h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My wife and I recently spent ten days exploring London. The Underground was a great system, although I admit we didn't use it at rush hour much.

One point about travel cards - there is a visitors travel card that is not available in the U.K., it must be purchased before you leave your home country - the U.S, in my case. And its not available in all U.S. cities, e.g. Houston, TX, so there is some lead time required - we had to get it FedEx'd just before we left.

An interesting book on the Underground is Ken Garland's "Mr. Beck's Underground Map", a history of the map seen in millions of London locations. It is a marvel of information presentation, making a very complex system navigable by mere mortals. A particularly complex portion of the Underground is the Camden Town/Mornington Crescent/Euston complex, for which Mr. Beck tried several dozen different presentations on the map. The book is available at the London Transport Museum at Covent Garden. After a few days using the system, the Underground WAS London in a certain sense.

A good fiction book on the London Underground is "Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman... just a suggestion.

I spent some time working in London when I was 18, and commuting round the Circle Line was hours of fun. I like the underground and feel that if you can't get to a part of London on the tube, it's probably not worth going to.

OTOH, I am 6' tall, generally wear combat boots & a biker jacket stuffed with body armour. And am male. Therefore I do not get most of the hassle that puts other people off.

And the map? As you say, a true marvel of representation. It was many years before the secret was revealed to me - I always thought London was laid out as per the Underground map LOL!

H&K
Z

Sounds like a good book, based on Amazon's 195 reviews, averaging out to 4.5 stars (out of 5). I ordered the cassette version, which got an editor's recommendation from AudioFile magazine, usually a good sign. It's abridged, but with all the driving we do In Houston (Texas, USA), I run through a LOT of cassette books.

Sounds like a mix of Douglas Adams and Franz Kafka. Its not clear if the London Below in the book is uspposed to be the Underground or some mythical world, but it sounds interesting in either case. Thanks for the tip.

It is a sort of mixture....
the London Underground becomes a mythical place, as well as familiar places in London above....
anyhow....

My wife and I had no problems with the folks on the Tube, again, not at rush hour crowd levels. I am also about six feet tall, but without the boots, jacket and armor - no wonder you have no problems! I prefer to believe that London IS laid out like the Underground Map - it simplifies matters for my lazy mind. Don't confuse me with the facts.

Hehe! I know what you mean exactly. I >know< London isn't like the map, but I refuse to >believe< it!

To paraphrase HitchHikers, the map is definitive, reality is frequently inaccurate

H&K
Z

I finished the cassette version of Neverwhere - a pretty good story, my wife and I both enjoyed it. (I know, its been a while, but there were other cassette books on top of the pile in the car). Thanks for the tip. It was more fun since we knew a little about London - like there really is no British Museum Station.

Ah, but there was! Not used since..um..a long time ago, but there was one.

H&K
Z

Really? There was a British Museum Station on the Tube? I don't know why, but I find that fascinating ... does that enter into the plot of the book? The joke in the book was, " ... no station at the Museum? Better be careful getting off ... heh, heh ..."

To repeat myself, the British Museum and the Tube are amazing. At least to a tourist from the USA.

- Steve K.