Best Selling Books by Douglas Adams

The final book in the original mega-cult-blockbuster-bestselling HITCH HIKER''S GUIDE trilogy in a must-have cute hardback format

While frequent flyer Arthur Dent searches the universe for his lost love, Ford Prefect discovers a disturbing blast from the past at The Hitchhiker''s Guide HQ. Meanwhile, on one of many versions of Earth, a blonder, more American Trillian gets tangled up with a party of lost aliens having an identity crisis. And, just when Arthur thinks he has found his true vocation on the backwater planet of Lamuella, the original Trillian turns up with more than a little spanner in the works. A stolen ship, a dramatic stampede and a new and sinister Guide lead to a race to save the Earth again. But this time, will they succeed? Simon Jones returns as Arthur, Geoffrey McGivern as Ford, Mark Wing-Davey as Zaphod Beeblebrox, Susan Sheridan as Trillian, Sandra Dickinson as Tricia McMillian, and Stephen Moore as Marvin. William Franklyn is the Book, alongside a host of famous guest stars. This extended edition features 30 minutes of material not heard on BBC Radio 4. 2 CDs. 2 hrs 30 mins.

From the minds of Douglas Adams (The Hitchhiker''s Guide to the Galaxy) and Terry Jones (Monty Python) comes Starship Titanic, the hilarious novelization of the third-best adventure game of 1999. Welcome on board the Starship Titanic. The Ship that Cannot Possibly Go Wrong. At the centre of the galaxy, a vast, unknown civilization is preparing for an event of epic proportions: the launch of the greatest, most gorgeous, most technologically advanced spaceship ever built - the Starship Titanic. An Earthling would see the ship as something really, really big, but rather less provincial onlookers would recognize it as the design of Leovinus, the galaxy''s most renowned architect. Before the launch Leovinus is having one last little look round and begins to find that things just aren''t right: poor workmanship, cybersystems out of control, robots walking into doors. How could this have happened? The following morning, while the galaxy''s media looks on, the fabulous ship eases away from the construction dock, picks up speed, sways a little, wobbles a bit, veers wildly and, just before it can do untold damage to everything around it, appears to undergo SMEF (Spontaneous Massive Existence Failure). In just ten seconds, the whole stupendous enterprise is over. And our story has just begun . . .

Detective Gently whizzes about the world, the universe, and time itself as a group of eccentric characters help him find an eccentric cat, solve a murder, and save the human race.

For use in schools and libraries only. Two survivors of the Earth''s destruction search for the meaning of the universe in this clever science fiction parody.

Meanings of made up words.

The classic Doctor Who adventure by Douglas Adams The hugely powerful Key to Time has been split into six segments, all of which have been disguised and hidden throughout time and space. Now the even more powerful White Guardian wants the Doctor to find the pieces. With the first segment successfully retrieved, the Doctor, Romana and K-9 trace the second segment of the Key to the planet Calufrax. But when they arrive at exactly the right point in space, they find themselves on exactly the wrong planet – Zanak. Ruled by the mysterious ‘Captain’, Zanak is a happy and prosperous planet. Mostly. If the mines run out of valuable minerals and gems then the Captain merely announces a New Golden Age and they fill up again. It’s an economic miracle – so obviously something’s very wrong...

Rediscover the lost Doctor Who adventure by Douglas Adams. Intergalactic war? That’s just not cricket ... or is it? The Doctor promised Romana the end of the universe, so she’s less than impressed when what she gets is a cricket match. But then the award ceremony is interrupted by eleven figures in white uniforms and peaked skull helmets, wielding bat-shaped weapons that fire lethal bolts of light into the screaming crowd. The Krikkitmen are back. Millions of years ago, the people of Krikkit learned they were not alone in the universe, and promptly launched a xenophobic crusade to wipe out all other life-forms. After a long and bloody conflict, the Time Lords imprisoned Krikkit within an envelope of Slow Time, a prison that could only be opened with the Wicket Gate key, a device that resembles – to human eyes, at least – an oversized set of cricket stumps... From Earth to Gallifrey, from Bethselamin to Devalin, from Krikkit to Mareeve II to the far edge of infinity, the Doctor and Romana are tugged into a pan-galactic conga with fate as they rush to stop the Krikkitmen gaining all five pieces of the key. If they fail, the entire cosmos faces a fiery retribution that will leave nothing but ashes...

The Doctor takes Romana for a holiday in Paris – a city which, like a fine wine, has a bouquet all its own. Especially if you visit during one of the vintage years. But the TARDIS takes them to 1979, a table-wine year, a year whose vintage is soured by cracks – not in their wine glasses but in the very fabric of time itself. Soon the Time Lords are embroiled in an audacious alien scheme which encompasses home-made time machines, the theft of the Mona Lisa, the resurrection of the much-feared Jagaroth race, and the beginning (and quite possibly the end) of all life on Earth. Aided by British private detective Duggan, whose speciality is thumping people, the Doctor and Romana must thwart the machinations of the suave, mysterious Count Scarlioni – all twelve of him – if the human race has any chance of survival. But then, the Doctor’s holidays tend to turn out a bit like this. Featuring the Fourth Doctor as played by Tom Baker, City of Death is a novel by James Goss based on the 1979 Doctor Who story written by Douglas Adams under the pen-name David Agnew. City of Death is one of the best-loved serials in the show’s 50-year history and was watched by over 16 million viewers when first broadcast.

