This book review was written by Eugene Kernes
“The history of the Galaxy has got a
little muddled, for a number of reasons: partly because those who are trying to
keep track of it have got a little muddled, but also because some very muddling
things have been happening anyway. One
of the problems has to do with the speed of light and the difficulties involved
in trying to exceed it. You Can’t. Nothing travels faster than the speed of
light with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special
laws.” – Douglas Adams, Chapter 1, Page 635
“He would never have discovered it if he hadn’t been busy
engineering a mental block himself. He
came across a whole slew of smooth and plausible denial procedures and
diversionary subroutines exactly where he had been planning to install his own. The computer denied all knowledge of them, of
course, then blankly refused to accept that there was anything even to deny
knowledge of and was generally so convincing that even Ford almost found
himself thinking he must have made a mistake.” – Douglas Adams, Chapter 8, Page
690
“”You come to me for advice, but you can’t cope with
anything you don’t recognize. Hmmm. So we’ll have to tell you something you
already know but make it sound like news, eh?
Well, business as usual, I suppose.”
He sighed and squinted mournfully into the distance.” – Douglas Adams,
Chapter 11, Page 703
Is This An Overview?
Arthur has already had misadventures
in hitchhiking across space, and across time.
This misadventure has Arthur hitchhiking across parallel universes. Which take from Arthur all that Arthur
wanted, the Earth and the person Arthur loved.
At a loss for a life, Arthur hitchhiked to a planet whose inhabitants
provide wisdom. Wisdom that Arthur
ignores. After disapproving a version of
an Earth, Arthur becomes a professional hitchhiker, only to crash and become
stranded on a planet. At least Arthur
meets Arthur’s daughter. Not that Arthur
knew that Arthur had a daughter.
While Arthur is dealing with the loss, and gain, but mostly
loss, Ford is stealthily trying to gain access to The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The
Galaxy publishing offices. The stealth
attempt is not going exactly to plan, because the offices are slightly
different. Every time the guide moves,
the offices are meant to be reconstructed in the exact same way. Turns out that the guide has new owners, who
Ford does not appreciate. Ford finds out
what the new business plan is for the guide, and immediately understands the
danger. After an escape and theft, Ford
hitchhikes to Arthur. All these events
are not improbable, as the events were arranged to make them happen.
Caveats?
All the events that seem to be random, are actually somehow
not random at all. Some parts of the
book seem to be purposely confusing, until a later explanation.
