Customer Reviews (21)

Better when read aloud
Douglas Adams is funny in print, but his books really come to life when you listen to him read them aloud. He has a good sense of comic timing and often addes just the right split-second pause, or twists a word *just-so* and brings off a joke that might otherwise be missed.

We've had the 4-volume audio set for ten years and my kids have worn it out. I highly recommend getting this as a book on tape. (Better yet- bring them out on CD!)

The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy
I loved it!I was so funny!I wish I had a robot like Marvin.

none stop excitement
douglas adams shed real light on a subject few authors ever even dare to touch.he made me want to stop and take time to appreciate what i do have and feel lucky about what i have lost.he kept me on the edge of my seat thewhole time

Nice acting
Although I have not had the pleasure of buying these tapes, I have, in fact, heard them elsewhere on a digital recording.These tapes are sure to bring a smile and some intelligent entertainment.

My absolute favourite!
Some people say that pure genius is very close to insanity.Either Douglas Adams is a true genius or he smoked some serious stuff when he wrote the Hitchhiker's Guide. "One must have chaos in oneself in orderto give birth to a dancing star" - Nietzsche. For me, the Hitchhiker'sguide is the best escape from reality anybody can ask for.Travelling withArthur Dent through different worlds makes you see our own world in adifferent light.It is almost inconceivablethat somebody could considerthe Earth to be "Mostly Harmless"!It makes you wonder what sortof galaxies they travel to. A great read - don't miss out on this one. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Silly, Lighthearted, Entertaining
This book is fun read.It is a lighthearted sci-fi story with many silly twists.The absurdity of some of the plot twists made this book very enjoyable.For people not looking for a silly read, this book is not for you.

While it helps to have read "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" first, it is not necessary to enjoy the book.

Mayan Laughen On When
Douglas Adams has a true gift for the absurdly funny and the funnily absurd.His universe is populated with a wide array of the strangest and the most normal characters in sci-fi writing."Restaurant at the End of the Universe" is a follow-up to "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", picking up where our four main characters left off and flinging them into one zany trip after the next.

Lost Earthling Arthur Dent still finds himself cruising the galaxy with his alien pal Ford Prefect, fellow Earth exile Trillian and the two-headed, ex-president Zaphod Beeblebrox.Beeblebrox is much more the main character in this second novel and readers follow him on his quest to find the man in control of the universe, as well his attempts to keep the 'responsible' part of his brain from interrupting the 'fun' seeking half.

"Restaurant at the End of the Universe" is a laugh-out-loud trip through the created Cosmos and a sometimes thought-provoking look at human behavior.Douglas' asides and explanations to the readers are priceless, especially his verb tenses for describing time-jumping situations.The novel is quick-paced, and comes to rather an abrupt ending, which leaves the reader wondering how the third would possibly begin, and anxious to find out.

Overhyped, but entertaining
This will not go down in the history of books as the best ever written, unless you're an easily entertained Sci-Fi geek.Otherwise, this is enjoyable and fun reading.No more, no less.

THE Mostly Brilliant!
The Absolute Best Author - The Funniest - Most Thought Provoking-The Mostly Brilliant!

In the beginning the universe was created...This made a lot of people angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.

You decide.

Come along on a zany journey to the low-rent neighborhood of the cosmos with earthling Arthur Dent, sexy space cadet Trillian, that imperturbable alien Ford Prefect and Zaphood Beeblebrox, the two headed, three armed ex-head Honcho of All Creation.

Don't forget to bring a towel, but don't bother to pack a lunch.You'll be dining at ...

The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe.

AWSOME
this book was sssssssssssssooooooooooooooo cool i loved it. ... Read more

Product Description
Don't leave Earth without this hilarious international bestseller about the end of the world and the happy-go-lucky days that follow...about the worst Thursday that ever ... ... Read more

Product Description
The second series of a Radio 4 humorous science-fiction drama, first broadcast in 1978. It features characters such as Ford Prefect, Zaphod Beeblebrox, Marvin the Paranoid Android, Trillian, Eddie the Ship's Computer, and Slartibartfast. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

As good as the first!(IMO)
This was a follow up to his "hit" Science Fiction Radio Series "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
I believe it came out a little after the [unfinished by due to deadlines was released anyways] book adaptation of the radio series.
This version follows the events of Primary Phase, where Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect are stranded on Prehistoric earth. Also Zaphod Beeblebrox has his own MAJOR plot, with his quest to find Zarniwoop.
The series is IMO just as funny as the previous series, though not as original(since most of the original ideas were in Primary Phase).
This version is something heavily tampered with. Which saddens me.
For one thing, since the book was unfinished the last 2 parts of the radio series were put in the end of the radio adaption of this, ruining any chance of a sequel that actually acknowledged the events here happened(though Tertiary Phase is still really good)
So when they did make a sequel after a few eternities, everything in this series was pretty much just a psychotic episode on Zaphod's part.
This series is REALLY good though despite the problems.
So pick it up if you're a fan of Primary Phase, the 80's TV series, or the Books(and maybe if you're a fan of the movie).

