12/2008 Winner: "Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams

GWC Community Book Club Winning Nominees and Polls
#1

Grab your towel and pour yourself a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster…December’s book is Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy!

[i]Now it is such a bizarrely improbable coincidence that anything so mindbogglingly useful could have evolved purely by chance that some thinkers have chosen to see it as a final and clinching proof of the non-existence of God. The argument goes something like this: “I refuse to prove that I exist,” says God, “for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing.”

“But,” says Man, “the Babel fish is a dead giveaway isn’t it? It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you don’t. QED.”

“Oh dear,” says God, “I hadn’t thought of that,” and promptly vanishes in a puff of logic.

“Oh, that was easy,” says Man, and for an encore goes on to prove that black is white and gets himself killed on the next zebra crossing.[/i]

This thread will contain spoilers. If you have not finished the book, proceed at your own risk

#2

Solai, no question, I knew it when I sassed you, you are one hoopy frood who knows where his towel is. =)

#3

Yippee!!! A book that I know so well that I can discuss with even reading it!
An amazinglingly amazing book. Really cool and froody!!

#4

What he said !!
Grab your sperm whale and bring in the petunias. Thud thud thud.

#5

I love the whole hitchiker’s universe. I read Hitchikers Guide so many times I practically have it memorized. Can’t wait till the discussion but what date is it going to be?

#6

Nice. This book is one of the seminal turning points in my life. We lived in England for a year in like '77, and my dad got hip to the books early. I don’t have a first printing, but somewhere in the archives, I have early British paperbacks. It’s been a while since I read the book, and I’m looking forward to seeing how much material went over my head in my younger years.

In honor of the group read, I visited the local Barnes & Noble, where they have a nice §leather-bound collection of all five HHG books with the (pseudo) gilded page ends and a built-in bookmark for like $19.99. It’s been calling my name for a while now.

If you started the series with any book other than the original guide, give it another chance!

#7

I found a website a while back where they had the original Radio drama on which the first book was based. I’ll see if I can find the link. I have not read the book, but I understand it is basically the same.

#8

The only one I’ve found has warnings plastered all over it.

But I have a Mac, so I went and downloaded everything anyhoo…

#9

I love the book too. And too have it practically memorized. But still, I decided to today to go ahead and use one of my free Audible.com credits and get the audio book—and I’m actually a quarter of the way through it already cuz I’ve been going about my day today with me iPod. :slight_smile:

Oh, and I don’t know the date or time for the discussion either…
Anybody?

#10

Such a fantastic book. Witty and insightful, I really come away with something new every time I read it.

The TalkCast discussions are usually the weekend after the “due date” of the book’s discussion period - in this case, it ends on Dec. 31, so the TalkCast will probably be January 3.

#11

I was at Barnes and Noble earlier today, and I saw, for $20, a bound edition of hitchiker and the 4 subsequent books… I don’t have time to join in this month, but it was sorely tempting.

#12

It’s just the first book this month, which is a pretty fast read.

#13

Extremely fast read, yes…but I can only imagine the bulk of work on your plate this month, Casilda, all things considered. I’ll read aloud, and yell out the window. Or perhaps sleep with it under the pillow, and glean the story via osmosis. Audiobooks while sleeping, perhaps? Hmm…

#14

Right now I’m finding that Audiobooks are a great way to re-read something you’re already familar with. You don’t have to pay perfect attention 'cuz you already know what’s gonna happen.
Right now I’m at the part where Arthur is about to meet Zaphod.

…oh, and at the same time the highest prime number is hiding itself away forever in the most remote corner of the universe…and all known life is in the universe in about to began.

#15

I have to wonder how much of the primary storyline, and character interconnection (especially taking improbability into consideration) that Adams had figured out when he began H2G2…

I first read this book on a bus trip from CT to PA when I was twelve or so, and was absolutely fascinated with not only the desert-dry wit of Adams’ dialogue, but his very, very British tendency to treat the utterly outlandish as very commonplace. It’s as if the character in a given scenario is the straight man (say, Mr. Prosser) and the situation itself is the comic counterpart.

I had never been exposed to such delivery before, and I have to say it opened my eyes to a whole new level of sarcasm from which I have never returned…

“If I asked you where the hell we were,” said Arthur weakly, “would I regret it?”

Ford stood up. “We’re safe,” he said.

“Oh good,” said Arthur.

“We’re in a small galley cabin,” said Ford, “in one of the spaceships of the Vogon Constructor Fleet.”

“Ah,” said Arthur, “this is obviously some strange usage of the word safe that I wasn’t previously aware of.”

#16

Also, for those who either misplaced their copy, left it at home while wanting to read a bit at work, or erroneously tossed it into a passing singularity while searching the cupboard for a clean teacup, the book is ascii-parsed online here, by a source I’m not wholly familiar with.

#17

I just listened to the original radio broacast, and I’m surprised by some of the differences. E.g., [spoiler]Zaphod, Trillian and Marvin get eaten.[/spoiler]

#18

OK, I was able to get a copy from my library last night. I think someone here on GWC is also going to my library!

#19

It’s been a while since I listened to those, and I think I still have them around somewhere…knowing all the dozens of variations that Adams penned for the various radio/BBC/film broadcasts, there were some very interesting “re-interpretations” of the primary and ancillary plot lines. (Don’t even get me started on the most recent film, I’m still as bitter as yesterday’s coffee on that one.)

#20

About a year ago, when I was passing by a bookstore, I saw some commemorative editions and just purchased them because I loved how they look - they totally remind me of the copies they had at the school library when I first read them. So I reread them, and it’s kind of amazing how much I still enjoy them as an adult (maybe even more so, because I bet I missed some prize dry humorous moments at the age of 10).

Anyway, I think the collection is worth buying, even if you’ve read it. It’s almost better if you do, because you can just pick any book out, go to any page, and start reading it.

Weirdly enough, I have NEVER watched any movies/tvshows/radio program? of the series though. The material just seems so dense with stuff it’s a little hard to imagine a visual interpretation that would be satisfactory (Who’d play Zaphod? Unless it’s a meerkat. :D) But, is there anything in that department that is worth seeing?