Average Rating: 
Rating: - Mostly...uh, 42
One memory I had as a child was sneaking to the library and pocketing the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and reading it. I didn't get all the jokes, and some of it was over my head, but I read it not only as a fine work of humor but as a sci-fi book as well. When I was old enough to know better, I spend money on some of the novels, squirreled the other ones from my like-minded brother, and read through until the fourth book. We even bought the Infocom text adventure, expanding Adams's universe to the interactive novel.Adams's book has done what few others have--transcended both genres it tries to emulate. HHGTTG is known, like Monty Python, as the epitome of UK humor, a few large steps above Tom Holt and Red Dwarf. But it also reads as a brilliant science fiction novel, and becomes what it tries to parody. Deep Thought was a crack on HAL, but soon Deep Thought *became* HAL, and a scifi classic was born. The books are all very good--but, like any series, some are better than others. THHGTTG and The Restaraunt at the End of the Universe are serialized from the TV/Radio series, and read as such--episodic spasms of comedy wrapped in a loosely believable overall universe. Life, Universe, & Everything gets a full novel treatment, more lineral than the first two; it presents much of the same humor in a somewhat different, more traditional style. It suffers, but not significantly. So Long--regarded by many to be an abberation to the series--is not as bad as many fans think it is. It indulges perhaps too much in its own self-parody, and is less scifi than straight humor. Yet it makes up for itself in a rather fun (albiet depressing) end story. Mostly Harmless pits us back where we were before, highlighting poor neglected Trillian in what seems to be a wrap-up of the entire mess of a trilogy. MH may disappoint some--especially with the departure of many favorite characters--but levels the series out quite nicely. Some series--like Asimov's Foundation--get better as the series progesses. Others, such as the Dune books, get increasingly inane and tiresome. Hitchhiker's does much like the former, perhaps bumpier for the ride, but a fruitful and glorious ride nonetheless.
Rating: - Wonderful series
Review of first book in the series:Overall: Spectacular fun. A plot that makes up for its lack of believability / lack of development with the sheer volume of its ideas and its droll British humor. We follow along with the persistently boggled Arthur Dent and along the way find out how to mix a Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster, the answer to the question of life, the universe, and everything, and the true purpose of both little white mice and the Earth. What more can you ask for? As a cult classic, it falls firmly into the "you love it or you hate it" category. This first book in the series presents an easy way to spend a few hours with a quick paperback and determine which category you fall into. If you love it, there's 4 more books and a few other Adams works to explore; if you fall into the "hate it" category you've only lost a few hours (though apparently at some previous point in time you lost your soul, but oh well).
Rating:  - A comic genius!
Douglas Adams is possibly the funniest author I've read. His "Guide" is a wacky, crazy, hilarious tale of a totally clueless human's (Arthur Dent) travels in the big bad galaxy out there. Arthur, like millions of other humans, is totally ignorant about the Universe. Indeed, until the day the Earth is demolished (to make way for a hyperspace bypass!), he doesnt even know that his close friend Ford Prefect belongs to another planet - and is a researcher for the hugely successful book The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy. But Ford & Arthur escape from Earth, and set out on a journey of a lifetime, spanning 5 novels so far, where time and space are equally trivial barriers that can be crossed at a leap. Along the way, Arthur finds out a lot he didnt know, and lots more than he ever wanted to know, from hitching rides on passing space ships and teaching their computers to make tea, to the real history of his planet and the knowledge that his is the third most intelligent species on earth(and not, as was widely believed, the second) He also grapples with scientific concepts way beyond his grasp like the Infinite Improbability drive, Somebody Else's Problem field, discontinuities along the probability axis, not to mention the End of the Universe(the universe's most spectacular & profitable catering venture) Douglas Adams serves up one wacky idea after another, a universe wildly beyond our imagination, yet very familiar in its core values of crass commercialization and tasteless marketing hype. The reader is hurled through a series of increasingly improbable events, all held together by equally crazy characters and brilliant, witty(and ofcourse crazy) dialogs. So if I'm raving so much about the book, why do I give it only 4 stars? Because, like all artists, Adams has his highs & his lows, both of which are present in this collection. I would wholeheartedly recommend the first two novels - Hitchikers guide & Restaurant at the end of the universe. But coming after them, Life, the Universe & Everything is somewhat of a letdown, and So Long & Thanks for all the Fish even more so. Mostly Harmless is better, but still doesnt meet the standards set by the first two. All in all, this book is a collectors item for Adams fans - and I dont regret buying it. But for those just starting out on Adams, I'd recommend they try individual copies of the first two novels.
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