I'm currently engrossed in the (rather long) process of re-reading
The Ultimate Hitchhicker's Guide by Douglas Adams, a reprinting of all five of the Hitchhiker novels (
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; The Restaurant at the End of the Universe; Life, The Universe and Everything; So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish and
Mostly Harmless) and one short story (
Young Zaphod Plays it Safe). I must say that Adams' pentalogy must be the absolute quintessential work of humorous science-fiction. I challenge you to find another piece of "hu-sci-fi" that even gets close to the level of sophistication, wit and timelessness that Douglas was able to cram into these five novels (and one story).
The first book, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" is certainly the best of the group, and each subsequent book gets slightly less brilliant than the previous. But, even the last book, "Mostly Harmless," is well worth the price of admission alone. Luckily for you, I won't try to summarize the arc of an 800 page story here, nor will I bore you with a thousand out-of-context quotes (as much as I want to). But I do these things only on the condition that you promise to buy this collection. Promise? Okay, good.
This edition is really something special, packed to the brim with brilliant features. Adams provides a "Guide to the Guide" introduction to the book, attempting to explain all of the various Hitchhiker-related radio, television, record and book releases. And with it's classy leatherette cover, gildedette edges, bible-gauge pages and sewn-in bookmark you'd think this was some sort of boring Victorian-era heirloom. But unlike most boring Victorian-era heirlooms, it's available for under $20. Where else are you going to find so much leather-bound joy (outside of a sex shop, if you're in to that sort of thing) for so little?
View my book collection on iTaggit.com
