If everone could see the world as Douglas Adams did, we'd all be better off. Mix dry British humor with a group of idiosyncratic characters, drop them into the space-time continium and you get non-stop laughs. At times I often found myself with a grin from ear to ear! Sometimes laughing out-loud!! Even a die hard science fiction fan needs a little bit of humor to keep a perspective.

This collection of sharp, witty, and observant books merits a space on every bookshelf. I am VERY disappointed to find that it
is out of print, as the copy I have is a beautiful black cushioned-leather covered, bible-page style with gold page edges.
Needless to say, I'm preserving it as much as I can! Douglas Adams is one of my favorite authors, with his ability to make
human existance seem so amusing, and yet so futile at the same time. He takes life, gives it a large drink, spins it around a few
times, and watches what happens. Adams is not above self-humiliation either:

"The idea for the title first cropped up when I was lying drunk in a field in Innsbruck, Austria. Well, not really drunk, just the
kind of drunk you get from having a couple of stiff Gossers after not having eaten for two days straight on account of being a
penniless hitchhiker. We are talking of a mild inability to stand up."

I THOROUGHLY recommend this book to ANYONE with a sense of humor, a mind for Sci-Fi, or an adequately functioning
brain. Actually, all carbon-based life-forms should be exposed to this book at some point or another...

Enjoy... I know I did!

This collection of sharp, witty, and observant books merits a space on every bookshelf. I am VERY disappointed to find that it is out of print, as the copy I have is a beautiful black cushioned-leather covered, bible-page style with gold page edges. Needless to say, I'm preserving it as much as I can! Douglas Adams is one of my favorite authors, with his ability to make human existance seem so amusing, and yet so futile at the same time. He takes life, gives it a large drink, spins it around a few times, and watches what happens. Adams is not above self-humiliation either:

"The idea for the title first cropped up when I was lying drunk in a field in Innsbruck, Austria. Well, not really drunk, just the kind of drunk you get from having a couple of stiff Gossers after not having eaten for two days straight on account of being a penniless hitchhiker. We are talking of a mild inability to stand up."

I THOROUGHLY recommend this book to ANYONE with a sense of humor, a mind for Sci-Fi, or an adequately functioning brain. Actually, all carbon-based life-forms should be exposed to this book at some point or another...

Enjoy... I know I did!

This book is the biography of a fictional pulp hero of the 30's and 40's, and farmer has a lot of fun with the concept. He brings into the book references to almost every heroic character of the first half of the century from tarzan to now obscure figures like g-8 to the shadow. But focuses on doc savage and his team of helpers. It' a glimpse into a bygone era of pulp magazines and movie serials in which your parents and grandparents grew up.

Doc Savage is one of those enduring pulp icons who will always have a cult following no matter how many years pass since his heyday. The creation of writer Lester Dent, Doc Savage was a combination private eye/crusading scientist/super hero who, with the help of his loyal assistant, managed to defeat some of the most evil threats that mankind has ever had to face. Certainly a bit corny but always a great deal of fun, the Doc Savage tales were always amongst the best of their type and, as the world continues to get more and more complicated, there's something wonderfully reassuring about entering into Doc Savage's world and discovering that evil can always be defeated by one bronze skinned genius. For this reason, Doc Savage continues to maintain a loyal fan base into the present day. One of these fans was the late science fiction writer Phillip Jose Farmer (creator of the Riverworld series and several other underground classics). Farmer wrote Doc Savage, His Apocalyptic Life as an obvious labor of love. While he goes out of his way to try to accurately document the mythos of Doc Savage (though some critics are correct when they point out that he sometimes draws conclusions that are far more Farmer than Dent), Farmer does so with a welcomed tone of uptmost (if still bemused) seriousness. Treating this book as not just a long fan letter but instead as an actual biography of an actual man, Farmer affords Doc Savage fans a dignity that others who have attempted to write about classic pulp icons haven't.

The book to a certain extent acts as a sequel to Farmer's better known (but, to me, of lesser quality) Tarzan Alive. As in the Tarzan book, Farmer concludes with lengthy and imaginative geneaology in which he manages (with not too many excessive liberties taken with their established canons) to show that every pulp hero was in some way related. Along with Tarzan, Doc Savage is soon to be related to Bulldog Drummond, James Bond, Nero Wolfe, The Scarlet Pimpernil, Prof. Challenger, the Shadow, and just about anyone else you could think of. No, its not meant to be taken seriously but, like the original Doc Savage stories themselves, its still a lot of fun.

whether a long time fan or if you've only recently discovered the Man of Bronze, this is a must have. While Farmer does take some liberties with (supposed) origins and fates of characters, neo- and longtime fans will find this book invaluable.