I give this collection a 42
This finishes up my Hitchhiker's radio series collection for now. So far, the BBC have served up radio versions of the first five books in the "trilogy," and they've all been top notch. New books (not by Adams) have been commissioned, and they approximate Adams' quirky style. We'll just have to see if the new editions get the audio treatment as well.

Pure entertainment
These BBC Radio Plays are great.I first heard them about 20 years ago on our local public radio station.If you enjoy British humor at all, these HHG discs are a must ... Read more

Product Description
In life and, indeed, in liff, there are many hundreds of common experiences, feelings, situations and even objects which we all know and recognize, but for which no words exist. This text uses place names to describe some of these meanings. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Referenced in Python
Look at the opening titles of Monty Python's The Meaning of Life film. When the title comes up (carved in the stone), it's actually "THE MEANING OF LIFF", then a lightning bolt carves the last part of the last letter, changing it to "LIFE".

A Lot Of Fun...
...that's what this book is. It is there when you've got a dentist appointment and have to sit around for ages to give you a chuckle. It's there for that God awful plane journey. It's there to keep you occupied. If you don't like reading 30 page chapters before you go to sleep at night then this is for you. Just read a page and guaranteed you'll find some thing you can relate to, and/or find amusing. This is a book that takes town names and gives them everyday meaning for things there are no words to explain. For example: you're walking down a corridor and see someone you recognise. But wait, have they seen you, should you wave or, perhaps ignore them until there're close enough for you to say hi, or nod. This is in fact covered by many different names in the book, all intertwind, making it all hugely funny.
On many occasions the names are very funny and appropriate.
I'm fairly sure that you will love this book. And, when I'm writting this, Amazon are doing a 'buy Meaning Of Liff and Deeper Meaning Of Liff together' offer which I advise you take advatage of- I did.
Anyway, buy this book if you like the sound of it, and feel free to chuckle.
I hope I've been of service... Toodle Pipskie (is that how you spell it?)

Now my liff has a real meaning!!!
(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.

Sniglets, British style
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 doinghere 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!

Possibly the best Joke Book ever
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 & bizarreplace names from around the world, Mr Adams and Mr Lloyd truly show offtheir incredibly imaginations and pure wit.While the reader may need a"Monty Pythonish" (or even a Hitch-Hikers Guide!) sense ofhumour, this is a genuinely very funny book ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

dirk genly--two books in one
book arrived in good condition.It took a little longer to get here than expected, but arrived within the estimated time. ... Read more

Product Description
Photographs taken by MacArthur fellow Robert Adams since the late 1960s have decisively changed the ways many think about the American West. As we enter the 21st century, it is no surprise that environmental urgencies, including his own very deeply felt concerns, have shaped thinking about Adams's art. This volume surveys Adams's work since its beginnings to offer a new, thematic approach to its layered meanings and complexities and includes previously unpublished photographs. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (6)

Great stuff
If you like any of Douglas Adams books, or you are a fan of the radio plays, then pick this up. It's an excellent treat and Douglas does a remarkable job reading selected passages from his books.

love the content but bad editing
I have this on cassette tape and loved it. Bought it on cd because I don't have a cassette player in my car anymore. I was very dissapointed that when they put the chapter stops in for the cd they put a 2 second pause in for each stop.Douglas is reading the stories and all of a sudden it stops for 2 seconds because someone decided to put a chapter stop there.I don't think I've ever had a cd do that before.The content is great, but annoying to listen to.

I'm just a big dope for Doug, and this is about hearing his voice
Why is this CD special?There is almost nothing on here, apart from a couple of introductory comments that Doug makes, that I don't already know very well...practically by heart.I think it is that I am still stung from Doug's death in 2001, shortly after we had exchanged emails about his splendid non-fiction book, "Last Chance to See."No author has made me laugh more, and so reliably written things I find moving, with some of his essays and speeches.And there was one detail of Doug's death that I found especially haunting: It's a running gag in the Hitchhiker's Guide books always to have a towel at hand for use in various emergencies, and Doug died at a gym clutching a towel.

