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

I don't remember how old I was at the time, but I was first exposed to HHGTTG when I saw the debut of the TV series here on a public broadcasting station (PBS). I spent the next three years trying to get all six episodes on tape, but I never succeeded (I always missed at least one episode).

Since then, I've read most of what Mr Adams has written (all the HHG books, Dirk Gently, Liff, Last Chance to See). I read most of them upwards of four times each. I've never heard the radio series, but I was surprised at how close the TV series was to the books.

I saw Douglas Adams at E3 in Atlanta, Georgia in 1998, I think it was. He was there making an appearance to herald the release of Starship Titanic. I was standing not more than four five feet away from him, but I was too shy to just go up and talk to him. Doh!

I don't remember, exactly, sometime around 1980. I was in highschool and borrowed a hardcover copy of the book. I also can't remember whether I read the book or heard the radio series first.

The day it came out in paperback. I was, ooh, 15, I think. Can't remember. Those heady days of teenage discovery - the Thorpe trial, the Yorkshire Ripper, the first series on the radio....

I was 21. I picked up a copy of Mostly Harmless at the book store. It looked interesting and was relatively inexpensive. I was enchanted by it. Then the guy I was dating at the time said there was more and he leant me the rest. We broke up and I was foolish enough to give them back. I miss them. One day I found Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul. Believe it or not they were together in hardcover in the bargain bin!

I read the 5 books in the trilogy last year (I was 17)

I was in either 13 or 14 when I first read the series. I was visiting my father and was bored, and he asked a friend who taught middle school to recommend books for me to read. The first book(s) I read on the list were the H2G2 series--I loved the idea of a trilogy in four (or five) parts so I had to see what the deal was.

At the age of 12, a not-so-good Finnish translation of the Guide. It took a few years until I found a new translation and then began a long wait for the rest of the books to be translated (I read Mostly Harmless 4 years ago). In the meantime I did book reports in my Finnish, Swedish and English class of THHGTTG. (Teacher's didn't really like my book reports, I wonder why )

About 6 years ago I found the Finnish radio play and have it now on tape and from a book sale I got myself an all-5-in-one hardback Swedish copy of the Guide.

I first encountered HGTTG in Middle School in English class...
I had run out of books to read, and my English teacher recommended it to me. After months of harassing the school librarians, I read the sequels... and the rest is history...

I found it in the school library when i was 11
and read it for a book report. Turns out that the assignment
required i design a board game based on it. I had sort of a snakes and ladders theme and I got an A. Who'd of thought it had that much potential. I also remember showing a friend one of the books just because it had the word "f**k" in it, unheard of in a primary school library, and a catholic one to boot.

I read them all this year (I am 18)
It was recommended by a friend of mine who knew the type of stuff i liked, and boy was he right.

I also have the whole tv series on tape after a cable channel over here aired the whole three hours at once as part of there classic sci-fi timeslot.

*wanders through, nibbling stray cheese crumblies and avoiding all the feet*

I think I was 7 when the tv series was showing in Canada on the CBC. My parents bought the books (only the first 2 were out then) and would sit up late reading them and laughing a lot, so naturally I fished them off the bookshelf and read them, too. Whenever a new Douglas Adams book comes out now, it's a big family event and we all fight to be the first to read it (even though I since moved out, I still have my dad's dirk gently novels, hahahaha). I credit Adams and Garly Larson for shaping my mind from the age of about 7 onwards.

If it helps at all, I think I'm pretty close to figuring out the ultimate Question, which has been a lifelong, uhm, quest for me ever since the series fired my imagination in that direction. So, thanks Douglas.

I was seventeen and was visiting a friends house. I found the book mutilated, missing a couple of pages and a little on the mildewey side.

I think it was the hardest I ever laughed.8_)

1988. I was 18 and stationed in England (RAF Alconbury, CAMBS). I actually read Dirk Gently's first then went looking for Adams' other work.

Last year my dad told me about the BBC episodes-put-together video. A number of weeks later, we found it at a friend's house and borrowed it for a bit. This year (March 27) my brother got a copy of said video and book #1 for his birthday. I, of course, snatched it and read it all at the first opportunity.

I thought the radio series came before the books. I remember the radio series in ...oh...78?...79?

They did. I haven't got my copy of the unabrigded novels right here, but the dates are given somewhere in the foreword, so I can go find them if it matters to you?

That was a bargain, by the way, all five of them + Young Zaphod Plays it Safe in hardback for a hundred danish kroner, that's something like 2-3$ per book!

Young Zaphod Plays it Safe??