Monty-python-esque approach to language...this is the British version of what in America are called "sniglets", little neo-logisms invented for things and situations which don't have proper words to designate them but ought to. The difference is that these creations ala Douglas Adams & John Lloyd use already existing town names in the UK and re-define them to make them useful (and funny)...this is altogether different from American sniglets like "bevemirage" (the black plastic bottom of a liter bottle of dark cola that fools you temporarily into thinking there is more cola left in the bottle than there actually is), which tend to be creative word-fusions of already existing words. The only U.S. linguistic construction I can think of that comes close to what Lloyd and Adams are doing here is the phrase "in a New York Minute", aka "really fast". Though there is no collorary such as "in a Topeka minute" (or whatever) to mean slow, drawn out (but maybe there ought to be). I bought this book in the UK for £4.99 GPB, but it seems it's out of print here in the USA, alas. Probably out of print in Britain also. Well worth it, if you stumble across a copy!

(Attention, if not warning: this comment contains two or so profanities. When confronted with them, just block your eyes then, eh??! OK, great!!:)

I've tried 'em all, Webster's, Oxford's, Cambridge's, but none of those dictionaries ever really made sense to me. I mean, I could not possibly care less how many people live in a town named Aalst (nothing personal, Aalst, but that's where I always gave up)??! It wasn't until I found a small, black, paperback with some graved letters on the cover, that I was able to enjoy anything else more than the phonebook!!!

I didn't, for example, know that I ski with Zeal Monachorum before I read THE MEANING OF LIFF. Nor did I know that Aird of Sleat was placed upon Heathrow Airport!! Thanks for warning me, Doug and John!! Also, this little black book can help all of us, when, for example, confronted with a glossop, or what we did, when someone says we've just commited a wigan. Now I can play golf AND enjoy it as well!!! Instead of the frustrating how-many-bogies-have-I-got count, I just count Whaplode droves. Then this once-useless game finally has an amusing purpose.

No, really. This book, alongside being pantwettingly funny, is, in my opinion, an honest and respectable attempt to save the English language from a violent and tragic destruction. For English, as it exists today, is becoming a language of three words: .... This book, and indeed the Deeper Meaning Of Liff as well, is a guide to help us all to save this beautiful language (as all languages are).

At least my Liff has a Deeper Meaning now.

Although a number of your friends may think you a bit weird if you tried to retell them. This rates as one of the few books that makes me laugh out loud (very loudly). A collection of explanations of strange & bizarre place names from around the world, Mr Adams and Mr Lloyd truly show off their incredibly imaginations and pure wit. While the reader may need a "Monty Pythonish" (or even a Hitch-Hikers Guide!) sense of humour, this is a genuinely very funny book

This volume combines all five titles from the Hitchhiker Trilogy under one cover. If you are a fan of any or all of the Hitchhiker books, this is an excellent way to keep them all together. For those who have never read them but enjoy science fiction, it's a chance to discover a new Universe.

Titles combined include 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.

You'll travel with Arthur Dent from the destruction of the Earth throughout the Universe in a series of adventures and misadventures. He meets some of the most uproarious characters in the Universe, and realize he's met some of them before. All of this to answer the ultimate question of "Life, the Universe and Everything".

The book moves comparably in speed speed and action to the Hobbit, and Trilogy of the Rings. And wouldn't we all like to go "There and Back Again."

Douglas Adams is a master of the farcical science fiction novel, and here are three perfect examples in one collection! The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Restaurant at the end of the Universe, and Life, the Universe, and Everything compose the first three novels of the Hitchiker's trilogy (yes, there are four, check out So Long and Thanks for All the Fish). In this series, Arthur Dent, along with a broad array of alien companions seeks to discover the great question to the answer to life, the universe, and everything (the answer is 42). Along the way, excerpts from the greatest book of books, The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy (vastly more popular than the Encyclopedia Galactica), force readers to laugh out loud and annoy people sitting around them by repeatedly saying, "You've got to read this book!"

If you're looking for a comical way to spend a boring day, grab yourself a copy of this book. You won't regret it.

A modern-day masterpiece, Douglas Adams' "Hitchhiker's Trilogy" is a fast read that will leave the reader rolling on the floor with laughter. The characters are richly written, from the ego-driven two-headed Zaphod Beeblebrox to the manic-depressive robot Marvin, making the reader empatize with them during their journeys through space and time. A true must-read for all.