My sentimental, even maudlin, introduction is only to set up the following: Listening to Dough Adams read his stories to an appreciative audience is an unalloyed treat.His goofy enthusiasm and commitment to the material, paired with material that can withstand that sort of goofy enthusiasm, is joyful.Pure and simple.

This is not a particularly great recording, though it is thoroughly competent.There's nothing much special about the readings, either, and in fact Doug stumbles and stammers through a line here or there.But the appreciation of the crowd comes through loud and clear, and Doug seems to be having a blast, and the experience conjures up a living experience that will have to stand in, as the man at the height of his creative powers is now silent.

Lest this sound like too much of a hagiography, some of the material falls rather flat.Some is merely silly and not at all clever, to the point of inducing groans.Doug's later stuff does not seem quite so desperate to jam an absurdity or non sequitur into every single line, and is improved by the matured restraint.But for sheer silly pleasure, even the juvenile stuff hits the mark more often than it probably should.Silliness--wise silliness--is a gift too much taken for granted, and this CD resurrects the voice of one of its finest practitioners.

Absolutely Brilliant
I have been a fan of the guide for many years now, and its absolutely amazing (and hilarious) to hear it brought to life. Douglas's performance is just incredible to hear. This is a must have for any fan of the guide.

A Douglas Adams fan's must
I bought this for my 17 year old son who is a big Douglas Adams fan.He has listened to it over and over again as he has the Harry Potter books.It is a treat to have the author's performance of a work he loves so much. ... Read more

Product Description
One Thursday lunchtime Earth is demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass. For Arthur Dent, who has just had his house demolished that morning, this is more than he can cope with. Sadly, however, the weekend has only just begun, and the Galaxy is a very large and startling place indeed. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

I searched high and low for this exact audio cassette version of HHGTTG
I first took these tapes out of my local library in the 1980's. Recently I remembered how funny they were, and I searched online to see if I could find them. I accidentally purchased other recorded versions, including one read by the author, and what I realized was that the quality of the narration on all the other versions could not match the delivery given by the narrator and actors on this set. These guys are really, really top-notch. Not enough credit is given to them as performers. They include: Simon Jones as Arthur Dent, Peter Jones as The Book, Geoffrey McGivern as Ford Prefect, Mark Wing-Davey as Zaphod Beeblebrox, and Susan Sheridan as Trillian. This version was produced by Geoffrey Perkins. The set includes six tapes, or 12 hours of material. Enjoy!

When absurdity means extreme pleasure
This series of radio tales is absolutely crazy science-fiction in the cosmic technological line. And the first theme and style is English humour. Every detail is turned technical and purely absurd gibberish language that means nothing but sounds logical. But we are constantly teased and titillated with impossible or improbable events or peripetias that we are to share and enjoy, such as the pulling down of the Berlin Wall that was thin anyway, and what's more in the thickest thickness of the Cold War. The enjoyable pleasure of a cup of tea is turned ridiculous in the name of good nutrition and personal computerized pleasure requirements. And of course it has to fit in a cosmic vision of fate and human destiny as understood and interpreted by a computer, thought out by a gorilla and built and assembled by a wolf and/or hyena. All that condensates in the concept of Vogun, the conception of such a being called a Vogun whose only objective is to rationalize the life of everyone and the whole cosmos, and that means essentially killing "them" all, those beings of all types or forms, particularly human, to clean up the mess this cosmos has been since it was authorized to follow its own dynamism, its own enjoyment that implies the thriving of all kinds of life-loving desires that are identified to morbid tendencies that enjoy the rotting cycle of life and death. Voguns want to get the cosmos out of this cycle. The best way is to get rid of life. Then death would not exist anymore nor the cycle that leads to death. In other words Voguns are the slaves of the desire to be eternal in death, if possible the death of everyone and everything except them. Umbilical, selfish, psychotic, fatal and lethal paranoid schizophrenia. Incomprehensible, dixit Douglas Adams. But very clearly intellectually easy to swallow onanistic capsules of self exhilaration. If you find this abstract construction just ludicrous, the author will answer that such an attitude is the result of three both intellectual and existential mistakes in living and thinking styles, i.e. ignorance, stupidity and nothing else, the third one being of course the most important symptom of real world fetichism in a world of virtuality or even virtual reality. We are now in a time when the unspeakable is summed up in one word, belgium, the ultimate insult to rational cosmic destiny. And that destiny is of course run and read in twelve episodes, like the 12 apostles, the 12 stations of the Way of the Cross, the 12 months of the year, the 12 hours of each half-day or even the 12 eggs or oysters in a dozen even when you get 13 in each dozen as a reward for your courage to eat live organisms like oysters, or live chicken foetuses like eggs. Let them live please. To keep précis about it, it all boils down to the number 578 which is nothing but twice seventeen square. Simple isn't it? And if you don't get it it's because the feet of your brain are the wrong size for your intellectual shoes and I would advise you to change feet and start running like the foot warriors you should have never forgotten you were, you are, you will be forever and ever, which by the way makes you equal to God himself who was who is who will come. We are all pedestrians who at times get on the phony omnibus of the imagination of a computerized mind trying to trek after stars that have never existed except in the obscure lightless both right and left brains of the author of this fantasy. And it all ends with a couple of weddings, a ranting and raving vexed auto-pilot, and a reality on the blink in a first class compartment on a stranded plane, and it all was but a 3D virtual world devised in the office of some bureaucrat or some bureaucrats on a dy when it rained too much to be able to push pencils. Try to get aboard on the thirteenth episode, if it exists anywhere.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine & University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne

GIDDYUP !
I must say that this is one of the greatest books I've read. At first I thought " thousand pages,that's too much, I don't have the energy to do this". So I sat down and started to read,This is quite good, Ithought. Ten hours later I just had to admit it, the book had had memesmerized, I just couldn't put it down ! For those who haven't read thisbook, I highly recommend you do ! I say: Giddyup !

Absolutely hilarious!
My friend persuaded me to read it, though I didn't need much persuading after reading the introduction!! Very, very funny, with humour reminiscent of the Goons and Monty Python.

British writing at its best!
I Love This Book! I have read the first five books in this "trilogy" and I think they're all great, although the first is my favourite. I have never found an author for whom I find all works to be so enjoyable as Douglas Adams. I have also read two of the Dirk Gently "adventures", which only increased my admiration for Adams. If only there were more authors like him out there; his works truly are the best of British humour. ... Read more

Product Description
From the late 1940s to the mid-1970s, American conservation politics underwent a transformation—and Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas (1898-1980) was at the heart of this shift toward modern environmentalism. The Environmental Justice explores how Douglas, inspired by his youthful experiences hiking in the Pacific Northwest, eventually used his influence to contribute to American conservation thought, politics, and law. Justice Douglas was one of the nation’s most passionate conservationists. He led public protests in favor of wilderness near Washington, D.C., along Washington State’s Pacific coast, and many places in between. He wrote eloquent testimonies to the value of wilderness and society’s increasing need for it, both in his popular books and in his heartfelt judicial opinions celebrating nature and condemning those who would destroy it. He worked tirelessly to secure stronger legal protections for the environment, coordinating with a national network of conservationists and policymakers. As a sitting Supreme Court Justice, Douglas brought prestige to the conservation crusades of the time and the enormous symbolic power of legal authority at a time when the nation’s laws did not favor environmental protection. He understood the need for national solutions that included public involvement and protections of minority interests; the issues were nationally important and the forces against preservation were strong. In myriad situations Douglas promoted democratic action for conservation, public monitoring of government and business activities, and stronger laws to ensure environmental and political integrity. His passion for the environment helped to shape the modern environmental movement. For the first time, The Environmental Justice tells this story. ... Read more

Product Description
The first complete introduction to health monitoring, encapsulating both technical information and practical case studies spanning the breadth of the subject.

Written by a highly-respected figure in structural health monitoring, this book provides readers with the technical skills and practical understanding required to solve new problems encountered in the emerging field of health monitoring. The book presents a suite of methods and applications in loads identification (usage monitoring), in-situ damage identification (diagnostics), and damage and performance prediction (prognostics). Concepts in modelling, measurements, and data analysis are applied through real-world case studies to identify loading, assess damage, and predict the performance of structural components, as well as examine engine components, automotive accessories, aircraft parts, spacecraft components, civil structures and defence system components.

In particular the book:

• provides the reader with a fundamental and practical understanding of the material;
• discusses models demonstrating the physical basis for health monitoring techniques;
• gives a detailed review of the best practices in dynamic measurements including sensing;
• presents numerous data analysis techniques using model- and signal-based methods;
• discusses case studies involving real-world applications of health monitoring;
• offers end-of-chapter problems to enhance the study of the topic for students and instructors; and
• includes an accompanying website with MATLAB programs providing hands-on training to readers for writing health monitoring model simulation and data analysis algorithms. 

Health Monitoring of Structural Materials and Components is an excellent introductory text for newcomers to the subject as well as an excellent study tool for students and lecturers. Practitioners and researchers, those with a greater understanding and application of the technical skills involved, will also find this essential reading as a reference text to address current and future challenges in this field. The wide variety of case studies will appeal to a broad spectrum of engineers in the aerospace, civil, mechanical, machinery and defence communities. ... Read more