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

So what will it be -- which book do you, the illustrious intellectual chorus, believe is the most representative of the human condition?

Discusion, frustration, coffee, & doughnuts to follow . . .

~Beeblefish (Trying to Figure Out His Answer)

Jean Paul Sartre's Nausea springs immediatly to mind.

Lanark: A Life in Four Books by Alasdair Gray. The life of a man in Glasgow, and his alter ego in the nightmarish city of Unthank. Cracking stuff by a very clever man.

That's two suggestions -- (thanks guys) but here is my question to both of you: why those books. What in them is unique and typical of humanity? Why are they the perfect choices?

And for myself -- I would have to say (gasp surprise) Good Omen's -- the Nice and Accurate Prophesies of Agnes Nutter, Witch. by Terry Pratchett.

It pokes fun at, religious, dieting, polution, various types of humans (militant, querky, kinky, evil, nice, devout, snobby, playful, following, geeky, assertive etc etc), looks into the minds of children and is funny.

Well that's my two sense -

~Beeblefish (Off to Have Fun)

Ah well if you are being light of heart and free of spirit then it';; have to be Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
And Nausea because it sums up the meaninglessness of the world. the futility of all things and all people and the angst that we feel when we allow ourselves to acknowledge that that is the truth of the world.
I'm off to be glum

The first book that comes to my mind is the last one that I've read lately. I think everyone should read it. Because I think that it is pretty much how people feel most of the time. It is reality. No one is really happy here. I choose 'Fight Club'.

Aw Fate, why be glum ...

when you can be

Here have a doughnut ---> O

Fight Club eh?
Cynical view?

~Beeblefsh

Lanark is one of these "fully explore the lives and loves of a person" type of books. It excels, however, in portraying Glasgow and it's people in a way that makes you long to stand in the rain in George Square (which no sane person should do). It also touches base on a hell of a lot of Western Culture, as the epilogue explains. All round top book, and once voted the best novel by a living Scottish writer.

Not glum. Just existential

i'd bring my diary or journal... if i had one... i guess my head would just have to suffice. i'm not sure there is such a thing as a general human condition, therefore how could it be dumped in a single book? each person, each point in time... has something different to offer, and feels differently. is this just some lame excuse not to provide an answer? is this my way of covering up the fact that i don't read as often as i should, and whatever i do read i don't remember all that well? umm... no. not entirely anyway. if it were a more specific question, say, "what book best exemplifies self-empowerment and responsibility under repressive conditions for the hopeful yet hopeless 20th century person?" then maybe i'd dig my talons into camus or sartre. but even then, there is a strong bias. no one can be rid of it, even with one of those ucky sand-shower thingies out of "tank girl". there are definately books out there which up to millions of people identify with, but each has their own unique interpretation, and that most important element of the individual isn't found in the book, it's found in the person, and that element of individuality is what makes humanity oddly human. so really, this is my long-winded way of saying i'm too lazy to carry a book along with all that other crap, i'd just haul my own ass along...

Don't you ever feel guilty about being happy?

Come on now, for real? I'm not saying don't be happy.
It's good to be happy. It's just hard to stay that way a lot.

Besides the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, you'd better have something like The Complete Idiot's guide to Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy or Hitchhikers Guide for Dummies!! - especially the way we seem to operate. Sometimes just jumping in and pushing buttons just doesn't work. Another idea might be a foraging book - one has to eat!!

I don't think human condition is at all universal. Some people lead miserable lives. Some people lead boring live. Some lead pleasant lives. Some lead exciting lives. I think for any type, there can be a book, but I don't think a depressing bit of Sartre exemplifies my life.

But despite all the variations, all the humans are striving to do the same thing -- to prevail.

Which is why I would select Pilgermann by Russell Hoban. Pilgermann achieves a goal succedded by a drastic loss, and throughout the rest of the book one finds him searching for balance, searching for wisdom, for the thing that will justify his having existed -- even if that justification comes in the form of a violent death.

Um, can I have a doughnut please?

Here a go babe ---> O

Glad to hear you are feeling better lil!

Yes, I do feel guilty being happy sometimes, when there is so much suffering in the world. I also feel guilty being sad or depressed.
I mean, so Im flat broke -- Im not starving, I have a roof over my head, Im not being persecuted on a daily basis.

How did I know you would bring up Sartre and Camus Cloudy?!
(Everyone point at Cloudy and make her feel self-conscious (uh-welcome)

Here's a quote for you (kudos to those who know its origin):

"Wasnt it Jean-Paul Sartre that said: 'Hell is being locked forever in a room with your friends'?"

"Yeah, but all his mates were French!"

Here is a bit of off topic philosphy to boot around --

If you want to understand human nature, take a bunch of four year olds and put them all the same sandbox with one toy. Then watch them from a distance.

Discuss.

~Beeblefish (Ce le fait egale)

*throws sand at other 4 year olds, grabs toy and runs*

*comes back looking sheepish*
Sorry about that. I've been refereeing a snowball duel on another thread.

The kids-in-a-sandbox model seems to me to be more true at the nation-state level than at the individual one....

I think there are exceptions to the rule, though.
Gandhi... you know the type. We have people outside the lines on both sides - the evil and the (pardon the term) saintly.

That's easy. The novelisation of "Clueless".

how come i don't get a donut?
and why am i being persecuted for my occasional need to surrender to writers who whine about human responsibility and other depressing stuff?
and whoever points at me LOSES A FINGER!
maybe the one thing common about the human condition is that when backed into a corner, our claws and teeth emerge quicker than a strawberry pop tart from a nuclear toaster... yummy. so i'd take an instruction book entitled "don't try and tickle me, or i'll reflexively kick you in the ", which i'll eventually write myself.