My theory is that Douglas Adams had 2 worries after the first part of this whole series. First of all, jeez louise, he sure was giving poor Arthur Dent a hard time... couldn't he at least maybe let him have a girlfriend? And second of all, how about the dolphins? Douglas Adams is really into animal rights, the environment, etc, and it just seemed a little perfunctory to have them all totally obliterated along with the Earth just because of that whole business about the interstellar hyperspace bypass. In this book, dolphins, Arthur, and Arthur's (surprise) girlfriend somehow come together, with a variety of mutant plot twists along the way.

As usual with these books, I envy anyone coming to them for the first time. Watch for the "Rain God", he is quite hilarious, and sort of a stand-in for Marvin in some ways. Ford Prefect has sort of a guest appearance, he isn't exactly central to the plot, but he becomes important in some ways at the very end.

I would tell a new Douglas Adams fan to read this as a love story, Adams' gift to the hapless Arthur Dent. The wackiness is MUCH lass omnipresent here than it is in the other books, so be warned. Basically good stuff, but very distinct in tone from the rest of the series.

This book, the fourth in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhiker's Trilogy, is, hands down, the best. You probably wouldn't think that were true from reading some of the reviews on this page. However, I was astonished and amazed by what this volume had to offer.

For starters, if you read Douglas Adams just for the zaniness and offbeatness of it all, you may be disappointed by this novel. While those elements are not absent, they are severely toned down for this installment. The amazing thing, though, is that Adams manages to mix in his humor at all with a very touching romance and somewhat serious quest of rather epic (rather than episodic) proportion.

The best part about this novel is that it virtually almost entirely features Arthur, and that's it... at least out of the main characters. Ford shows up a bit, and Marvin is in the last chapter, but Zaphod and Trillian are missing, but don't worry, it hardly matters. Adams more than makes up for it by introducing a marvelous character named Fenchurch, who becomes a love interest for Arthur. A love interest for Arthur? Yes, you heard me correctly.

This book, in my mind, establishes Adams as a serious heavyweight. The levels of humor, romance, irony, wonder, and adventure are consistently high throughout, and one never detracts from the other. Besides, we finally get to take a really good look at Arthur (who had been shortchanged in the last two books), the most human character I believe I have ever encountered anywhere, and we get to see a bit of the earth, which Adams makes us realize is rather a funny place in itself.

Do not miss out on this book. Please. Read it for Arthur. Read it for Fenchurch. Read it for the Rain God. And definitely, definitely, read it for the most wonderful love scene ever written. Besides, if you make it to the end, you'll be rewarded with God's final message to His creation, written in letters of flame thirty feet high (quite the tourist attraction). It's worlds above all the others.

This is by far the best of all of Douglas Adams's novels - including the entire Hitchhiker's series and both Dirk Gently books. It contains all-new material, not just scenes from the radio series rearranged and slightly altered. Adams splits off Arthur Dent from the rest of his friends and throws him into the strangest situation of all: his galactic hitchhiking has led him back to Earth, an Earth which had long ago been destroyed by the Vogons, but is, for some reason, still there.

Adams is at his best here, creating wonderful imagery and great new characters. He perfectly captures the sensations of falling in love. The comedy is gentle, and the science-fiction elements nearly take a back seat to the love story - but come back in a big way when a long-estranged friend shows up.

In M.J. Simpson's Douglas Adams biography "Hitchhiker", he maintains that many DNA fans (including Simpson) regard this as his worst book - an opinion Adams seemed to share (but Simpson points out that Adams had this opinion of most of his books at one point or another.) As a fan from the very first NPR radio broadcasts, I respectfully - and strongly - disagree. This is Adams at his gentlest, and his most poetic, and his best - in fiction, anyway. The nonfiction "Last Chance To See", itself a love story of sorts, is the only long-form Adams that I would rate higher.

It's an excellent book but would not be useful as a beginner's introduction to the language. It's directed at someone who has some knowledge of Greek and wants to understand more about the structure of the language. It's easier to follow for a person who has studied Indo-European languages, such as Latin or German, with noun inflections and verb changes.

The book is not an extensive study of modern greek grammar; as it says in the title, this book contians the essentials. Look for another grammar book if you're looking for a comprehensive guide. With that said, the book is an excellent tool to use as a quick reference. Well-organized and succint. For the price, it's a good book to add to your library.

