Product Description
Hitchhikers do not travel a fixed path. They intentionally wander so they can learn and grow along the way. Embarking on the lean journey is similar, there are many roads on which to wander and no single one is right for all. "The Hitchhiker's Guide to Lean: Lessons from the Road" reveals the most critical lessons learned over the authors' combined 30-plus years of exploring the lean highways. One of the book's lessons from the road is you need to pay attention to where you are and where you are going, just as you do when driving a car. Lean leaders add value by changing things, moving them forward, and producing different results than the day before. To lead, you must go beyond creating a vision. You must develop the vehicle that will deliver it. "The Hitchhiker's Guide to Lean" is the vehicle that will help you move beyond the tools and take lean to a self-sustaining and continuously improving level. The book's 10 chapters cover lean principles and thinking, lean leadership moves, the roadmap for lean transformation, common pitfalls of lean journeys, building an operating system, lean accounting, lean material management, lean in service organizations, and how individuals can apply lean to improve themselves. The book concludes with interviews of lean practitioners on the front lines of change at Chrysler, Ross Controls, DTE Energy, RSR Corporation, and Nemak.
Customer Reviews:
Hitchhiker's Guide to Lean - great read.......2007-07-03
In today's atmosphere to do more, with less, faster, with better quality, this book was a true insight into making an organization leaner.
One of the top five Lean books of all-time.......2007-06-08
This is an excellent book, and essential reading for Lean leadership. It is also a good starting point for any Lean practitioner or anyone taking on a major change effort. Before diving deep into the problem solving tools and systems of TPS, a study of The Hitchhiker's Guide to Lean and the lessons contained within it will give you many tips for your journey. This book is clearly written, and well thought out. Each chapter offers 5 solid things to meditate on and put into practice. The passion and conviction of the authors comes through strongly. What U.S. industry needs are more thinkers and teachers like these.
Must Read.......2007-04-25
This book is a must read for any lean practioner. Jamie and Andy discuss how lean can guide all aspects of a business and the principles behind lean. The book covers every thing from kaizen to strategy deployment to accounting. Jamie and Andy break down lean in easy to understand verbiage while explaing the principles as well as discuss pitfalls and successes they have seen in implementing lean.
I can't recommend this book enough. Whether you are just strarting your lean journey or are well established in lean this book is worth the time.
This is the Lean 101 Bible!.......2007-03-15
I am a lean practitioner and have been for many years. I have been responsible for launching lean implementations in companies and am familiar with many challenges such as leadership, cultural change, company commitment, etc. This book provides all the foundational things one must know prior to going into a lean initative. People tend to think it's all about numbers and metrics. But it's also about the psychology of an organization. This book addresses all aspects! I recommend this book and John Shook's "Learning To See" as Lean 101 guides!
Useful Guidepost to Lean .......2006-10-27
Jamie and Andy have written an easy to read, and clear description of the challenges and excitement of the lean journey. It is much more meaningful coming from real practioners.
I often suggest this book for my clients who want to understand what lean is about.
Personally I often refer back to the 4 Lean Rules from Hitchhiker's Guide in supporting changes during lean kaizen events.
Customer Reviews:
For those who love hardbacks.......2007-08-31
Most of us who have read and enjoyed the Hitchhikers books (I won't say trilogy) have reached a point in life where getting by on 30 Altarian dollars a day and reading paperbacks has lost some of its charm. I'm in the process of cleaning up my bookshelves by replacing all the battered paperbacks of my youth with real books. I saw this omnibus edition and thought it was the perfect thing. One book with a pleasant appearance to displace a large number of ratty paperbacks. I almost didn't buy it because the price seemed to low. I thought it would sit pleasantly on my bookshelf until I was in the right mood, but I found myself diving right in and enjoying things I remembered and remembering things I forgot. The quality is much higher than I expected. The binding is very solid and the pages supple. I consider this one of my best book purchases of the year.
Great Quality Book.......2007-08-08
For the price, this book is incredible. It's a nice leatherbound copy, and shipping and everything was extremely quick. Couldn't be happier.
Incoherent is the best!.......2007-07-31
This book was introduced to me by one of the craziest persons I will ever meet in my life: My good canadian friend Amber. Once I read the first page, I was hooked. It's so incoherent, it makes you see your life in another perspective, plus the new vocabulary it uses makes you want to review your dictionary! If you have an open mind, read this whole book. Only one isn't enough (this book has 4 stories and one novel). Amazing, just amazing
Excellent!.......2007-07-25
I've always been meaning to read the Hitchhiker series, and now I have it all in one book, and get to look suave and sophisticated reading it with the impressive binding and annoying little ribbon bookmark!
Plus, it came in good condition and time, so I needed waste no time both diving into the amusing stories and flaunting about it's shiney cover n' pages.
From Far Left, and a slight bit to the right . . ........2007-07-24
Written with unique intellectual talent, unexpressed humility, and an uncanny method of tripping-up readers with a seemigly impossible use of English Language. Read on . . . read on . . . 4#! (ticker-tape readout available upon request.)
Book Description
At last in paperback in one complete volume, here are the five classic novels from Douglas Adams’s beloved Hitchiker series.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Seconds before the Earth is demolished for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is saved by Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised Guide. Together they stick out their thumbs to the stars and begin a wild journey through time and space.
