# Hitchhiker's guide wow! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 7, 2004, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-wow/273427 "2004-11-07T00:31:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2004, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-wow/273427/21 "2004-11-07T21:13:54Z")
[mournful tone ON] I have this terrible pain in all the diodes down my left side… [mournful tone OFF] Keep going and let us know when you get to ‘Millenium hand and shrimp’… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Kricket](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f14d63/32.png) [@Kricket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kricket)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2004, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-wow/273427/22 "2004-11-07T21:36:10Z")
I just finished the Restuant and not sure if I am happy with how it ended. Like I said when I started reading the first book lots of things on the boards started to click. Catch phrases, user names, etc… Ford Prefect was the first thing that clicked. 😉 Next Babble fish, then 42, and when they got to “so long and thanks for all the fish” about the dolphins I about fell out! :eek: It’s nice to finally understand some of these things. Duffer, I was feeling the same way. Read them! So far so good, and a few have said to stop where I am, but I will finish them out. I had a curiosity about these books from seeing them mentioned and quoted all over the boards and one day I noticed a friend had a very nice leather bound copy and asked his oppinion of the book. As fate would have it the next day I was costume shopping at the good will and stumbled across HHGttG for fifty cents! I called my friend right away and he loaned me he original set of paperbacks so I could read them all. I owe him a big nice dinner. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2004, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-wow/273427/23 "2004-11-07T21:47:07Z")
> [@](#): > > Ford Prefect was the first thing that clicked. 😉 Y’know? I’ve been wanting a Ford Anglia for donkey’s years. Maybe with a severed leg on the bonnet. 🙂 The Prefect is retro-cool, but I really like the rear window on the Anglia. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2004, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-wow/273427/24 "2004-11-07T22:17:20Z")
> [@glee](#): > > [mournful tone ON] I have this terrible pain in all the diodes down my left side… [mournful tone OFF] > > Keep going and let us know when you get to ‘Millenium hand and shrimp’… 😉 Either **glee** has skipped a groove, or that was very tongue in cheek! Tho I too made the logical progression from one to the other. I think “The Way of Mrs. Cosmopolite” is more useful than THHGTTG anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2004, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-wow/273427/25 "2004-11-07T22:43:49Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > Best way to enjoy Adams’ style of British humor is to read the first three **Hitchhikers’** books, then switch over to Terry Pratchett. 😃 > > All the wit of Adams, but with three times the depth. Pah! Stay out of DNA threads with this nonsense! I assure you, Kricket, Pratchett is half the wit of Adams with perhaps equal depth. ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2004, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-wow/273427/26 "2004-11-07T22:53:58Z")
Okay, the last two (well, three) aren’t as good, but they are still worth reading. Especially the ending of the last book. Arthur dies right? He finally got to Stravobetamueller [sic] so that closes the time loop thingy, right? ---
**Author:** ![Kricket](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f14d63/32.png) [@Kricket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kricket)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2004, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-wow/273427/27 "2004-11-07T23:00:37Z")
Don’t do that! I can’t open that! You are so mean! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2004, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-wow/273427/28 "2004-11-07T23:36:51Z")
I’d call Adams “Comic _genius_ but erratic, inconsistant, and unreliable (and sadly deceased)”. I’d call Pratchett “Extremely talented, diligent and dependable”. I love 'em both. But I like Pratchett better, probably because there’s so much more of his stuff, and the quality is more consistant. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2004, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-wow/273427/29 "2004-11-07T23:58:03Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > Either **glee** has skipped a groove, or that was very tongue in cheek! 😛 (if you see what I mean!) ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-wow/273427/30 "2004-11-08T00:21:08Z")
I am at the beginning of a book re-reading phase. Before I read all these great books I did not know what pleasure led ahead. Now that I have read many great books and have left a good amount of time _since_ reading them I _know_ what pleasure lies ahead. I have added HhGttG to my list of books (in this case 5 books) to re-read. I am near the end of re-reading ‘Theif of Time’ and near the beginning of re-reading ‘His Dark Materials’ ---