When I first purchased "A Full Service Bank: How BCCI..." I was thinking that it is a long boring book, but when I started to read it I was amazed on what BCCI actually pulled off and how they did such things. The governments and banking systems in other countries also intrigued me. "A Full Service Bank" is an exciting book that keeps the reader engaged for a long amount of time and keeps them interested. When you are done reading this novel you should feel a sense of knowledge. I suggest "A full Service Bank" to anyone interested in the banking industry or interested in a great book about scandles andn banks.

This is a good read, very educational on Middle-Eastern and Southeast Asian business practises. Instead of all that garbage they teach at business schools regarding international commerce, they should provide books such as this one as required reading.

This is how things really happen. It details innumerable 'behind-the-scenes' business deals. Provides a great insight to the anatomy of shady international banking deals, not to mention arms deals, drug trafficking and money laundering.

I know some of the people mentioned in this book and it is spot-on with its descriptions of them. This book may be a little out of date but its a worthy read and will be for years to come.

A well-researched and useful resource, especially for one in my field, I found this composition, particularily the index format, exceedingly sterile and at times difficult to use. The bibliographical references are at times alarmingly thin, but still useful. A good handbook for Indo-European language educators/students nevertheless.

So I was getting ready to reread Don Quijote (1605)(Miguel de Cervantes 1547-1616) in the excellent Burton Raffel translation and as I was looking for information about the book and author, saw repeated references to Fielding's Joseph Andrews. I'd read his Tom Jones a couple of years ago and found it kind of tough sledding, but when I stumbled upon this one at a library book sale for a quarter, it seemed a stroke of destiny.

The parallels with Don Quijote are readily apparent. First of all, the book consists of a series of humorous travel adventures; second, the travellers involved seem too innocent to survive in the harsh world that confronts them. When Joseph Andrews, the naive footman of Lady Booby, deflects the amorous advances of both her Ladyship and Slipslop, the Lady's servant, he is sent packing. Upon his dismissal, Joseph, along with his friend and mentor Parson Adams, an idealistic and good-hearted rural clergyman, who essentially takes the physical role of Sancho Panza but the moral role of Quijote, sets out to find his beloved but chaste enamorata, Fanny Goodwill, who had earlier been dismissed from Lady Booby's service as a result of Slipslop's jealousy. In their travels they are set upon repeatedly by robbers, continually run out of funds and Adams gets in numerous arguments, theological and otherwise. Meanwhile, Fanny, whom they meet up with along the way, is nearly raped any number of times and is eventually discovered to be Joseph's sister, or maybe not.. The whole thing concludes with a farcical night of musical beds, mistaken identities and astonishing revelations.

I've seen this referred to as the first modern novel; I'm not sure why, in light of it's obvious debt to Cervantes. But it does combine those quixotic elements with a seemingly accurate portrayal of 18th Century English manners and the central concern with identity and status do place it squarely in the modern tradition.

At any rate, it is very funny and, for whatever reason, seemed a much easier read than Tom Jones. I recommend it unreservedly.

GRADE: B+

This book, which I found entertaining to the end, follows Arthur Dent journey through the galaxy. Earth is destroyed for a galactic freeway. Luckily for Arthur Dent, his best friend Ford Prefect, who is a researcher for "The Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy", saves him by sticking there thumbs out into space. After being picked up, they have a very wild journey through time and space. I would suggest to the readers that if you do not understand what Ford Prefect is saying, or any other alien, that you continue reading because it will either explain its self or it is not important. I read this book and the following 4 books in a volume called "The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." I would recommend that you either be prepared to have all 5 books or buy the volume with all 5 books, since each one leads into the next. Have fun reading this hilarious volume wonderfully written by Douglas Adams.

If these are the cassettes that my friend gave me (and that wre ripped off by another) then you don't know what you are missing. Ir should be the original BBC radio broadcast and they are even more hilarious than reading the words yourself. Great for the car, cleaning the house or getting stuck in improbability drive!

I loved the entire book. This is my peronal first of reading anything by Douglas but this book is a perfect (or PREfect) for a beginer.It's tantalizing and Adams has a world class imagination.

Kids love insects until adults teach them not to. But there are many fascinating aspects of insects and the most fascinating (at least to me) is their body structure and function. This book, while a little pricey (especially since it is partially sponsored (funded?) by Orkin), provides a very nice introduction to the general body structure and function of insects. I wouldn't have a problem recommending this book to anyone whose child wants to learn more about insects. And then let them decide if they want to pay the price.

