The Sword and Laser discussion

So the Guide was originally broadcast as a radio comedy in 1978, and the book was published in 1979. It's been around for over 42 years! How does it stand up?

Tbh, there are some parts that haven't aged that well, and when re-reading it for S&L I was reminded of Douglas Adams' other great contribution to the English language: the concept of 'Zeerust': The particular kind of datedness which afflicts things that were originally designed to look futuristic.
(definition from 'The Meaning of Liff': the book Adams co-wrote with comedy producer John Lloyd)

What things struck me as a bit dated? Adams has an irrational hatred of digital watches which today seems a bit quaint, although you could probably substitute Apple watches for the same effect.

The thing which struck me most forcibly in the early part of the book was when Ford Prefect goes into a pub, orders six pints of beer, pays with a five-pound note and tells the bartender to keep the change. The bartender's reaction ('keep the change from a fiver?') indicates that there would be quite a lot of change.

These days, you'd be lucky to get *one* pint of beer with a fiver, never mind six!

More seriously, something I noticed this time round which I hadn't really noticed before was the almost complete absence of female characters. There's Trillian, of course, but apart from her, I think basically every named character is identified as male, and even artificial life forms like Marvin get referred to as 'he'. This feels... kinda dated, like it just hadn't occurred to Adams that he could have more than one woman in his book, and I suspect a rebooted version would probably gender-bend a few of the characters.

Some other aspects of the book don't feel dated at all, however. The stuff about bureaucracy still feels spot-on, and there's a reference to Arthur Dent disapproving of conspicuous consumption because he's a Guardian reader that could have been written yesterday. And right at the end we see the space cops who lament about how they don't gratuitiously kill things and then boast about it, they gratuitously kill things and then *agonise* about it! That feels very up-to-date.

So I think there are a few spots of zeerust to scrape off, but underneath it's mostly still sound. What do you all think? To use a different metaphor, is this book still fresh, or is it past its expiry date?

I noticed the things you mentioned but they didn't bother me any more than reading anything else set in a time or setting divorced from the present. I was aware there wouldn't be a lot of female characters but I fill much of my reading time with books that have many different perspectives so diving into a 70s British comedy romp didn't feel like a challenge. If anything, it reminded me of late nights in Houston as a child watching Monty Python and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman with my parents.

But then as someone a few months shy of 60, I would hardly be described as 'fresh' myself, though I hope I'm not past my expiry date. It's a book I've read multiple times but I still enjoyed reading it this time around. It still makes me smile in spots. And yes, the stuff with bureaucracy and cops remains as on point as ever.

I love HHGTTG, but it has never been a laugh out loud book for me.

Like Scott says above, it makes me smile. Adams humour is pointing out the absurdity of situations and subverting expectations.

I didn't find any cringe worthy paragraphs that took away from the overall fun. The part that stuck with me for 42 years (view spoiler)[was the 2 days after Earth was destroyed for an Expressway a new discovery made Expressways obsolete. (hide spoiler)] taught me the most important aspect of life is timing.

Hmm... I feel the constructed-ness of Earth to me definitely lands differently nowadays with Anti-Evolution sentiments way more pronounced than when I first read the book. I feel as a pro science kind a guy he would probably have handled it slightly differently, made some more jokes about "those people" being kind of right for entirely the wrong reasons or something.

^ Not that I want to argue an opinon, but my recollection is the young earth creationists were prominent in the Reagan era, which is when this was written.

Interesting, as a German reading this in the early 90s creationism didn't really exist here at the time. Only the Internet made me aware people actually doubted evolution.

John (Taloni) wrote: "^ Not that I want to argue an opinon, but my recollection is the young earth creationists were prominent in the Reagan era, which is when this was written."

Carter!!

This is an interesting conversation just after Tor posted the ten most iconic books of the 21st centaury (most were released in the last 10 years). How will the books we are reading now be dated...

John (Taloni) wrote: "^ Not that I want to argue an opinon, but my recollection is the young earth creationists were prominent in the Reagan era, which is when this was written."

Not in the UK, so far as I recall.

Ruth wrote: "So I think there are a few spots of zeerust to scrape off, but underneath it's mostly still sound. What do you all think? To use a different metaphor, is this book still fresh, or is it past its expiry date?"

I think regardless of whether the references age or not there is a lot of universal humour at the core of H2G2. Given how uniquely British it can be there must be some universality to have become so successful on both sides of the Atlantic and even in non-english speaking countries.
Dare I say it: even under a bit of Zeerust it still has an untarnished Heart of Gold? >.<
(I apologise.)


Edit: Actually I'm really interested to hear the opinions on how well the humour has travelled not just through time but also through cultures.
When I first read this I was white male British and if not dead centre of the target demographic, pretty close to it.
I know the success of the Guide outside the UK surprised Adams and the publishers (the success inside the UK surprised them too!) but there is definitely a distinction between what even anglophone nations find funny, nevermind any translated editions.
What about the humour in H2G2 do you think is so universal?
Also for multilingual members were there any localisation changes that you noticed?

the opening scene in HHGTG reminded me of Tom Sawyer getting others to paint the picket fence. in other words, a good comic bit ls ageless. in the 1970s Hitchhikers Guide to Europe was a hit among the counterculture who desired to see Europe on a shoestring Budget. According to the Wiki " In the 1972 edition, the entire contents of the subsection on Albania were the words "Forget it."
At its heart HHGTG is a Fish Out of Water trope. which is a Solid Gold Comedic trope that has works in every literary genre for thousands of years.