The Sword and Laser discussion

Our November pick is The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.

Remember not to panic and don't forget your towel!

Hmm do I want to read it again? I've easily read it a dozen times, though it has been a few years.

Was talking to someone at work who said a new hire would start November 4th and I remarked that was a long way away, thinking it was six weeks or more. Nope, it was two weeks away.

The year has gotten away from me and gosh! How did it get to be November already? Anyway. I must go find my towel and then curl up with my hardcover copy of HHGTTG. Library copies are months away and with reading glasses I should be able to do this. OTOH the library copies should arrive in time for me to binge the next four books.

I've only read this once and that was years ago so I'm up a reread.

About time. There was a big space missing in the S&L Bookshelves and it was this book. It has been 40 years or so since I first read this fine tale. Wait, is it 42!? Then it might be a perfect time to read it again. I will listen to it as it is narrated by Stephen Fry. There is also a version read by Douglas himself on YouTube.

If your library gives you access to Kanopy (you should check, because it’s free to you), you can watch the original BBC production of Hitchhiker’s there.

www.kanopy.com

HHGTTG was originally a BBC radio play. In the late 70s or early 80s a friend of mine gave me bootleg cassettes to listen to and I was hooked. I didn’t know how he got them and I didn’t care.

Later there were a couple of vinyl record albums with a slightly different storyline, the books, the TV show and at least one movie.

But the original radio play is still my first love.

Been a long time since I read the first book in the five volume trilogy. I’m looking forward to revisiting an old friend.

I am so excited! I think I first read this in high school (maybe even middle school, since I would sometimes steal my brother's books). I would reread it constantly but it's been years since I did a reread. I even bought myself a Hitchhiker's Guide shirt for my 42nd birthday.

I think it might have been my first science fiction book, and as a result, I tend to like my scifi with a big dose of humor. It really shaped me as a reader. Really looking forward to picking it up again :)

If anyone (like me) has read HHGTG more times than they care to remember but would like to explore Douglas Adams' writing further, can I recommend The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time? It is a varied collection of DA's largely unpublished writing, both fiction and non-fiction, which gives a great insight into his mind and worldview (which I have always felt more compelling than his plots).

I'm super excited to re-read this along with the group.

As I post this I am at work listening to last week's show and when I figured out what Tom had picked, I let out a loud "YES!" And my boss goes, "Did something exciting happen?" I had no idea he was in the office (he's usually off on Fridays), lol. XD

YES!!! I have been BEGGING for this for years! Now to pull out one of my versions and read it....Im thinking the Illustrated Version!The Illustrated Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy

Steve wrote: "If anyone (like me) has read HHGTG more times than they care to remember but would like to explore Douglas Adams' writing further, can I recommend The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy ..."

Good shout. Another alternative is Don't Panic: The Official Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Companion. I read this just last month and learned a few new things about how the radio play and book came to be created. (This is coming from someone who had 'Don't Panic' emblazoned on the back of their wedding order of service in large friendly letters.)

I've had several versions over the decades. And most of those have traveled to live out their lifespans in other spacetime coordinates through the arcane process of "lending someone the book to read." The current version in my library is the hardcover ultimate collection of all five books in the trilogy and an additional story.

It has, however, been at least a couple of decades since the last time I read HHGTG. I thoroughly enjoyed taking a couple of hours to do so yet again this afternoon.

Now, where's the tea? What? I don't understand...

Realised that the audiobook (read by Stephen Fry, who did the voice of the guide in the 2005 film) is available on my BookBeat app so I’ll listen to that.

Incidentally I feel it’s worth noting that “H2G2” has been a popular abbreviation for this book for decades…

Stephen wrote: "About time. There was a big space missing in the S&L Bookshelves and it was this book. It has been 40 years or so since I first read this fine tale. Wait, is it 42!? Then it might be a perfect time..."

1978 unfortunately, 2020 was the 42nd anniversary.

*brain* so Trike has got a link to the TV production. Anyone know where we can listen to the radio play? Apparently the first four were what was made into book 1.

John (Taloni) wrote: Anyone know where we can listen to the radio play? Apparently the first four were what was made into book 1."

There are a few places online, although it doesn't seem to be on the BBC website any more. Youtube and archive.org both have copies; googling will probably find more.

Radio play: https://archive.org/details/hitchhike...

The TV series is available from Apple. That 1981 TV series was my introduction to the franchise.

Ruth wrote: "Realised that the audiobook (read by Stephen Fry, who did the voice of the guide in the 2005 film) is available on my BookBeat app so I’ll listen to that.

Incidentally I feel it’s worth noting tha..."

"H2G2" reminds me to check in on https://h2g2.com, which attempted to do wikipedia before wikipedia, to see if it is still a going concern (which apparently it is!).

Delighted that we're reading HHGTTG this month. I've enjoyed the story many times in all it's formats .. radio series and scripts, record, BBC TV series, movie, and of course the books.

I was visiting Austin, TX in 1994 and saw (probably in alt.fan.douglas-adams) that Douglas would be speaking at UT, so I took the afternoon off work to attend his talk "Hitchhiking on the Information Superhighway"!

I went out the night before and bought a nice fake leather bound version of books 1-4 plus short story "Young Zaphod Plays it Safe" as well as a paperback of Mostly Harmless that I got him to sign and had a good chat at the end of the event. I remember him talking about his fascination with the mating habits of kangaroos for some reason (I'm Australian).

In fact I was disappointed that I didn't have my original versions, falling apart from so many readings, to get him to sign those, but nevertheless those pristine signed copies are my most treasured literary works.

I didn't see anyone else mention, apologies if I missed it, but Unbound, a sort of crowd-sourced publishing group, published an amazing coffee-table collection of notes, speeches and other artefacts.
https://unbound.com/books/douglasadams

I think I started with the BBC series and then the books but one of my best memories of the story was when I listened to the audio book on CD during a one day solo drive from Calgary to Vancouver. Oddly, the drive and the book were almost exactly the same length; I had to sit in my driveway for 2 minutes to get to the end.

I just discovered that the unbound people have a second volume "I Never Could get the Hang of Thursdays".
https://unbound.com/books/i-never-cou...
Or you can get the pair for .. of course .. GBP 42.00.

the month has begun. go forth and discuss.