The book follows a student named Fred Smertz who loves to eat insects. The book does let children know that Fred is unusual and they "shouldn't try this (eating insects) at home." The book uses a story line in a poem to lead the reader through the tutorial on insect body structure. This might be a little much for some 12 year olds, although I was able to enjoy it. But then, since I'm an entomologist, I'm already a little weird.

The book is very nicely illustrated and does a wonderful job of explaining the basic concepts of insect structure, such as body parts, external and internal anatomy, metamorphosis, the differences between some insect orders, and even some insect behavior. Everything is chosen to continue childrens' interest in insects without overwhelming them with scientific details. Younger children (4-8) might have a small problem with the "technical aspects" of this book in that some of the illustrations and related concepts are not laid out as simply as they might be. On some pages they are mixed up with other graphics. However, parents will learn a lot from the book after their kids have finished with it. And I intend to show this book to one of my colleagues who has responsibility in 4-H for possible use in our state insect programs for children.

People seem to have mixed opinions about the character "Random", Arthur and Trillian's (biological) daughter. Her presence in the story constitutes more of a Statement than a character as such, I think. She is Douglas Adams' way of saying "hey, we all feel lost, alone, helpless, overwhelmed, uncertain where we belong, etc etc etc" Even so, she probably could have been a little more fleshed out...

The "Guide Mark 2" is really pretty creepy. It makes you think about some of the big questions, unsurprisingly, if you have read any of Douglas Adams' other stuff... Also, although the plot just goes hogwild for 95% of the book, it really does all pull together at the end. The book is relatively self-contained, compared to some of the others in the series. In general this book is less wacky, and generally a bit darker, than the other books in the "trilogy". Reading this is a little like going to "The Cable Guy", when you are expecting a usual Jim Carey movie. It does make you laugh, but also makes you think, and not always in very comforting ways.

This fifth and final installment in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhiker's Trilogy is simply amazing. While it seems that a lot of people weren't satisfied with it, I am quite the exception. The tone of the humor in this book (as with SLATFATF) is much darker than the earlier books, but that's just fine by me. I prefer a little darkness.

While this book returns somewhat more to the zaniness of the first three books (at least in comparison to the fourth book), it is not entirely wacky. It seems that this book is, in many ways, quite "fannish," there to please fans of the series with cheap thrills and tips of the hat (one example would be the return of the Vogons, which I don't exactly think anybody was clammoring for). However, in the midst of all this, Adams tells a wonderfully adventurous story that ties together in an ending that will leave you stunned and breathless (I'll try not to spoil it, but it's reminiscent of something that happenned in the first book, HG2G).

The worst part of the book is that Fenchurch just disappears... literally! And we never see Arthur deal with it! Still, Adams provides us with yet another wonderful character to help reveal the human side of Arthur....

I think it is a wonderful, if unexpected and somewhat unnecessary, end to the series. Trillian returns (although thankfully Zaphod doesn't), but Marvin is depressingly absent. Oh and remember Agrajag, from LTUAE? Well, there's a wonderful tie to that whole thing that you just can't miss. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, go read LTUAE and then read this and laugh along with me. Read it. You'll be blown away.

People who read the book "Mostly Harmless" with a focus on the events of the book will probably end up disappointed. Adams continues his shift toward writing character centered novels (as begun in "So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish", and continued in the Dirk Gently novels).

The story focuses on three characters: Arthur Dent, the perenially confused Briton; Ford Prefect, the manic Betelgeusian; and Tricia McMillan, a BBC television reporter who, had she decided not to go back to get her purse when she met "Phil" at a party, would have become Trillian.

Adams presents Dent as a wonderfully tragic picture, and mirrors the beginning of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" quite well. Dent is presented as a lost soul, desperately in search of a home and a place to belong. Of course, when he actually finds a place where he belongs and becomes comfortable, outside events tear his world apart. This is a theme that was present in three of the four previous HHGTTG books, but the presentation is probably the best in "Mostly Harmless" (and particularly intriguing is that Arthur's world is torn asunder by a person searching for the exact same thing as Arthur had: a place to belong).

The story of Tricia McMillan offers an interesting counterpoint to Arthur's troubles. Although she is a successful television personality, she is obsessed with the consequences of one of her past choices. Unlike Arthur, who is preoccupied with the process of finding a place to belong, Tricia is preoccupied with thoughts of what might have been.

Unlike his previous books, Adams allows the tragedy to come to a fitting end. The tone is certainly darker than the previous HHGTTG books, and the humor is perhaps less prevalent. Even so, it is a fitting end to a fine series.