickly this would have ended Moby Dick.
Chapter 19: "...a whale's graveyars is not on the whole a good place to stamp around in."
And finally, Chapter 29: "I don't seem to be letting myself into any of my secrets."
All in all, I found Zaphod to be an annoying character, but I really liked Arthur and Trinity. Good choice, A.
And look at that, I got it all in one comment!
I liked this book; not one of my favorites but I’m glad to check it off my list. I think I would have liked it a lot more had I read it in my teens. Science fiction really isn’t my thing, but Adams does have a way with words.
Here are my notes:
Ch 1, “The thing that used to worry him the most was that fact that people always used to ask him what he was looking so worried about.” I totally understand this. People at work are always telling me I look like I’m “up to something” and I constantly say “this is just my normal look!”
Ch 3, “a few things to say on the subject of towels” loved this whole section.
“In moments of great stress, every life form .. gives out a tiny subliminal signal. The signal simply communicates .. a sense of how far that being is from the place of his birth.” How astute; I think we tend to pity people their situations more the farther they are from home.
Ch 6, the Babel fish. Well, that explains all the babelfish translation websites!
Ch 11, Marvin’s description “In fact they fitted perfectly well, but something in its bearing suggested that they might have fitted better.”
“You watch this door,” he muttered, “it’s about to open again. I can tell by the intolerable air of smugness it suddenly generates.” I loved how Marvin hated the doors.
Ch 20, Zaphod erasing his memory and leaving himself clues that he did it. Pretty much the entire plot of Men in Black II.
Ch 22, “Late, as in the late Dentarthurdent.”
Ch 27, Arthur and the Sens-O-Tape, very similar to the pensieve in Harry Potter, no?
Ch 34, “R17 is not a fixed velocity, but it is clearly far too fast.”
In response to M’s coments:
Did anyone else mentally see Sheldon (of Big Bang Theory) leading the mob? -- YES I totally pictured Sheldon there.
CH 18 and 19 about the whale I really enjoyed, and had similar Moby Dick thoughts.
I, too, disliked Zaphod but found the other characters entertaining. I can’t help wondering though, why did Ford save Arthur? Maybe because he didn’t want to chance getting stuck alone for so long again?
The book was ok and seemed like a truly wonderful book for a 12 or so boy.
My favorites were:
Chapter 1 - something "yellow" and the bulldozer
Chapter 3 - "There's a frood who really knows where his towel is".
Chapter 25 - the whole chapter about the philosophers
Chapter 25 - the computer comparing itself to other computers "a mere abacus", "pocket calculator stuff". Also liked the fact that the computer recognized that the next generation would have the question (ie n and n+1). And Deep Thought, play on Deep Throat?
The book "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" reminded me of my Kindle - a "book" with access to everything.
J - thanks for mentioning the Kindle, I had that thought as well and then forgot to include it in my comments.
I totally agree this would be better at a younger age. I wonder why I never read it back in the day? I was totally a nerd, and I remember a lot of my friends talking about it in high school.
If it is true that I get to make the next pick then here it is: "The World We Found" by Thrity Umrigar.
Been reading the book. Can't help but wonder if the author was on an LSD trip when he wrote it. What an imagination. It is stupidly funny and makes just enough sense to keep me reading. Paul read the comments on the back cover, laughed, and said this was the kind of book he read when he is sitting for hours in his tree stand bow hunting. He is not much of a book reader so this was an unusual comment coming from him.
This was the funniest book I have read in a long time. When Deep Thought finally gave its Answer I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes. I am thinking of reading the other books in this series. And my final thought is.... 42
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