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

hello! saw your top ten books list - you're an asi fan, no? i haven't come across all that many asimov readers around here...

Absolutely! Couldn't write a love scene (by his own admission), but in every other way he was one of the most prolific, varied and learned writers of the last century.
I blame his death for the fact that "bling bling" (now being added to the Oxford English Dictionary) may soon appear in Websters.
Are you solely a later-day Asi fan, or do you read as far back as the 'Lucky Star' series?

lol i *have* all of the lucky starr books except for 'oceans of venus'! (have read it; just don't own it) i know that douglas adams doesn't think much of asimov, but the man's a genius in his own right. the tales of the black widowers and azazel are literary gems, don't you think?

(i agree with that 'couldn't write a love scene' statement - every time i come across anything of his that even remotely resembles a love scene, i have a tendency to groan. everything else is great, though)

have you read any of his non-fiction works? they're kind of hard to get these days...

Ah, Oceans of Venus. That's the one with the V-frogs, right? Little Greased-Ballbearing eaters, if memory serves, with elevator legs.

I understand that he wrote for textbooks and dictionaries; but, outside of his sci-fi stuff, I best remember things like "The Sensuous Dirty Old Man [by a Dr. A. Who else?], his Limerick Book, and some great science essays.

If I am missing anything really good, let me know.

ah the limericks book! you are, of course, referring to the one on lewd limericks? lol we actually have that book in the university library, would you believe it, but we've never actually dared *borrow* the book lest we get (embarrassingly) strange looks from the librarians, so all we've ever done is sit down at the shelf and read...

i've a couple of his non-fiction books: his guide to the old and new testament (despite the fact that he's an atheist!!!), his guide to science, and to moons and planets; a couple of his other science books, and of course his memoir 'i, asimov' (which is a must-read). i found most of them at junk bookstores - it's tragic how nobody seems to read asi anymore, and the books that are *still* available are astronomically priced. well, the non-fics, anyway.

oh, by the way, don't look now, but did you know we have a couple of r. daneels on the loose in h2g2?

I shall have to dig up the autobiography.
"R. Daneels"? Was that a character in the Foundation series? So many characters, so many stories.
If you haven't exhausted your search for Black Widowers Mysteries, there are some real additional gems there. His Earthbound detective (horrible with names, but I remember him solving a moon murder without leaving his home) was pretty clever, but these guys have Henry. He rarely even leaves the restaurant.
I'd worked out a spreadsheet of his problems, solutions, cast of characters, interesting word usage, character traits, etc. of the first couple of dozen. I had it in mind to see if I could create additional stories (if given permission to use the characters), but realized that I'd be better off creating my own series when the time comes.
Keep your towel dry.

r. daneel olivaw. from the elijah bailey books. aka eto demerzel, from the foundation series. he's got to be my favourite asimov character... well, if you don't count andrew martin, the robot martyr. it's just great how all his stories link up, you know... from giskard to daneel to psychohistory... and back to daneel again.

yeah, i've read two of the black widow books. smashing! like you, i used to try to solve the story before henry got around to it. succeeded for some; failed miserably for others.

have you read azazel? oh gosh, i love the way that little demon manages to mess *everything* up... of course, i wouldn't want *him* trying to solve any of *my* problems, mind!

I never got around to Azazel, but I intend to based on your recommendation. I don't know that I ever wanted to read "everything written" by any author; but DNA and IA came about as close as I can imagine to giving me that kind of urge.

I believe that I have read all of DNA's published books (though I'm sure their are many articles, scripts, etc. that I've missed). He was easier due both to his lower output and untimely demise.

If your into books on physics (ala Asimov), try to find "Fearful Symmetry" and "An Old Man's Toy" by Dr. A. Zee. Your scientific background may make the laymen's level less than challenging, but they are treasures in my library.

Don't drink any Pan-Galactic Gargleblasters I wouldn't drink.

pan galactic gargleblasters - moi? no no, not me... although i *do* know a place in perth that serves them (it's on their drinks board, honest).

yeah, i'm into physics/engineering-sf. in fact, when you mentioned that i did an inventory check, and it would seem that two of my favourite sf authors are engineers, one is a biochemist, and the last was named after a certain very important molecule one year before the molecule was 'discovered' . i *think* i've heard of 'fearful symmetry' before, but have never actually come across it (never had reason to lurk around the 'z' section); will keep an eye out for it. have you read gene wolfe? he's another of them engineers. recently read his 'fifth head of cerberus' - i am unaccustomed to his style of storytelling, but find it refreshing at the same time.

(and yes, i've read every book dna's written as well - well, that is if you count 'meaning of liff' and 'deeper meaning of liff' as one, 'cause i only have the latter)

Phreoww, I may need the name of that place in perth that serves the nectar of the travelers.

Gene Wolfe? Sounds like another good lead. On my to-get list is the "Dancing Wu Li Masters by Gary Zukav (1978). I presume you devoured "Brief History of Time"?

I've got both Liffs. I didn't realize when I got the second, that it was an expanded version of the first. You haven't missed a word, that I can tell. Sounds like you've read "The More Than Complete Hitchhiker's Guide" and the leather-bound compendium, both of which came out before "Mostly Harmless".

What is your take on this site's philosophy of being an earthcentric travel guide and fact book. The more I read over the site, the more I'm becoming concerned. Would the absence of the humor, the admonitions against quoting DNA, and the absence of our dear lost friends leave it any better than a Google search or travel guide in your opinion?

[Damn this electronic thumb. Either it's broken or this planet is more out-of-the-way than I thought.]

it's the *green* button!

got 'brief history' when i was 14. it was like a bible to me then alas, do not possess the leather-bound volume - i have not reached that stage in my life where i earn enough to be able to afford that comes bound in something that was once part of an animal.

yes, i admit that i was somewhat... er, to put it nicely, *disappointed* when i found out what the earth edition was about. on the one hand, yeah, it's all about people all over the world writing about anything and everything and its accessibility and all, but i'd always imagined it to be like a dna/dave barry/ambrose bierce kind of guide to things - you know, every third sentence is downright wrong or outrageously embellished, and every bit of it's supposed to make you crack up. (and yes, i was *quite* nonplussed when i was told to remove 'jynnan tonnyx' from my article - i thought the best way to honour the guy was to weave him into your stuff) still, it *is* the guide, i suppose... and i try my best to slip the occasional bit of humour past the eds when i write my articles

(and i suppose, like many people, i'm slightly disappointed that there's no graphics upload facility here. there are a great deal of articles around that could do with diagrams that can only be produced by somebody who knows the subject inside-out - usually the writer him/herself - but because only the headline articles get 'em, readers will continue to stay slightly confused...)

did you know there's a website around someplace called deep thought, that documents every single 'sighting' of the answer to life, the universe and everything (that is to say, 42)? i got the link from floor42, but have misplaced it

You may be looking for this:
http://www.empirenet.com/~dljones/
or, this:
http://www.sadgeezer.com/hhg/deep-t.htm

But not likely this:
http://www-personal.umd.umich.edu/~nhughes/htmldocs/deepthoughts.html
or, this:
http://www.deepthought.ch/
or, this:
http://deepthought1.org/

When I start posting, I'll try the "sneaky putting humour in" approach.

yep! that's the one - the empirenet thing. haven't been to floor42 in yonks... and especially not since i found h2g2!

Happy to have helped; or, (Dare I plaguerize) Glad to be of service.