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.

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.

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. (...)

"The Great Ape Project" is a good collection of reasons for supporting the project of the same name.

This book is an excellent source of information provided by a variety of scientific and legal experts. The authors show us the rich emotional and cultural lives of non-human great apes. Researchers who use other apes because of their genetic and psychological complexity ought to be required to read this book. Indeed, the one flaw of this book is the fact that a few chapters are the works of researchers who have used, for example, the linguistic talents of other apes to advance their own careers. Other sections of the book, including a chapter vividly comparing the non-human and human slave trade, and a description of the case for legal rights based on the personhood of hominids, underscore that flaw with haunting and brilliant sensitivity.

Overall, The Great Ape Project lucidly demonstrates the unconscionability of continuing to use the other apes for experimentation, for teaching, for trade in their body parts, and in the entertainment industry. Moreover, it inspires us to broaden our definition of slavery to include our nearest living relatives.

The contributors make a compelling case for sentience rights for higher primates based on strong empirical evidence and demonstrable harm caused to other higher primates that infringes on their rights claims as sentient beings. I would ask if the authors might consider a similar work that expands the case for cetacean rights on the same basis, though.

I have to say that I have found this book to be interesting with regard to the large number of historical, mythical, folkloric and legendary references that Douglas employs. He definitely did his homework and it shows in every sentence of the book.

But therein lies the fault I find with the book. With the exception of a few brief moments where Douglas manages to smirk at himself, his writing style is largely (and annoyingly) pedantic. He approaches the subject seriously, but he takes it to the point of stuffiness.

I also found that a lot (and I mean A LOT) of the information Douglas spends page after page running into the ground had little or nothing to do with the subject of werewolves. His interest seemed much more focused on displaying his copious (albeit only indirectly relevant) research and knowledge than in writing a digestible book about werewolves.

This book is essential reading for anyone who likes unconventional history like I do. Adams takes you through examples of lycanthropy in all cultures and all signifigant time periods. No stone is left unturned. He even touches on a chapter on how feral children figure into the myth of the werewolf. Citing mythology, medieval history to current medical cases, this book is a delight to read. I highly recommend this to anyone. Historian and non-historian alike will find it nothing short of fascinating.

It is a shame that this title has gone out of print, whole so many terrible werewolf books remain in print. This mythological/folkloric/sociological study of the relation ship between man and werewolf is one of the most imformative books I've ever read.

I am hard pressed to find problems with this book, and I think you would be, too.

I have a copy, but I wouldn't exactly kill for one. I mean, it's nice to have if you're a Hitchhiker fan, but let's face it, reading scripts is a less-than-fascinating experience; much better to actually here the show. On the bright side, there are some humourous directions for the actors, and loads o' facts about recording the series and whatnot. You might as well try to find a copy, but it's not the end of the world if you can't.

I've read this before, and I will say that it is a great book to have, especially if you have the Hitchhiker's Trilogy or series, so you can compare it to each other. Highly recommended to all.

These scripts were the first HHG I have ever read! Unfortunately, I was borrowing them from my friend when my house burned down! If anyone can assist in helping me find a copy to replace the one I was borrowing, PLEASE DO. It will be greatly appreciated.

First, the good news: this contains the complete Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy novel, one of the greatest books ever written. Problem is, the photos and art that accompany this particular version only serve to distract the reader and snap him/her out of the fictional dream. Die-hard Adams fans are the only people who will really want this, and then purely as a conversation piece. If you are new to the world of the Guide, you would be better served by getting The Ultimate Hitch-Hiker's Guide, which has the text of this book plus the other four in the series and a short story, and no pictures.

The story :
It's a thursday when the earth get's destroyed to make space
for a new hyperspace highway. The human Arthur Dent and
his friend, Ford Prefect from the Planet Beteigeuze, are
flagged up to the Vogon spaceship. From now on begins a
crazy travel through the Universe (and beyond) ...

Specials about this book:
If you are a real Douglas Adams fan, you MUST own this book.
The whole story is described with funny looking pictures,
and even Adams itself has a guest-role.

The idea behind The Meaning of Liff, first published in 1983, as well as The Deeper Meaning of Liff, which followed seven years later, is actually quite simple. As the authors put it: there are hundreds of common experiences, feelings, situations and even objects which we all know and recognize, but for which no word exists. On the other hand, the world is littered with thousands of spare words doing nothing but loafing about on signposts pointing at places.

