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

It's exactly like the old one, except that I started the thread and it's the first thread on the new FFFF page.

* looks around *

Hellooo!!! Where is everybody?

Hi MaW. Thanks for setting up the new thread. This way, I didn't have to think of a name for it.



Oh, and in reply to Lear at the old thread (sorry, no link), it wasn't really a *typo*, as such. There's an entry in the library that I wrote, and I changed the name of it after he listed it. I just need to update the name, because I took out the bit about God, which was problematic (isn't it always?).

Someday, I'll reread that thing, I reckon. I wonder if I'll still think it makes sense.



This might be a good time to remind people that if you have any Entries, whether or not they're material for the Edited Guide, that are about FFFF topics, then post links here, and we'll get them into the library! I should really go thru what's there now and make sure that all the links are to Entries that still exist.

I like the rewrites on the intro page. Nice to see the old FFFF humour is surviving the changes intact. Just for easy reference (and because I hate leaving things lying around), here's a link to the beginning of the last thread on the old page... http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/F32217?thread=100162 *sits down with a good book, waiting for other people to start turning up*

Hmm, I could write such an Entry...

But not today. I currently am lacking in inspiration and information.

*wanders in and waits patiently for more to arrive. Reads the good book, then realises that it wouldn't be that good without the incest and violence*

Ahem, deackie. I certainly wasn't referring to *that* good book...

Which good book were you referring to then?

Well, since you ask, I'm currently working my way through... (1) Libra, Don DeLillo's (fictionalised) account of the troubled life of Lee Harvey Oswald... (2) A collection of D T Suzuki's writings on buddhism... (3) a rather enormous volume of selected poetry and prose by the American writer Gary Snyder, who is also a bit of a guy... (4) the installation manual for SuSe Linux 7.1, which I bought about six months ago and haven't figured out what to do with yet. Number (4) isn't a good book by any stretch of the imagination. The others are pretty interesting, though.

I should have said 'books', really.

*Looks around, wondering if there's any beer at this party, or if it's even supposed to be a party at all, for that matter*

Hmm, well I'm currently reading "Winter's Heart" by Robert Jordan for my fiction fix, and "Green Witchcraft" by Ann Moura for my spiritual curiosity.

Hi there, everyone! I can offer "Forbidden science" by Richard Milton, and "Tear of the gods" by Raymond Feist. Both quite good, in their own way.

Is this the latest topic: swapping reading recommendations?

Pattern-chaser

"Who cares, wins"

Looks like it.

Makes a change from debating reason, truth and religious brainwashing.

*wanders in and offers Lear (and anyone else who's interested) and hoping to stir up some party atmosphere despite this probably not being a party*

Hello all, sorry to hear about el colonello's departure. However, (In the words of Freddie Mercury), the show (and the FFFF) must go on.

Just to fit in with the rest of the posts, my latest literary adventure is House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski, reccomended by a friend and very bizzare. Haven't got past the first chapter yet though

*claps his hands*

Oh goody a good ol' fashioned reading swap

well, in case anybody cares, I'm reading the Egyptian book of the dead, and a book on wormholes and black holes, both pretty interesting.

Any enthusiasm for a thread containing book reviews, then? Each note bears the title of the book, and the review is as long as the reviewer thinks appropriate. [Don't get too rude, or the h2g2 brain police will panic, in fear of the dark god Libel. ]

We could have a stall for selling home-made jams and cakes...

Pattern-chaser

"Who cares, wins"

Don't we have a page for book reviews? I forget, it was so long ago. It's probably infested with roaches and dust and bookworms by now

*arrives late and graps the handiest chair*

Books? I guess most of us read a lot and I can't say I am surprised by the range of books being perused by so worthy a bunch. I'm just reading "The True Game", having finished "LOTR" for the nth time before the movie comes out!

One of my personal favourites though has to be "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance".

*picks up a newspaper and checks the main stories*

Shame about Sophie and Edward.

Any one think that Bin Laden will be taken alive?

Does anyone understand exactly how a light being switched on/off in a bare room can earn a guy £20,000 as a piece of 'art'?

It is a shame about Sophie and Edward. Losing a baby is a terrible thing. I hope that her other fallopian tube and ovary are still fine, and that they can have a healthy child.

I suspect bin Laden will simply disappear one day and never be seen again, although persistant rumours of sightings will continue long after everyone's convinced he's dead.

As for the light bulb - well, it depends what it's illuminating.

Suzuki, huh? How's he? I've been reading essays by Dogen lately, and I'm partway thru a second reading. Before bed, if I think about it, which I rarely do, I pick either the Bible or the Koran and read a few verses. In the Bible, I'll move on to Job when I finish Ecclesiastes (the good existential books), and the Koran I'm just going thru in order because I don't know the first thing about it.

Not many novels, as such. I just re-read Life the Universe and Everything. Today I'm hoping to buy a good Physics text to work thru along with the Differential Equations book. Whee!

Oh, and it's past noon; I'll grab one of those s, thanks!

I imagine bin Laden will become (already *has* become, to some degree) a sort of living folk myth of the Islamic world, everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Something like a cross between the Scarlet Pimpernel and the Unabomber, with maybe a little Sheherezade (?) in there to give added spice to the mix. I'm reminded of the character Keyzer Soze in the film The Usual Suspects. No one knows where he is, no one's even quite certain that he exists at all, but everyone fears him all the same out of a feeling that *someone* somewhere must be pulling all the strings. Such people play on our natural human tendency towards superstition, a desire for there to be more to life than meets the rational eye, and that's what makes them so powerful.

Maybe that infamous Turner Prize exhibit can be understood in a similar way. To some, it's just a flashing lightbulb in an empty room. To others, it's a mystical experience that brings them closer to the ineffable, erm, ineffability of existence. Or something. Must say, I have my doubts personally...

Hmmm... It's not quite noon here, but I think I need one of those already. Cheers Xuenyl!

*trots off, tottering slightly, to see if I can't try and find out more about this Dogen fellow*

Madent is reading "The True Game" - is that the one by Sheri Tepper, where the hero finds a sort of super chess set, which turns out to be the preserved essences of the super-heroes of the past? [Yes, it's a trivialised description, but the book itself *isn't* trivial.] Follow up with "The Chronicles of Mavin Many-shaped"!

"Zen and the art..." is one of my favourites too. I'm always annoyed that it's considered fiction, not philosophy. "Lila..." is just as good, IMO.

Pattern-chaser

"Who cares, wins"