**Author:** ![Kricket](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f14d63/32.png) [@Kricket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kricket)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-wow/273427/31 "2004-11-08T00:26:38Z")
I am also reading Forgotten Relms and the latest (earliest?) in the Wheel of Time series. The Forgotten Relms stuff I am ready is mostly the Drizzt stuff and I have read a few of the other books dealing with characters I meet through the series. I have been reading those books over the past few years, and put them down to hitch a ride. ---
**Author:** ![JoeSki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b487fb/32.png) [@JoeSki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeSki)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-wow/273427/32 "2004-11-08T00:51:23Z")
I’d say Pratchett’s characters are deeper and better developed, but the humor itself is like watered down Douglas Adams stuff…then again, some of Adam’s books posses watered down Adam’s humor. At any rate, it’s a real shame he’s not here to write any more books. If you do decide to read Pratchett in the future, I reccomend [Mort](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0061020680/qid=1099875269/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/002-7510299-4432066?v=glance&s=books&n=507846). Very funny book, and you don’t have to read anything before it to enjoy it. It’s your average DEATH meets boy, DEATH hires boy as an apprentice, boy meets girl and alters the time-death continuim kinda story. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-wow/273427/33 "2004-11-08T00:59:51Z")
> [@FordPrefect](#): > > Plus the joy of paradoxical sentences, “They hung in the sky the same way rocks don’t.” Douglas Adams owes a huge debt to P.G. Wodehouse for that style of delightfully understated absurdity. Compare stuff like “It was a confusion of ideas between him and one of the lions he was hunting in Kenya that had caused A. B. Spottsworth to make the obituary column. He thought the lion was dead, and the lion thought it wasn’t.” My advice to anyone getting into the _Hitchhiker’s Guide_ series is to put the novels down at once and seek out the original radio series – It’s far superior to the print version. One of DNA’s _bon mots_ has been much on my mind this past week: “Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.” 😛 ---
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-wow/273427/34 "2004-11-08T01:07:46Z")
I am sooooooo lucky I have the DON’T PANIC button from the original pc text game. And I got the Bable fish (so there). I wear the button when I give final exams in Thermodynamics. (It doesn’t seem to help, sucks to be a student, bwaaaaaahahahahahahaa!!!) ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-wow/273427/35 "2004-11-08T01:09:27Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Afterward you may want to change the spelling of your username. Damn, you beat me to it… ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-wow/273427/36 "2004-11-08T05:45:19Z")
Btw, for those who say end after _Restaurant_ don’t listen to them. The last 3 books are very good. They may not be as funny as the first two, but very little is. They are still written very well and have some really good bits in them (including Mostly Harmless, who most people seem not to like, but I enjoy greatly). ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-wow/273427/37 "2004-11-08T05:56:44Z")
I think my favourite HHGTTG bit is just as they first enter hyperspace. Ford: You’d better be prepared for the jump into hyperspace. It’s unpleasantly like being drunk. Arthur: What’s so unpleasant about being drunk? Ford: You ask a glass of water. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-wow/273427/38 "2004-11-08T06:06:19Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > Btw, for those who say end after _Restaurant_ don’t listen to them. The last 3 books are very good. They may not be as funny as the first two, but very little is. \ **THREE** books?!? What, did Douglas Adams rise from the grave and turn _The Salmon of Doubt_ into a Hitchhiker’s-series book like he was threatening to while he was alive? ---
**Author:** ![DataZak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@DataZak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataZak)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-wow/273427/39 "2004-11-08T06:13:35Z")
> [@tracer](#): > > \ > > **THREE** books?!? > > What, did Douglas Adams rise from the grave and turn _The Salmon of Doubt_ into a Hitchhiker’s-series book like he was threatening to while he was alive? \*Life, the Universe and Everything So Long, and thanks for all the fish Mostly Harmless\* ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-wow/273427/40 "2004-11-08T06:22:10Z")
But … but … but, **ISiddiqui** said, “The last 3 books … may not be as funny as the first two”. That’s, like, five books total. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-wow/273427.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-wow/273427.md?page=3)