These other reviewers say it more eloquently. But I agree. I read an interview with Tory Dent in which she spoke of the line, the exercise of trying out different lengths of line. Her "Whitman-length" line developed into a great vehicle for her own intelligent, cinematic-scope passion. The words seem crammed onto the page, and yet, as with Anne Carson's Glass Essay, you find yourself fifteen pages along, wondering at the richness, and the breadth of expression and quite without any sense of harsh density.

Tory Dent is one of the great poets of America. She has continued a new and dazzling poetry of dissent, which combines critical and lyrical and political elements. Like a true "performance artist," like Ann Hamilton, her poetry activates a complex narrative with historical reverberations. Her long poem on her "Quarantine" shows the heartbreaking honesty and anger of this wonderful poet. Each of her poems is as electrifying as a sculpture of abjection by Kiki Smith, whose wild talent most resembles Dent's We see in these poems the body of woman presented in all abjection and also as a triumph above fragility. In my lifetime, I have never seen such a startling poetry of ultimacy and its contents. It is a poetry to be placewd next to the architecrtural masques of the late John Hejduk, who had a like intensity and utter seriousness. The poetry of our time is too often whimsical, false and cheap, and made for consumption. Dent's poetry, like the best of Anna Swir the Polish baroque poet, is a revelation for her generation. It does not use confession unwisely; it does not refuse to name the poignant wounds, betrayals and loyalties. This is a poet who demands our truest attention and deserves it. I recommend her work without reservations.

This is a tremendous book of poetry that's already won one major prize and I read in the New York Times last week that it is nominated for the upcoming National Critics Circle Award. I have to admit I was completely stunned by it and think very, very highly of this book. More than any other poet that comes out of the "New York School" started by Frank O'Hara and continued by all sorts of interesting writers like John Ashbery, Ann Lauterbach and so forth, this is far and away the most powerful writer of the bunch. In large part this is because of her subject matter: focused on life and death issues rather than somewhat cosmetic aesthetic concerns, and with a much greater emotional range that what I've seen come out of experimental American poets before. Wow! The book is like wandering around in a huge, incredibly graphic and detailed dream, and its imagery is absolutely wonderful. I would recommend it highly to anyone interested at all in contemporary poetry. All best to Tory Dent, wherever you are!

...life forms are required to use a seldom-exercised ability called "imagination" which, with effort, allows the user to paint a mental tapestry that is superior in many respects to any computer generated image or subjective image of perfection.

(takes a breath)

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy goes on a bit about the relative superiority of radio as a medium that stimulates the pleasure centers of the brain, but it also notes several references to various works that endure in a medium regarded as deader than the telegraph.

The Hitchhiker's Guide is not only proof that radio is still a viable medium for drama, but that Douglas Adams is a genius. The show, scripted week-by-week by DNA and Geoffrey Perkins was easily translated to books and television with minimal edits. Yes, the second series is a bit off the ultimate track, but it is quite original and the foot notes from Douglas and Perkins are very insightful. These footnotes exist as a log of what took place when it all began and, sadly, as the only memoir to them.

If you can find it, get it.

As a longtime fan of Adam's Sci-Fi Comedy series, I was delighted to discover this book. It was a lot of fun to read, and offered much insight into the process behind the Original Hitchhiker's Guide Radio Show. And there are a few scenes that never made it to the novels. Douglas Adams is funny in any form, and this was no exception.

It's a shame that this book sems to be so hard to find. I was actually introduced to the Hitchhiker stories through the radio show (the audio recordings of which are probably even harder to find), which was a marvel of storytelling and sound effects when it came out (it still is, of course). Ultimately, the script book is a much better read if you have heard the original radio series, but even if you haven't, check it out (if you can). The scripts are written in true Douglas Adams style, with directions written in there that often don't have to do with the show itself (such as Adams' long description of the Bugblatter Beast of Traal), and it may be your only chance to learn about the Haggunenonns, the super-evolutionary race of aliens originally put in place of the rock group Disaster Area during the black stuntship scene. Be warned, however, since the series was written episodically, meaning that Adams never had any grand scheme for the show, and just wrote it as he went along (explains a lot, doesn't it?). You may think that the plot of the Restaurant at the End of the Universe was convoluted, but I thought it made perfect sense in comparison to the plot of the two radio series. Either way, it's a crazy ride, and worth every minute spent trying to make sense of it. If you consider yourself a HHG fan, then take it upon yourself to listen to the original radio series, and then read the scripts (which clarify it a good deal). Just make sure that you know where your towel is first.