Oltre 700 episodi, 33 anni di programmazione: "Doctor Who" è la serie televisiva dei record, la più longeva saga fantascientifica di sempre. In queste pagine, lo scrittore di culto Douglas Adams ci regala un''avventura inedita, mai portata sullo schermo né tradotta in italiano. Il Signore del Tempo professor Chronotis, vecchio amico del Dottore, si è ritirato all''università di Cambridge, dove nessuno si accorgerà mai che egli vive da secoli. Ma adesso ha bisogno dell''aiuto del Dottore, della sua giovane assistente Romana e di K-9, il suo fedele computer a forma di cane. Lasciando Gallifrey, il pianeta d''origine della potente specie dei Signori del Tempo, infatti, ha portato con sé alcuni souvenir, per lo più innocui. Ma ce n''è uno molto, molto pericoloso, L''antico e venerabile codice di Gallifrey, uno dei Potenti Artefatti, risalenti ai giorni oscuri di Rassilon: un libro che assolutamente non deve cadere nelle mani sbagliate. E quelle del sinistro Skagra sono le più sbagliate che si possano immaginare. Perché lui vuole quel libro, a tutti i costi. Vuole che il professore gli sveli la verità nascosta dietro Shada, il misterioso pianeta-prigione dove vengono rinchiusi i criminali che tentano di conquistare l''universo. E si dà il caso che la conquista dell''universo è proprio il progetto di vita cui Skagra ha deciso di dedicarsi...

Endlich daheim! Eigentlich sollte sich Arthur Dent freuen, denn er ist wieder auf der Erde - aber zwei Millionen Jahre vor unserer Zeit... Also nutzt er die erstbeste Chance, wieder ins All und in die Jetztzeit zurückzukehren - und das Chaos geht weiter! [buch.ch].

The first complete introduction to health monitoring, encapsulating both technical information and practical case studies spanning the breadth of the subject. Written by a highly-respected figure in structural health monitoring, this book provides readers with the technical skills and practical understanding required to solve new problems encountered in the emerging field of health monitoring. The book presents a suite of methods and applications in loads identification (usage monitoring), in-situ damage identification (diagnostics), and damage and performance prediction (prognostics). Concepts in modelling, measurements, and data analysis are applied through real-world case studies to identify loading, assess damage, and predict the performance of structural components, as well as examine engine components, automotive accessories, aircraft parts, spacecraft components, civil structures and defence system components. In particular the book: provides the reader with a fundamental and practical understanding of the material; discusses models demonstrating the physical basis for health monitoring techniques; gives a detailed review of the best practices in dynamic measurements including sensing; presents numerous data analysis techniques using model- and signal-based methods; discusses case studies involving real-world applications of health monitoring; offers end-of-chapter problems to enhance the study of the topic for students and instructors; and includes an accompanying website with MATLAB programs providing hands-on training to readers for writing health monitoring model simulation and data analysis algorithms. Health Monitoring of Structural Materials and Components is an excellent introductory text for newcomers to the subject as well as an excellent study tool for students and lecturers. Practitioners and researchers, those with a greater understanding and application of the technical skills involved, will also find this essential reading as a reference text to address current and future challenges in this field. The wide variety of case studies will appeal to a broad spectrum of engineers in the aerospace, civil, mechanical, machinery and defence communities.

Im Weltraum nichts Neues: Chaos, Kometen und keine Delphine! Arthur Dent aber, der Held der Kultserie "Per Anhalter durch die Galaxis", kann nicht mehr viel schockieren - außer vielleicht, daß er plötzlich fliegen kann.

Prva knjiga kultne serije Štoparski vodnik po Galaksiji v odličnem prevodu Alojza Kodreta. Nekega četrtka v času kosila je Zemlja uničena zaradi gradnje hiperprostorske obvoznice. Arthurju Dentu, ki se je moral že navsezgodaj soočiti z rušenjem svoje hiše, ni nobeno od teh dejstev prav nič po godu. Nekaj sekund pred uničenjem Zemlje ga reši njegov prijatelj Ford Prefect, Nezemljan pod krinko, ki se predstavlja kot brezposeln igralec. Dinamični par tako začne svojo galaktično odisejado, na kateri prav kmalu sreča Zaphoda Beeblebroxa, Trillian ter depresivnega robota Marvina.

