... agency.

Well,I love his other books, you know. hhgttg (hithchikers guide to the galaxy) trilogy, In fact it's my favorite book. But this one SUUUCKS!! I can't remember how many times I fell asleep while tring to read this monstrosity. I still haven't figured out why the horse was upstairs to begin with, and now,I really don't care.

After reading the five (!) books in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy, I turned to his two books featuring Dirk Gently, Holistic Detective. Although it took me a bit of time to warm to these stories, I wound up liking them even better than the HhGttG trilogy, much to my surprise. This audiobook version of these two excellent books is everything you would want in such a thing - unabridged and read by the author. On the downside, it is slightly pricey, and on the way far downside, it is out of print, and therefore a little hard to find. (Here's hoping that is remedied soon.) The late and much lamented (by me in any case) Douglas Adams was a writer of rare talent. He could write books about great subjects such as the origin of life and the meaning of existence, and make them riotously funny and entertaining. I believe that the only thing that will keep him from being recognized as a major writer is that he wrote science fiction. Too bad, because science fiction or not, his stuff was superb.

Being a long-time fan of Douglas Adams and his "Hitchhiker Series" doesn't automatically mean you will fall in love with Dirk Gently, but...

If you have any love of Norse Mythology, and enjoy a great Detective story...you will love these stories immensely.

Lurking refrigerators, redheaded housekeepers, Odin, Thor, jets, the birth of new Gods, Valhalla, cripsy linen sheets, exploding desks at airports, missing passports, pregnant cats, Coke machines, time warps, hot potatoes, rock groups, soothsayers, strange horoscopes, greed, history, mythology, and of course at the center of it all is the humor of Douglas Adams.

These are two of the most thoroughly enjoyable stories to be found on tape, and I give it 5 stars, it never flags, it holds your attention to the last paragraph of the last page. And it is especially nice to hear them read in the author's own voice, unabridged. Every little jewel is included, nothing is lost in the transition from print to spoken story.

Alas, Ms. McCaffrey strikes again. Throughout her writing, she is plagued by....bad writing. Her ideas are wonderful, and if only properly executed, could make up wonderful books. Too bad that she, and this book in particular (the early Pern books were not so bad) is predictable, inconsistant and sloppy. She might care to try reading her books and noticing the number of things that change from page to page. This is particularly infuriating, as it should not be so difficult to avoid. Unfortunately, she appears not to have made this one small effort. In this book, there was a) no character development worth speaking of, b) no surprises or involving moments, and c) much that rang false and superficial. Not worth reading, except on a desert island.

I liked this book, which was quite surprising since i never really liked science fiction before. im eager to read the next 2 books.

The idea is beyond wonderful, I REALLY want to live on this planet McCaffrey and Scarborough have created. That being said I've worried about McCaffrey for some time as her books in recent years have... well... Let's just say she may feel in a hurry or something. Elizabeth has written other books alone, that I have found enjoyable, and own, so this can't be all or even mostly her fault. I do read this trilogy over and over, but a good bit of that time is spent with the book face down and me daydreaming. And oddly enough only those darn cats, the planet itself, and the large beaming medicine woman from the novels feature at all in my daydreams...

Introduction:
Loved the game, Disliked the book!
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I found this book to be a complete mockery of it's game origin. I found countless errors and pieces of conradictory information in this book regarding the starship and its crew and passengers that were hopelessly tried to be copied from the book in a failed attempt. But I found the begenning to be very creative and well tracked to the storyboard of the game plus a good ending. I also thought that some of the characters were poorly made including a nymphomaniac journalist and a (soon to be hopeless) couple plus the ship's crew (working bots) to have conradictory personalitys and vocabularitys to the identical ones in the game! Not only that but some of the technoligy is off-beat to the game including the end solution to get back to earth.
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Summary:
Bad storyline + facts not based on the game + nymphomaniac journalist + good beggening & ending - the touch and mind of the real Douglas Adams himself = the really dissapointing Starship Titanic book!