Great book about Lester Dent. I started reading the Doc Savage stories when I was a kid, and I still read them 30 years later. Fun to learn about my favorite author

Fans of Doc Savage will love this book, which is about the author of the Doc Savage pulp magazine stories. It was fun to read about Lester Dent -- his Doc tales have been my favorites for years, and I felt like I got to know him a bit from reading this book

This is a compilation of the funniest 4-book trilogy every written (not a typo), with one bonus book. It's bound in genuine bonded leather, and has a built-in page marker. It's easily mistaken for a bible. More importantly, it's got detailed instructions for leaving the planet before your phone bill arrives.

A great view on how the universe works. You'll be sure to go mad. But don't worry, it's worth it. Makes fun of us, humans, so primitive that we still think that digital watches are a neat idea. Some recent movie makers seem to have read this book; MIB, Contact and Event Horizon all seem to refer to the book in some way (Event Horizon refering directly to the Heart of Gold).

I'm a friend of the author and wanted to share some reviews of the book:

"There has never been a poetry quite like this before, so passionately and understandably barbaric...and, withal, stormily beautiful, at the border where beauty tolerates the sublime." --- Calvin Bedient, Parnassus

"Magnificently intricate...Tory Dent's book of poems is about much more than AIDS. This is a complex, bold work not afraid to be cerebral (makes your brain sweat)... that challenges the way this disease -- born of, surrounded and perpetuated by silence -- is represented" -- Gabrielle Glancy, Poetry Flash

"Some of the most exciting new verse anyone's written in a very long time. We are reading the construction of a life force in all its glory...the bigness of her imagery is matched by an emotional gigantism throughout that sustains the immensity of the threat she's experiencing." -- Eileen Myles, Denver Quarterly

"Verbosity and passion mark Dent's collection of poems. The poems roll out of their language and rhythms, and what seems to matter is that rolling force...it's a language machine. These poems follow the criss-crossing path over the line dividing life and death. Dante may be the closest analogue since he, like this speaker, had a guide and spoke of a personal crisis...yet this guide knows no more than the poet...this guide offers no consolation." -- Nora Mitchell and Emily Skoler, New England Review

This is one of the most important volumes of poetry in our time. I have been dazzled by the bravery and the intimacy of this great poetry. Like a contemporary Dostoevsky stood up against a wall for execution and even more excruciatingly pardoned, for a time, this young woman has created a poetry pof survival and p[ersistence and pluck that puts her elders to shame. A true shame. Who has written, iun the last decade, any poem as powerful as her Jade or as Poem for a Poem? She has taken the hedonism and whimsy of the New York Schpool and strangled it severely. Though shre has suffered, she has created, like Ginsberg, a poetry of comradely love and blistering vision. She has given us a book of this era, fresh as a snapshot, elongated as a dirge. We all look forward to her continued courage; we look forward to her next book, like a letter that we hardly deserve. This is a poet who has dealt with an infinite burden, with the virogorous wit of a revolutionary.

There is no doubt in my mind or on my tongue that this cook book has absolutely the best recipes for SW Territorial Cuisine. When you dine in Santa Fe or Taos, this is the food you eat in private homes or at the best restaurants. The meals are totally authentic. Dent takes you through time and tradition providing descriptions of ingredients and preparation methods that are sure to get your juices flowing! There isn't a better reference. I've given over a dozen of these books to people who have commented on my enchiladas and green chile. Go for it without hesitation!

This is a splendid book that is both entertaining and informative. The advice on how to choose fresh, ripe produce is very helpful as many of the ingredients mentioned may be foreign to readers.

I have used this cookbook for over 5 years and I still find new things to try. Today I showed this book to my in-laws and they were so excited to see long forgotten recipies from their childhood. I will now buy another copy to give my father-in-law otherwise he will have me make all his favorites everytime he visits.

As a psychologist and organizational consultant, I found Dent's work to be quite comprehensive and in a way that is easy to read, understand, and apply. He appropriately touches on everything from the JoHari Window to group stage development in his effort to educate his reader and to facilitate better partnering. I look foward to using this work as I train and consult with businesses, non-profit organizations, and student groups alike!

I liked Partnering Intelligence for three main reasons: 1.I believe the principles Steve Dent espouses. I think they are true and I know they can work. 2.I appreciate the clear examples used throughout the book to show how the ideas are translated into the workplace. 3.The many tools and assessments that Steve includes are a great model of his own desire to partner with the reader by offering practical ways that the ideas can be put into practice by others.

