The Restaurant at the End of the Universe Mass Market Paperback – September 27, 1995

This book continues to be rife with Douglas Adams' signature humor. The restaurant scenes are inventive, if a little disturbing. Marvin the Paranoid Android is back and has his moment in the sun. Ford and the others continue to romp across the universe having adventures. All in all, a fun continuation of the series.

The "Restaurant At The End Of The Universe" is the sequel to the epic "The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy" and the adventure and wackiness ensues once more as Arthur Dent(human), Ford Precept(from Betelguise), Trillion the "Heart Of Golds" co Captain and the ex President of the Galaxy Zaphod, and of course there's Marvin the depressed robot. Absurd situations lead to laugh out loud hilarity, mostly from Marvin who has a bigger role in this tale. And now the question is "What is number 42?". The answer is somewhere inside the head of Arthur, however nobody seems to have the answer yet, although maybe a certain robot does? The book can only be described as pure fun for anyone.The book starts right where the first left off. They just want a little bite to eat is all, is that too much to ask?, apparently so. The Heart Of Golds improbability drive does not work and a mysterious man from Zaphod's past is their only hope. Whereupon the crew of the ship gets separated from each other. Arthur and Ford find themselves on a another planet and must find a way to escape. They steal a very important ship that belong to the galaxies number one rock band "Disaster Area". When Arthur and Ford teleport and find themselves on a Golgafrinchen Ship which crash lands on prehistoric Earth with a bunch of mumbling idiots, even Arthur trying to teach them Scrabble doesn't help with the ultimate question. And what about Zaphod, he may find out something of himself he's not ready to accept.This is the second book of the Hicthhiker series and was published in 1980.

.... With more of the same.While not so good as a stand alone (you'll be lost in time & space without the background of Book 1), this second in the umpteen-part, increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhiker's Trilogy tries even harder than the first to laser your funny bone.Seems that the thing we call (ultimately to be used-to-call) Earth is really just a mighty big supercomputer, built to work out the ultimate question to the ultimate answer, 42. Like all expensive software however, just before it actually does whatever it's supposed to do, it crashes - in this case due to the hacker Vogons and their total annihilation programme. Unlike your regular hard drive, two bits escape to byte another day, and we continue their story.In one of the many funny lines from the book, Zaphod Beeblebrox remarks, "I am so hip I have difficulty seeing over my pelvis". This book is just as hip.Our heroes are aboard their Improbability Driven spaceship, when Arthur Dent happens to tie up all the computer circuits just when the Vogons are launching an attack. Zaphod decides its time to see dead people, and with a strange twist, he and miserable Marvin, the depressed computer, disappear, while Arthur takes a tea break.Zaphod materializes elsewhere and immediately starts looking for the man who rules the Universe, while Marvin continues to depress and be depressed. In my humble opinion, Marvin is the star of this book, but I digress.After having his sense of perspective sorely tested, Zaphod improbably conjures a happy reunion, although this leaves him sadly out of pocket. Deciding that they should find the nearest place to eat, their ship's computer zaps them to Milliways, the Restaurant at the End of the Universe.From this half-way point, the book takes off on a fresh tangent of humor, floor shows, loud rock bands, talking meat, and wicked vehicles - that is, until the universe ends.Then the humor starts all over again.A very worthy follow up to the famous first.Amanda Richards, March 7, 2005

I'm going to assume that since you're reading this review, you've already read the previous volume in the series, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. This book is a continuation from the first, so if you're new to the series, go back and read Hitchhiker before reading this one.This book follows the hapless, easily bewildered Arthur Dent and his wacky companions across the galaxy as they somehow manage to get themselves into an ever-increasing amount of trouble. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, like the first book, is full of twists and surprises. Douglas Adams never misses a chance to make playful, subtle jabs at art, music, politics, culture, entertainment, and... restaurants. The book is refreshingly lighthearted, brilliantly creative, wonderfully irreverent, and above all - tons of fun. The wit in this book frequently made me grin, and even made me laugh audibly a few times.If you enjoyed Hitchhiker, you'll love this book.