The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (Mass Market Paperback)

by Douglas Adams (Author)
Key Phrases: total perspective vortex, clever bit, Ford Prefect, Number Two, Zaphod Beeblebrox (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
Warning! This second volume in the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" series is definitely not a standalone book. Enjoying, or even understanding, the continuing adventures of Earthling Arthur Dent, his strange pal Ford Prefect, and the very, very odd Zaphod Beeblebrox requires previous study and preparation. Confusion and possible insanity awaits the poor soul who tries to figure out the second title without having read the first. Arthur and Ford, having survived the destruction of Earth by surreptitiously hitching a ride on a Vogon constructor ship, have been kicked off that ship by its commander. Now they find themselves aboard a stolen Improbability Drive ship commanded by Beeblebrox, ex-president of the Imperial Galactic Government and full-time thief. Narrated by Adams, this production is a treat for fans of the late author and others who enjoy British comedy. Be sure to buy all five parts of the "Hitchhiker" series or your patrons will storm your office. One caveat: this audiobook will need to be repackaged for library circulation.
Barbara Rhodes, Northeast Texas Lib. Syst., Garland
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
“Douglas Adams is a terrific satirist.”—Washington Post Book World

“What’s such fun is how amusing the galaxy looks through Adams’s sardonically silly eyes.”—Detroit Free Press



From the Trade Paperback edition. --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey (September 27, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345391810
• ISBN-13: 978-0345391810
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (121 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #380,989 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #44 in

  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > ( A ) > Adams, Douglas

• This is item 2 in The Hitchhiker's Trilogy Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How do you follow up a work of genius.....?, March 7, 2005

By	Amanda Richards "Modest to the extreme" (Georgetown, Guyana) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

.... With more of the same.

While not so good as a stand alone (you'll be lost in time & space without the background of Book 1), this second in the umpteen-part, increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhiker's Trilogy tries even harder than the first to laser your funny bone.

Seems that the thing we call (ultimately to be used-to-call) Earth is really just a mighty big supercomputer, built to work out the ultimate question to the ultimate answer, 42. Like all expensive software however, just before it actually does whatever it's supposed to do, it crashes - in this case due to the hacker Vogons and their total annihilation programme. Unlike your regular hard drive, two bits escape to byte another day, and we continue their story.

In one of the many funny lines from the book, Zaphod Beeblebrox remarks, "I am so hip I have difficulty seeing over my pelvis". This book is just as hip.

Our heroes are aboard their Improbability Driven spaceship, when Arthur Dent happens to tie up all the computer circuits just when the Vogons are launching an attack. Zaphod decides its time to see dead people, and with a strange twist, he and miserable Marvin, the depressed computer, disappear, while Arthur takes a tea break.

Zaphod materializes elsewhere and immediately starts looking for the man who rules the Universe, while Marvin continues to depress and be depressed. In my humble opinion, Marvin is the star of this book, but I digress.

After having his sense of perspective sorely tested, Zaphod improbably conjures a happy reunion, although this leaves him sadly out of pocket. Deciding that they should find the nearest place to eat, their ship's computer zaps them to Milliways, the Restaurant at the End of the Universe.

From this half-way point, the book takes off on a fresh tangent of humor, floor shows, loud rock bands, talking meat, and wicked vehicles - that is, until the universe ends.

Then the humor starts all over again.

A very worthy follow up to the famous first.

Amanda Richards, March 7, 2005

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Zarking Great!, June 20, 2000

By	Nancy Paula Millstone Jennings (Greenbridge, Essex, England) - See all my reviews

In the beginning, The Hitchhiker's Giude to the Galaxy was written. This made a lot of people happy and is generally regarded as a good move.

Some time later, it was followed up (by a sequel). This also made a few people ("The people...the things..." "The things are also people," hissed Ford. "The people...the...other people...") very pleased. I am among them. DNA is an excellent writer and this book is perfect alone, after its predecessor, or with a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster. Brilliant satire, wonderful characters, and the depressed droning of our favourite Paranoid Android all contribute beautifully to a work of sheer unadultered weirdness. I'd reccomend reading HHGG first to all newcomers to the HHGG trilogy, but if you've already read the first in the series the best way to follow it up is by reading the second. Or by stopping for lunch at Milliways--The Restaurant at the End of the Universe! (But don't forget your towel!)

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Watch the end of the universe as you dine........, December 29, 1999

By	Michael T Lunsford (GA,. USA) - See all my reviews

Yes, there is a resturant that you can dine at and watch the end of all we know, while at the same time, having a fabtastic dining experience!

Hilarious book! Met Marvin the Paranoid Android. Witness the end of all time/space. Meet an intelligent speaking animal that presents itself to you as your main course and is insulted if you don't eat it!

A fun, fun book!