I know that I will be using the materials in this book to good effect in my consulting work over the next few years. Thanks to Steve for his hard work in putting together this excellent field-guide to building effective partnerships.

Creating and maintaining strong partnerships is critical in today's economy. This book gives solid advice on how to develop successful partnerships. Whether you work for a business, non profit organization or in government, learning how to find and develop potential partners has become essential. This book provides the road map to developing and maintaining successful relationships and has helped me do my job better.

I thought this book "The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy" by Douglas Adams, was amazing. I have never laughed so hard while reading in my life. Adams has a unique style of putting the extremely bizarre into fairly common language. He also has a witty humor that will get you rolling with laughter. The books center around two main characters, Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect, and their adventures so to speak around the galaxy. The two are faced with many bizarre and life threatening events throughout their journeys. They do varies tasks from finding the meaning of life, to saving the galaxy, and watching as the universe is destroyed as they eat a cow which they had had a conversation with a few minutes before hand. The whole book is full of mind-bending contradictions and hilarious out of the blue humor. The plot that I derived form the book, I doubt it is right, is don't sweat the small stuff. The events that happen to Arthur Dent are far worse then the petty stuff we complain about in life. If you read this you need to be up to laughing the whole way through, and a little time to decipher what Adams is saying in the book.

Quite humbly, there is nothing as funny as this book, this collection, this window to the universe, whatever you'd like to call it. There's a reason for that. As unbelievably all-over-the-place whacky as the book's plot can be, a reader should expect to finish reading the book with the knowledge that, amazingly, the universe really is just that strange and wonderful.

I happen to love life with a passion and laugh near continually. I've never laughed as hard or as often reading than I did while reading this book. Never. Not even close. Imagine the person sitting next to you in a plane, seemingly without provocation, belly-laughs and can't stop. Then imagine it happening on a regular basis. You might wonder one of two things - when will he shut up and/or what is it that's making him laugh?

If you are at all curious why people laugh so hard so often and enjoy life so much...read this book. Please. No, really.

It's not just funny. If you can say 'just' and the type of extreme hilarity I mean in the same sentence without blasting the meaning out of the word 'just.' It's life Essential. I happen to love reading philosophy, eastern, christian, anything I can get my hands on. I'm so glad I got my hands on this collection. You finish the book and realize that you know a whole lot more than you thought you did about your world. Fortunately, a great deal of that knowledge consists of knowing you barely know anything at all. One of my favorite passages, to end...

'"Look," he said in a stern voice. But he wasn't certain how far saying "Look" in a stern voice was necessarily going to get him, and time was not on his side. What the hell, he thought, you're only young once, and threw himself out the window. That would at lesat keep the element of surpise on his side.'

...Please, for yourself and your happiness in life, read this book. If you come away and are anything but overjoyed to be alive...read it again. You must have missed something. =)

-Mike Fliss - mdf@duke.edu

This is undoubtedly the best sci-fi-comedy ever written, and I say that with confidence. Douglas Adams' wit is unmatched in this genre. I have re-read this series at least 5 times, and it gets better each time. Thanks to Adams's insight, I too am on a continual search for the reason why 42 is the answer (just look how many times it pops up randomly... or not so randomly)

In this classic story, Arthur Dent, a lovable and easily-confused Earthling gets dragged on the journey of a lifetime as Earth is destroyed by a group of Vogons to make way for a hyperspace by-pass. He is joined by a host of unforgettable characters: the easy-going researcher for the Hitchhikker's Guide to the Galaxy Ford Prefect; the hyper Two-Headed, Three-Armed President of the Galaxy Zaphod Beeblebrox; and his sexy companion former-Earth-reporter Trillian; and Marvin, the hopelessly depressed android. Together, they are off to explore the galaxy, battle with pesky mice-geniuses (no, not Pinky and the Brain), eat dinner at the end of the universe, travel through time, meet the man who designed Norway, redefine "improbability," patronize and annoy countless alien races, search for a decent cup of tea in an unforgivig universe, and continue the eternal quest to find out why 42 is so darn important.

Adams is a visionary. This is unlike any series I have ever read. Although "Mostly Harmless" was a slightly disappointing conclusion(?) to such an entertaining series, I will always consider the Hitchhikkers' "Trilogy" to be among the greats. If you do not own or have never read these books, then this compilation is a necessity for you. I recommend that you purchase it immediately, call in sick from work, school, or whatever, put up a small Somebody Else's Problem (SEP) field around you, and read it and again and again.