Douglas Adams - the one of the Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy fame - and John Lloyd have done their best trying to pair the two. Just for the gusto, here's an example of dictionary entry: Wyoming (ptcpl.vb.) Moving in hurried desperation from one cubicle to another in a public lavatory trying to find one which has a lock on the door, a seat on the bowl and no brown streaks on the seat.

Although The Deeper Meaning of Liff is significantly expanded in size over the original, I guess I would choose the latter. While The Meaning of Liff mostly covers place names from the Britain, the expansions seem to be predominantly reaching abroad, resulting in somewhat diluted compendium. After all, there is some logic that English place names are fitting best in an English dictionary, isn't it?

As said previously, this book (and the sibling) are hilarious fun for anglophiles and wordsmiths alike...

The book has become a bible to live a NORMAL life Knowing there are others out there who are sane but strange
Find the Yahoo club site "LIFF AS WE KNOW IT" to wallow in humour. Then send your own efforts (ie photo's and new WORDS)

"Life, the Universe, and Everything" took me months on end to get through. Every time I opened the book I'd think "Ha, ha! What a funny and crazy man that Adams is. Why don't I read this more?", but after a few pages I'd grow weary. This book is genuinely funny, but I think instead of being a five-book trilogy, the Hitchhiker's franchise should have stopped at one. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was one of my favorite books for a time, and still holds a special place in my literary tastes. It's hilarious, and Douglas Adams has undoubtedly the sharpest wit this side of Oscar Wilde! Unfortunately, his abilities in the field of plot propulsion are weak at best. I read through this series, loving the first, liking the second, and by the time I got to this one, I just felt like asking what's the POINT? All this book was was another opportunity for the author to demonstrate his wit, which is, i reiterate, amazing. However, it's not enough to keep me reading, ...

This is anohter fine tale from Douglas Adams, taking us on wild adventures with Arthur, and the rest. The difference in this one is that Arthur is finally starting to actually do things. rather than jsut standing around saying what. In this one we get to see Arthur and trillian save the universe, and we learn to fly, which was my favorite part of the novel. The key is to throw yourself at the ground and miss. I enjoyed it. I am in the process of reading the entire trilogy, but I am putting it down after each book because, not being a fan of Sci - Fi, I do get a little tired of the names and ridiculous situations. If you are going to read the trilogy and you are not a big sci fi fan, take a break in between each novel.

Thanks for your time T.

Life, the Universe and Everything, by Douglas Adams, is a story of unmatched proportions, tying in satirical humor with an amazingly complex storyline. The people of Krikkit have been looking at the same features every night in the sky, and are sick of it, simply because there are no features. Krikkit is located inside a dust cloud, and when a mysterious spaceship crash lands on the planet, it puts the people in a sense of panic. They find out there are things out there, and don't like it, they enjoyed their solidarity. It is now that they must destroy the entire universe, and regain that piece of mind.
It is Arthur Dent's job to make sure that none of this happens. Arthur is a human who was rescued from earth, just as it was about to be blown up by blood thirsty mongrels, named Vogons, to make way for a hyper space bypass. Along to help Arthur is the man who rescued him, Ford Prefect, Tricia McMillan (Trillian), the ex-president of the galaxy Zaphod Beeblebrox, and a handy man from a planet factory, Slartibartfast.
In this story, the 3rd in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series, it starts out on prehistoric earth, and through the marvels of time travel, Arthur Dent is teetering on the edge of insanity, while living in a cave where his house will be located in another couple billion years. In the mean time, Ford Prefect has decided to resort to animal cruelty in Africa, until he decides that it is time to try to find a way back to their time. Along the way they meet up with Slartibartfast, who tells them of the pending problem. The people from the land of Krikkit are about to escape from a "Slow Time Envelope", which is supposed to only open when all other life in the universe has disappeared. It is now their job to try to keep the inhabitants of Krikkit from attacking the galaxy, and restore peaceful life to all of the people of the universe. Can Arthur do it? To find out, read Life, the Universe and Everything. But be sure to read the other books in the series before to avoid complete confusion.

