Thursday 21 October 2010

The restaurant at the end of the Universe by Douglas Adams

The restaurant at the end of the Universe
Come along on a zany journey to the low-rent neighbourhood of the Cosmos with earthling Arthur Dent, sexy space cadet Trillian, that imperturbable alien Ford Prefect and Zaphod Beeblebrox, the two-headed, three-armed ex-head Honcho of All Creation.

The Restaurant at the end of the Universe is the second book on the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, and it is much like the first one. It is a lot of fun, very silly, and very good.

There is more plot to this book, and I loved that. In The Restaurant at the end of the Universe Zaphod Beeblebrox is looking for the man who actually rules the Universe, something the old-himself told him to do before locking part of his brain away. In short, Zaphod is looking for the man who rules the Universe but he doesn't know why.

So through hops in space and time, where Zaphod leads, Ford and Trillian follow without contributing much to the story, Arthur continues his search for a decent cup of tea, and Marvin is simply depressed the entire time, these travellers will visit the most iconic places in the Universe, such as the Restaurant that gives name to the book, a concert by the band Disaster Area, the headquarters of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the Total Perspective Vortex, and Earth.

However, this book was not as great as the first one. There a sense of unoriginality to it, that became quite blatant when the jokes started to repeat themselves. They were still good, but they were almost word for word the ones on the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Nevertheless I enjoyed this book. There were some great parts, not only the jokes but some that just made me go awww, and gave me a warm fuzzy feeling.

Favourite quote:
"It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them to be in. However, not every one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. Any finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so the average population of all the planets in the Universe can be said to be zero. From this it follows that the population of the whole Universe is also zero, and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination."

(4/5)

5 comments:

  1. Never found a book with a quirky title that turned out to be bad. Never! XD

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is what, the third alien themed book you've read this year? are you a homesick alien, quigui? it's okay if you are...btw...can you introduce me to an empath of your acquaintance? *pretty please?* :D

    Poor Marvin...still depressed, uh? someone should build him a girlfriend.

    ReplyDelete
  3. off topic: omg, just noticed...YOU'RE READING POISON STUDY! yay!! :'D

    ReplyDelete
  4. @Drake
    I think I should make that a rule when buying books. Quirky title = instant buy. On second thought, I already do that :D

    @Jen
    Alien themed books? Let me check *goes check books read* *starts counting books* *looses track of count* *starts again with excel spreadsheet* 6! 3 by Ursula K. Le Guin, 2 of the Hitchhiker's series and that one with the empath that you seem to be enjoying. And Black Sun Rising also has aliens.

    Yep, I started Poison Study yesterday. BSR was dragging a bit, and I was so tired before going to bed that I just wanted something really enjoyable to read for a bit. Ended up reading till 3AM.

    ReplyDelete
  5. 6! xD

    Good to know my brainwash worked :D *ValekValekValek*

    ReplyDelete