Best Selling Books by Douglas Adams

When all the questions of space, time, matter and the nature of being have been resolved, the question remains: where shall we have dinner? The Restaurant at the End of the Universe is the obvious answer, it provides the ultimate gastronomic experience, and there is no morning after to worry about.

At the centre of the galaxy, an unknown civilization is preparing for an event of epic proportions, the launch of the most technologically advanced spaceship ever built - the Starship Titanic. The ship that cannot possibly go wrong.

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

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...

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.

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.

Don’t Panic! Reissued for the first time in 40 years, two unique recordings of Douglas Adams''s sci-fi comedy drama. When Earthman Arthur Dent learns that first his house and then his planet are about to be bulldozed, it’s the beginning of an interplanetary adventure for him and his friend, Ford Prefect. After fleeing Earth they hitch a lift with hoopy frood Zaphod Beeblebrox, who hurtles from one improbability to another - literally. With Trillian and Marvin the Paranoid Android in tow, the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything is soon revealed: 42. But what was the question…? Following the success of the BBC radio series, Douglas Adams adapted his scripts for these two full-cast albums, with incidental radiophonic music provided by Paddy Kingsland. First released by Original Records in 1980, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and The Restaurant at the End of the Universe star Peter Jones as The Book, Simon Jones as Arthur Dent, Geoffrey McGivern as Ford Prefect and Mark Wing-Davey as Zaphod Beeblebrox. Produced by Geoffrey Perkins and Tim Souster, the cast also includes Cindy Oswin, Stephen Moore, Richard Vernon, Valentine Dyall, David Tate, Jim Broadbent, Bill Wallis, Roy Hudd, Frank Middlemass, Stephen Greif and others. Hang onto your towel – it’s going to be the ride of a lifetime.

Meanings of made up words.

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...

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.

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.

Seconds before the 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 15 years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor. Together this dynamic pair begin a journey through space aided by quotes from The Hitchhiker''s Guide ("A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have.") and a galaxy full of fellow travelers: Zaphod Beeblebrox, the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch president of the galaxy; Trillian, Zaphod''s girlfriend (formally Tricia McMillan), 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 who is obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he bought over the years. Where are these pens? Why are we born? Why do we die? Why do we spend so much time in between wearing digital watches? For all the answers stick your thumb to the stars. And don''t forget to bring a towel!

"Very funny and moving...The glimpses of rare fauna seem to have enlarged [Adams''] thinking, enlivened his world; and so might the animals do for us all, if we were to help them live." THE WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD Join bestselling author Douglas Adams and zooligist Mark Carwardine as they take off around the world in search of exotic, endangered creatures. Hilarious and poignant--as only Douglas Adams can be--LAST CHANCE TO SEE is an entertaining and arresting odyssey through the Earth''s magnificent wildlife galaxy. "From the Trade Paperback edition.

The Salmon of Doubt is Douglas Adams''s indispensable guide to life, the universe and everything. It includes short stories and eleven chapters of a Dirk Gently novel that Douglas Adams was working on at the time of his death, and features an introduction by Stephen Fry. This sublime collection dips into the wit and wisdom of the man behind The Hitchhiker''s Guide to the Galaxy, uncovering his unique comic musings on everything from his school-trousers to malt whisky and from the letter Y through to his own nose, via atheism, hangovers and fried eggs. These hilarious collected writings reveal the warmth, enthusiasm and ferocious intelligence behind this most English of comic writers; a man who was virtually an unofficial member of the Monty Python team. Douglas Adams on his passion for P. G. Wodehouse, The Beatles and the perfect cup of tea alone make this a must-have collection and a remarkable sign-off from one of the best loved writers of all time.

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 . . .

In the fifth volume of the Hitchhiker series, Random, the daughter of Arthur Dent, leaves her remote home planet on the edge of the universe to set out on a cross-galactic odyssey in search of her ancestors'' native planet.

After Earth is demolished to make way for a new hyperspace expressway, Arthur Dent begins to hitch-hike through space.

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 ?