The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time, edited by Peter Guzzardi, consists of a collection of material found on Adams's hard-drive after his untimely death in 2001, together with various earlier essays, stories, interviews, etc. It forms a tribute to the creative genius of Douglas Adams (and a last chance to squeeze some money out of the Hitchhiker franchise).
The book begins with a prologue, originally written by Nicholas Wroe for The Guardian, and an introduction by Christopher Cerf. After that, the collected material by Douglas is arranged into three parts, entitled, appropriately enough, "Life," "The Universe," "And Everything." The third part contains, among other things, some unfinished chapters from the next book that Adams had been working on before he died. That book was to have been entitled The Salmon of Doubt. These chapters have been edited together from several different versions that Adams had left behind, and forms only a short beginning, frustratingly, of the whole story, ending as it does abruptly in the middle. As the result stands, it is a story about Dirk Gently, but Adams had earlier confessed himself stuck, having found that the ideas he had been working on were more suitable for a Hitchhiker story, than for a Dirk Gently story. His plan was accordingly to write the sixth Hitchhiker book, and incorporate the best ideas from what he had already written on the Salmon of Doubt. Sadly, he never got a chance to do this.
Among the other material in the book, there are two pieces of writing that were of special interest to me. The first one is a reprint of an interview that Adams gave for American Atheist, and the other is a printed version of an extemporaneous speech that Adams delivered at Digital Biota 2, Cambridge, in which he gave his view on the origin of the concept of God.
The material collected in this book shows Adams at his funniest best. The chapters of The Salmon of Doubt that he had finished gives as a glimpse of what would have been another triumph of comedic writing for Adams, had he only been given a chance to finish it. The book ends with an epilogue written by Adams's close friend, Richard Dawkins.

There is a particularly English (ie the Country as opposed to the language) method of writing that, even as it describes sci fi, fantasy or simply The Bizarre World in general, cannot help but conjure images of village greens, stately homes, cups of tea, and cricket matches; PG Wodehouse, Michael Palin, Terry Pratchett and Evelyn Waugh are all exponents of this art, but Douglas Adams was one of my favourite, if not most prolific, authors in this style. His sad death last year has provided his publisher with an excuse to publish this, final, collection of his work.
And quite a mixture it is; here are prologues to books, introductions to events, eclectic newspaper and magazine articles, short stories and one unfinished novel, the work in progress known as 'The Salmon of Doubt', a Dirk Gently book. Would he have approved this book? Well, given that he was willing to pen an introduction to PG Wodehouse's unfinished 'Sunset at Blandings', the evidence very much points (at least, in my mind) to the fact that he would.
Even as an introduction to his work, this book is worth a read - it opens with a biographical portrait and the selection of material covers most of his written life. For Adams enthusiasts, the book is goldmine - perhaps not the mother lode, but certainly a mine containing enough nuggets to make you happy with the purchase.
One point - it is not really 'hitching the galaxy for one last time' as implied on the cover; there is only a short Hitch Hikers story here, and it has appeared elsewhere.
However, to summarise: if you've never read Adams before, this will leave you seeking more. If you already know him, this an affectionate if varied romp through his literary history.

I purchased Douglas Adams' posthumous book exactly one year and one day after his extremely untimely passing. I have always thought that there is something inherently wrong about losing one's idols. "Salmon of Doubt" is a prime example of how wrong it truly is.

"Salmon of Doubt" is so absolutely and quite wonderfully Douglas.

This collection of articles, interviews, random thoughts and unfinished novel is an genuine treat to read. His unmistakable voice shines through on each and every page. For someone who professed to agonize over the whole "writing thing", Douglas did it with a style that is often imitated, yet never will be duplicated.

I was delighted to see "Cookies" make its way into this collection. I laughed when he included in the 4th Hitchhiker's novel, and was fortunate enough to hear him retelling this true story. He had everyone at this Chicago hotel bar in absolute hysterics some years ago, reliving the moment. I have never forgotten it.

"Maggie and Trudie" also stands out as one of my other favorite entries here. As does "The Private Life of Genghis Khan". The interviews included also give a further glimpse into this marvelously gifted man.

There is no doubt in my mind that the ever-so brief "Salmon of Doubt" story/novel itself would have been a joy to read had he been around to finish it. It would have worked perfectly well as the next Dirk Gently (or possible 6th HH) novel. I found myself reading this portion quickly, watching the pages dwindle and knowing it was going to abruptly end. It did. Now I'm left wondering what happened to Dirk and Desmond the rhinoceros. It's going to bug me till the end of time. Which I am sure would thrill Douglas to no end.

I'll have to ask Douglas when I see him at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe how it all ends.