The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
          An Isis Audio Book read by Douglas Adams

                      Reviewed by Sue

Many of you are probably already familiar with the Hitch Hiker's
Guide to the Galaxy books - or played the Infocom text adventure -
and so know the basic story.  Basically this initially involves the
destruction of Earth by a race called the Vogons in order to build
a hyperspace by-pass.  Arthur Dent escapes from Earth, just before
it is destroyed, in the company of a friend of his called Ford
Prefect who Arthur thought was from Guildford but who turns out to
be from the planet Betelgeuse.

Ford had been working for a guide called The Hitch Hiker's Guide to
the Galaxy (whose cover reads 'Don't Panic') and was amending the
information for Earth (from 'harmless' to 'mostly harmless') when
the Vogons attacked. He uses his hitch hiking skills to get the two
of them picked up by a passing ship ... this happens to be the main
ship in the Vogon fleet, but that's another story.  Eventually they
meet up with other, more friendly, space travellers and Arthur's
adventures *really* begin.

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe is the second in the
five-book-trilogy and begins on the Heart of Gold where Arthur, as
the last living Earthman, is being very British and trying to get a
nutrimatic machine to make him a decent cup of tea. The machine is
trying very hard, but only producing brown liquids that really
*aren't* tea. In the end, Arthur tells it how tea was grown,
harvested and brewed on Earth, to give it some real insight into
tea-making, and the ship's computer also joins in the task of
making this elusive beverage.

Just as the computer gets completely tied up in its calculations,
the Vogons attack. Panic ensues as Zaphod Beeblebrox (ex-president
of the galaxy), Ford Prefect, Trillian (aka Tricia MacMillan, the
last living EarthWOMAN) and Arthur try to escape, aided by Marvin
the paranoid android. In desperation, Zaphod summons the ghost of
his grandfather and through a complicated bit of time travel, they
end up at Milliways - the aforementioned restaurant - just in time
to sample the dish of the day and watch the big show, the end of
the universe.  But their journey is far from over - more adventures
follow as they travel through space and time, narrowly avoiding
death several times. Zaphod finds his true place in the universe,
or at least one universe, Marvin gets more pains in his diodes and
Arthur tries desperate measures to find out the ultimate question
to which the answer is 'forty-two'.

I'm always a bit wary of audio books which are read by the author,
but Douglas Adams does a good job with this one of his. He doesn't
attempt many accents, but thanks to special effects, his voice is
changed electronically to produce voices for Marvin, a lift and a
psychopathic tank, among others.

The book is five-and-a-half hours long (4 tapes) but the time went
very quickly as I listened to it. I have no idea how much it would
cost to buy - it would be expensive, I would imagine - I hired my
copy from Sidcup library.  Share and enjoy.

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