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

I wouldn't mind a few space poems. After all the worst ever were written here on

The worst-ever *may* have been written on h2g2......

The worse they are, the better they are in a way. We have so many superlatives here.

You may both be on to something

...Major Tom to ground control...

It might be nice to have an anthology of songs of the spaceways as well.

For example, http://youtu.be/wAy_Qa7n7Qs

The theme and special effects may be ages old, but the concluding music is timeless.

The meteorite shown in the concluding scenes is an actual meteorite, probably a fragment of astetoid Juno.

Do we know what the book weighs and how big it is? I'd like to get one for my eldest son for Christmas, but son No. 2 will be taking the Christmas presents over and I've already given him quite a few things (he's taking a case specially with presents for practically the whole family who seem to be gathering in Silicon Valley this year) so I don't want him to have to pay excess baggage.

Paperback: 224 pages
Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 0.5 x 11 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pound

The Bat's on the Shuttle


http://youtu.be/CbEXaSBRRfI

There has been composed a lot of music about space. A whole lot.

I have a feeling there is a guide entry somewhere in that. But I don't know nearly enough about it.

Here is a sample, though. Gustav Holsts "The Planets":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Isic2Z2e2xs

For classical treatments there's also Richard Wagner's "Tannhauser", http://youtu.be/RB9e4veXTwQ

I was thinking though in terms of popular music, suitanle for promotional purposes.

Here's the them song for "Dark Star," a 1974 satire about space travel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbbYn7d_W8s

I've seen _Dark Star_. Dan O'Bannon reworked part of the plot for the original _Alien_ (the only one that counts).

And Doug Naylor has cited the film as inspiration for what became _Red Dwarf_.

Well, apart from the obvious "Space Oddity" the first one that springs to mind is "I'm the Urban Spaceman" by the Bonzo Dog Doodah Band, but there are many, much better, examples.

The dark side of the moon, A2848386, of course.

And from the classical library, although they weren't written for outer space, they certainly are now inseparably linked:

The Blue Danube Waltz
Also Sprach Zarathustra

"Do we know what the book weighs and how big it is? I'd like to get one for my eldest son for Christmas"

Alternately, TC, maybe you could order it and have it delivered to his address directly ?
I've done it before for friends. On the other hand, they were in the same country as me.
Not sure if it's possible with payment address and shipping address being in different countries... Might be worth look at, though.

"I'm the Urban Spaceman" was nothing to do with space, but about 'urban space' (town planning concept):

http://www.insee.fr/en/metadonnees/definition/c1074

And similarly, the theme of Dark Side of the Moon is lunacy rather than lunar. Syd Barrett's mental health was deteriorating.

My mental health is deteriorating due to this thread.

Could y'all please take the musical discussion elsewhere - say, Ask? - so we can answer questions about The Book?

We'd like to sell a few copies.

Oh dear. Back to the drawing board.

They were embarrassed to find, after recording The Dark Side OF The Moon that the moon doesn't have a permanently dark side, only a permanently far side (from us).

Sorry, Dmitri

Maybe if I post about how exciting it is to have another h2g2 book, people will join in.

Or something.