The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,… (original 1979; edição 2005)

Fun, sarcastic, imaginative and an all around great read. Love it, love it, love it! Buy this book, you won't be disappointed. ( )

Parts a bit unreadable, parts entrancing nowadays. Loved the radio version with Peter Jones reading The book. My favourite by him is the Dirk gently holistic detective agency

Das Thema zusammengefasst ist über einen Vorfall, damit die Erde vernichtet geworden ist und dann beginnt die Reise von Arthur Dent, der Hauptcharakter, durch die Galaxie mit einer Gruppe, Ford, ein Anhalter, Zaphord, der Präsident der Galaxien, Tristan, seine Freundin und Marvin, ihre deprimierte Roboter. Sie wollten die Hauptfrage vom Existenz zu finden. Das Buch handelt sich eigentlich um Nihilismus und Komplexität des Lebens. Was wir in dieser Reise erfahren, ist, dass es keine wahre Realität existiert, dass unser Handeln alles in dem Universum beeinflussen kann, und dass wir nie genau wissen können, was uns beeinflusst, etwas zu tun. Obwohl ich das Kernthema sehr mochte, fand ich Adams Erzählung nicht so ausreichend. Den Roman fand ich eigentlich eine Suppe von Ideen, sehr spannende Ideen sogar, die nicht gut bearbeitet wurden. Sie werden nie Zeit haben, um die Charaktere kennenzulernen, oder um die Leitfäden der Geschichte zu erfassen. Alles passiert schnell und ohne Erklärung. Dennoch denke ich, dass es auch beabsichtigt so geschrieben wurde, damit man sich klar wird, dass auch alle Handlungen im Buch unbeabsichtigt, wie in unserem Leben, passiert waren.

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The main reason for me to finish this book was Marvin... Really I mean it...

"...
Ford stayed, and went to examine the Blagulon ship. As he walked, he nearly tripped over an inert steel figure lying face down in the cold dust.
”Marvin!” he exclaimed. ”What are you doing?”
”Don’t feel you have to take any notice of me, please,” came a muffled drone.
”But how are you, metalman?” said Ford.
”Very depressed.”
”What’s up?”
”I don’t know,” said Marvin, ”I’ve never been there.”
”Why,” said Ford squatting down beside him and shivering, ”are you
lying face down in the dust?”
”It’s a very effective way of being wretched,” said Marvin. ”Don’t pretend
you want to talk to me, I know you hate me.” ”No I don’t.”
”Yes you do, everybody does. It’s part of the shape of the Universe. I only have to talk to somebody and they begin to hate me. Even robots hate me. If you just ignore me I expect I shall probably go away.”
He jacked himself up to his feet and stood resolutely facing the opposite direction.
”That ship hated me,” he said dejectedly, indicating the policecraft.
”That ship?” said Ford in sudden excitement. ”What happened to it? Do you know?”
”It hated me because I talked to it.”
”You talked to it?” exclaimed Ford. ”What do you mean you talked to it?”
”Simple. I got very bored and depressed, so I went and plugged myself in to its external computer feed. I talked to the computer at great length and explained my view of the Universe to it,” said Marvin.
”And what happened?” pressed Ford.
”It committed suicide,” said Marvin and stalked off back to the Heart of Gold.
..." P. 143, Chapter 34 ( )

It's funny, silly, random, and weird--it's compelling to be mixed with science fiction genre. The author is a genius to come up with this story and idea.

Although I find the main character a bit annoying, I love Marvin, the Paranoid Android. He's so relatable that it makes him so exciting and amusing at the same time.

And the book brings the theme of the big mystery of all time and space (except the Doctor's name. Doo wee doooo); the answer to life the universe and everything. ( )

I spent a lot of time online in my teenage years, mostly with LOTR fans, and this book was mentioned more than once as a suggested read. I didn't really "get" it at the time, but it has been several years now, so it may be time to revisit this. ( )