I really wanted to like this book as I really like both Adams and Jones.

Unfortunately the book is not cohesive. There are amusing lines and the potential for funny setups but it never really delivers. It needs more depth.

By the time I was done with the book I was not only suprized that it was already over but also left with that strange taste in my mouth, like when you eat some new foreign delicacy that leaves you wondering "What did I just eat and do I like this?".

This title is not at all worth the cover price. Only buy this at discount or better buy used.

Not that it's a perfect book by any means- I could have done with less romanticism. But the humor is absurd and freewheeling, and it's a good short read- just enough to wind down after a long day at work. A collaboration worthy of it's participants.

I thought that this would be a great book written by THE Douglas Adams, author of HHG2G and well known atheist. Wow, was I mistaken! Anyway, I've got nothing against this book. I just want to make sure other people don't make the same mistake I did.

Books like this whet one's taste buds: one wants more and more. It's like having a healthy appetite for meat and potatoes and having to satisfy the inner man with finger food and water cress and cucumber sandwiches. The basic problem is that this Douglas Adams took his class notes and student submissions and bound them together without a decent editor. It is somewhat like reading a movie or play script instead of witnessing the performance. His exegesis on various Bible passages is positively brillant, yet he spoils it all with his stage directions ad nauseum. I would love to attend his classes and his homilies. Reading the directions for making these insights visible is boring. Yet I remain glad that I bought this tasty tidbit. I have already referred to it several times in "chatting" with literalists and those who use single Biblical verses to present their "dogmatic truths" from the Bible. [Caveat: Although this Douglas Adams is a colleague of my wife, I have not met either D.A. {When I was a teenager, a certain haircut was referred to as a "D.A."}]

I wish Dr. Adams had lectured at the seminary I attended. This book is an outstanding addition to the professional preacher's library. It discusses scripture in down-to-earth-language, exegetes passages clearly without excess scholarly fuss, and provides an "alternative" view of some of our favorite biblical texts that is still firmly based in scripture and accurate in interpretation. If your congregation is not primarily consisted of PhD's, you will find this book a very helpful and amusing resource.

Before his death, Doug Adams gave an interview in which, among other things, he mentioned that he was surprised that people wanted more of the hitchhiker stuff because as far as he was concerned it was old hat and not funny. With him I have to agree and one has to be puzzled why people would read such drivel as this. The characters, the plot, the story, the background, the atmosphere, the landscape, the tone etc. is just awful, with little or no redeeming social or artistic value. Doug said as much in the interview, but indicated that he hated the idea of writing more of this stuff, but he needed the money. You'll save your eyes and your time and get more benefits by sleeping than by reading this book-like-object.

The Hitchhiker's series is arguably one of the greatest satiric productions ever devised by mankind. As for Douglas 'hating' his own books and characters...well, forgive me if I'm a mite dubious. Throughout the books he shows a genuine love for his creations, especially the oft-confused Englishman Arthur Dent and the delightfully odd Ford Prefect. To call these books anything less than a masterpiece of wit is not only an insult to the text, but an insult to one of the greatest comic minds of the 20th century. So he hated his works?? Interesting, since he wrote little else. If he were to denounce Hitchhiker he would basically be dismissing himself as an author.
But all retaliatory remarks aside, this book (and all the sequels) is an absolute triumph of the ludicrous over reason, a battle that I wage daily. So treat yourself to a view of the Universe as it should be seen!

I usually cannot stop reading a book in Adam's hilarious Hitchiker series. It takes me about a day on average to read one of these (usually) 200 page books. So Long and Thanks for all the Fish didn't succeed so well. It's probably because of the editing necessary to make an abridged version. It is my opinion that books shoudln't be abridged. A half size Adam's book is worth about as much as a 500 page Les Miserables. If you want a good reading experience, go out and get the full version!