Dirk Gently, detective holístico, tiene un método de trabajo basado en la interconexión entre todas las cosas. En esta novela, la inexplicable explosión que devasta una terminal del aeropuerto de Heathrow tiene relación con el misterioso cliente que acude a Dirk para que le proteja de una siniestra criatura de dos metros diez, de grandes ojos verdes, peluda y con cuernos. Pero Dirk llega con retraso a la casa de su cliente, que en el ínterin ha sido decapitado. La explicación es muy sencilla: Thor, el Dios del Trueno, está en Londres para dirimir una terrible disputa con su padre Odín, dios supremo del Valhalla, que ha decidido vender su alma inmortal a un abogado y una agente de publicidad. Y en tanto el titánico duelo entre los dioses no se decide, todo Londres se estremece al compás de sus celestiales iras. En el curso de las investigaciones, Dirk tropieza con obstáculos, pero ello no le impide trasladarse finalmente al gran salón del Valhalla. Allí se celebra un sorprendente banquete, y tal vez Dirk consiga poner las cosas en claro y resolver los enigmas de este mundo y del otro. Tras la aclamada serie de los Autoestopistas Galácticos, Douglas Adams creó un personaje que superaba, si cabe, su humor surrealista e ironía explosiva. Dirk Gently (excéntrico, inclasificable por excelencia de las absurdidades y paradojas del frenético y desbocado fin del siglo XX).

Wenn man heute schon sechs unmögliche Dinge getan hat, warum den Tag dann nicht abrunden mit einem Essen im Restaurant am Ende des Universums? Genau das haben Arthur Dent und seine Freunde nämlich vor. Sie müssen vorher nur noch schnell den Vogonen entkommen, am übelsten Ort des Weltalls vorbei und ihrem Raumschiff beibringen, wie man eine Tasse Tee zubereitet.

Hugo Veld zit dankzij zijn tijdreizen nog altijd vast op de Aarde in de tijd vóór die vernietigd werd. De voormalige planeetontwerper Magdiragdag helpt hem vluchten en vraagt hem om hulp in de strijd tegen de Hokkiërs. De Hokkiërs waren ooit een vredelievend volk, tot ze een ruimteschip leerden bouwen.Toen ze de rest van het universum zagen, schrokken ze zó dat ze besloten dat het vernietigd moest worden. Veld moet dat zien te voorkomen en beleeft onderweg een bizar avontuur. Onderwijl vernietigt hij bijna eigenhandig het leven, het heelal en de rest... Douglas Adams (1952-2001) bedacht deze klassieke sf-reeks in 1978, als een BBC-radiohoorspel. Al snel volgden andere media, waaronder een televisiebewerking, een computerspel, drie toneelbewerkingen, negen graphic novels, een speelfi lm en heel veel merchandise. De boeken bleven echter het succesvolst. In 2008 kreeg auteur Eoin Colfer toestemming van Adams’ weduwe om de reeks af te maken met een zesde deel: En dan nog iets...

After Douglas Adams'' untimely death in 2001, this book "was rescued from his four computers, culled from an archive of chapters from his long-awaited novel-in-progress, as well as his short stories, speeches, articles, interviews, and letters."--Publisher''s description.

The Hitchhiker''s Guide to the Galaxy. It''s an ordinary Thursday lunchtime for Arthur Dent until his house gets demolished. The Earth follows shortly afterwards to make way for a new hyperspace express route, and his best friend has just announced that he''s an alien. At this moment, they''re hurtling through space with nothing but their towels and an innocuous-looking book inscribed, in large friendly letters, with the words: DON''T PANIC. The weekend has only just begun . . .

The Doctor''s old friend and fellow Time Lord Professor Chronotis has retired to Cambridge University - where nobody will notice if he lives for centuries. But now he needs help from the Doctor, Romana and K-9.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Extremely funny . . . inspired lunacy . . . [and] over much too soon.”—The Washington Post Book World SOON TO BE A HULU SERIES • Now celebrating the pivotal 42nd anniversary of the original radio show on which the book was based. Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read Seconds before Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor. Together, this dynamic pair began a journey through space aided by a galaxyful of fellow travelers: Zaphod Beeblebrox—the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch president of the galaxy; Trillian (formerly Tricia McMillan), Zaphod’s girlfriend, whom Arthur tried to pick up at a cocktail party once upon a time zone; Marvin, a paranoid, brilliant, and chronically depressed robot; and Veet Voojagig, a former graduate student obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he’s bought over the years. Where are these pens? Why are we born? Why do we die? For all the answers, stick your thumb to the stars! Praise for The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy “A whimsical oddyssey . . . Characters frolic through the galaxy with infectious joy.”—Publishers Weekly “Irresistable!”—The Boston Globe

Plus bas que Terre ! Ayant - plus ou moins - survécu à son édifiante promenade cosmico-temporelle, le pauvre Arthur Accroc savoure l''indicible plaisir de fouler à nouveau le sol de sa planète natale. Une planète jadis détruite par les terribles Vogons, sous le prétexte fallacieux de laisser passer une autoroute intergalactique... Pas de panique ! Car l''universellement exhaustif Guide galactique saura sans doute répondre à cet étrange paradoxe. Et peut-être élucidera-t-il un mystère plus angoissant encore : pourquoi les dauphins ont-ils disparu, laissant pour ultime message un laconique Salin et encore merci pour le poisson ?