Douglas Adams; Where do I start?

PullMyFinger!

Any particular order?


Cheers

Shabadu

The Hitchhikers 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
Mostly Harmless

Enjoy losing your Adams virginity you lucky so-and-so!

Rhyme

PullMyFinger! wrote:

Any particular order?
Cheers

Damn you and your fresh start... as said by Shabadu, begin with Hitchikers trilogy in 5 parts and then perhaps move to Dirk Gently.

Shabadu

EEEEEEEEE! It's creepy looking at the same avatar under a different name. Weren't you Danger Mouse? I was robot mom but got bored.

Stark

It doesn't really matter where you start as there's no real plot to follow anyway

For Hitchhikers Guide, there's the books (very tricky to follow), the TV series totalling about 3 hours worth, you can pick it up on DVD or look out for it on the likes of Paramount. There's also the radio series, I think you can buy it on CD or download it.

Rhyme

Shabadu wrote:

EEEEEEEEE! It's creepy looking at the same avatar under a different name. Weren't you Danger Mouse? I was robot mom but got bored.

When they catagorised the avatars i just picked the most appealing oneas i was tired of the shocked rodent.

Stark wrote:

It doesn't really matter where you start as there's no real plot to follow anyway

Very true, its just good reading right through

Stark wrote:

For Hitchhikers Guide, there's the books (very tricky to follow), the TV series totalling about 3 hours worth, you can pick it up on DVD or look out for it on the likes of Paramount. There's also the radio series, I think you can buy it on CD or download it.

Radio sessions are excellent and if Hitchikers is new to you then the tv series might not be the best start... Zaphods second hed cracks me up

theCzar

Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy and restaurant at the end of the universe are the best.

pwd

he also wrote adventure games [interactive fiction].
The Huitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy is available to bplay online if you google for it.
It and Bureaucracy are abandonware.
I have played both. The Hitch hikers' Guide is brilliant, and quite different from the books.
Bureaucracy is not so good, but certainly still worth checking out. It parodies bureaucracy, so part of what you have to do to progress is to go through convoluted bureacratic processes, which I found irritating.
He also co-wrote "Starship Titanic" with Terry Gilliam, which is an adventure game with multimedia elemants I think. It features a cameo by John cleese as a talking bomb. I havben't played it myself. From what I have read there is not much of a plot.
Other work of his that hasn;t been mentioned here yet includes Meaning of Liff deeper meaning of liff (which are dictionaries of huomourous made-up words), and Last Chance to See (which is non-fictional and about endangered species)

Trojan

The Long Dark Tea-time of the Soul

monkeyfudge

So Long and Thanks for all the Fish was always my favourite of the Hitchhikers Guide books. But it seems to be the most unpopular.

One that hasn't been mention is 'The Salmon of Doubt' which is a posthumously published collection of some of his writings and a draft of what may have been a 6th Hitchhikers book or a 3rd Dirk Gently novel. I haven't read it myself, so I must really track down a copy.

Oh.. and he wrote a couple of episodes of Doctor Who... most famously a story called Shada.

Dingatron

Just about to start reading all his books again. Being a good 20 years since I first read his books. Have to say I'm looking forward to reading them again. I didn't really get Dirk Gently the first time around but I was but a young lad with no patience!

monkeyfudge

I really liked the first Dirk Gently book.. but the second one I didn't like very much at all...

I think the first one actually started life as plot for an episode of Doctor Who.

I took my 8 year old nephew to see the Hitchhikers movie last week and he really liked it, so I'm reading him the books every night now and he seems to really like them.

ApeXaviour

The hitchhikers guide to the galaxy is for all intents and purposes ONE book, not five. You read it like you read the lord of the rings. Don't buy them seperate buy it as one novel "The Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy a trilogy in five parts".

Also when buying the Dirk Gently books its also best to buy the omnibus edition: ie the Dirk Gently Omnibus which is the two books "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" and "The Dark Tea-time Of The Soul" in one.

theCzar

monkeyfudge wrote:

One that hasn't been mention is 'The Salmon of Doubt' which is a posthumously published collection of some of his writings and a draft of what may have been a 6th Hitchhikers book or a 3rd Dirk Gently novel. I haven't read it myself, so I must really track down a copy.

not really worth it, unless you want to bathe in Douglas Adams nostalgia. It has snatches and paragraphs that are good

Earthhorse

monkeyfudge, "So Long..." is also my favourite so you're not alone!

There's a short story set in the Hitchhiker's universe as well. Not sure if it appears in Salmon of Doubt but is definitely in a short story collection called Wizards and Odds. (This book is not really worthy getting just for that short story but the short story is worth reading).