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Facing annihilation at the hands of warmongers is a curious time to crave tea. It could only happen to the cosmically displaced Arthur Dent and his comrades as they hurtle across the galaxy in a desperate search for a place to eat.
Life, the Universe and Everything
The unhappy inhabitants of planet Krikkit are sick of looking at the night sky– so they plan to destroy it. The universe, that is. Now only five individuals can avert Armageddon: mild-mannered Arthur Dent and his stalwart crew.
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
Back on Earth, Arthur Dent is ready to believe that the past eight years were all just a figment of his stressed-out imagination. But a gift-wrapped fishbowl with a cryptic inscription conspires to thrust him back to reality. So to speak.
Mostly Harmless
Just when Arthur Dent makes the terrible mistake of starting to enjoy life, all hell breaks loose. Can he save the Earth from total obliteration? Can he save the Guide from a hostile alien takeover? Can he save his daughter from herself?
Customer Reviews:
Now this is a deal you CANT afford to miss!.......2007-07-07
Cynical, utterly hilarious, and full of funny, unique, and loveable characters, this is a series you won't want to skip out on, even if your like me and you don't like sci-fi.
That was the thing that kept me from allowing myself to experience the wonders of the first book when I first picked it up. I kept telling myself, this is a sci-fi book, its going to bore me. But it is much more than just a sci-fi book. It is THE most hilarious series I have ever read. Douglas Adams' sense of droll wit and cynicism are astounding, and have allowed me to experience many merry evenings sitting and laughing at these books. (You might also want to check out his excellent Dirk Gently Novels).
The story line may seem simply and boring-which it is definetly not-, but its the happenings, the wonderful narration, and the characters that truly bring this book to life and beyond being just a sci-fi book.
Also included in this selection are some hilarious introductions by the author, and a little biography about him from Neil Gaman, who cowrote Good Omens with one of my other favorite authors Terry Pratchett and wrote American Gods. And while they're probably not totally exclusive to this collection, they are well worth the read, especially the introduction by Douglas Adams.
My favorite summer read of all time.......2007-06-17
One august weekend I hit the back yard armed with this book and a gin and tonic. Over the next few weekends I finished the book, several of the drinks and my neighbors probably came to think I was insane. I've never laughed that loud or that much at any other book. And no I would not chalk it up to the G and T's (I only had a few over the duration of the book) I still think back on that summer with great fondness. Adams is painfully funny, insanely original, and one heck of a fine writer. It's Monty Python meets Doctor Who. Yes there are plenty of people who hate this book or just don't get it. But for those of us who do get it, it's the sort of book that takes on a highly loved place of honor in our library. I would strongly suggest you give it a shot. Grab your towel, a tasty and AGE APPROPRIATE beverage, and head for the back yard or the beach. I guarentee you'll either become one of us, or someone who's deeply confused by one of us.
Summer reading.......2007-06-12
If you are looking for a summer reading book that will not challenge you too much but give you some mindless fun, this is for you. Definitely not highbrow literature, but a fun literary dessert. This includes all 5 books of the "trilogy", so you can keep going for a long time. Recommended for the beach, airport, airplane, train, car.... Witty and fun.
Love or Hate!.......2007-03-13
This is the sort of book you will either love or hate.
I believe there are three sorts of people who could love this book: the cynical, the skeptic, or the novelist.
This book is cynical about absolutely everything from tea to immortality. The way it gripes about everything on such a completely down-to-earth common place level understanding, it is rather uplift.
The skeptic is all through the book, if you can't have you religion mocked a little bit, don't buy it.
There are a mind-numbing number of jokes on actually writing mechanics in this book. You probably won't even notice that they are jokes unless you have actually spent a lot of time trying to write particularly novels.
If you're in these categories you will love this book.
If you aren't, you're probably going to hate it.
That's I warned you.
Thanks For The Fish.......2007-02-14
The HitchHiker is 20th century satire, probably at its best, which is an implicit condemnation of all other competitors to that title. Adams has a few quotes in these books that rank right up there with the best of them. I particularly liked his description of humankind as - ape descended life forms (who) are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea. We humans are prone to be so distracted by novel and neat ideas that we never quite get around to assigning them a value that really reflects their place in the wider scheme of things. This is Adams at his best.
The problem with the Hitchiker is that its message is delivered through farce and farce wears extremely thin after about an hour. After two hours all hope of entertainment is lost and all that remains is gold-mining, sifting through endless grains of sand, in the hopes of finding another nugget that makes the whole enterprise worth while.
Adam's primary message is that the universe is absurd, having no sense or purpose to it at all. He cannot quite break away from his humanist roots and there is within his writing, a certain nostalgic longing for the days when truth and virtue actually meant something to people. But Adams is way too far gone to ever grant his characters any real contact with virtue and truth. The one character who comes closest is probably Trillian, the woman who left earth before it was destroyed in search of ... something. Even here, we see Adams lampooning the idea of virtue as a guide to wisdom. Virtue is too easily mislead to be a strength. It's not a bad point. But it is tiresome to have it endlessly repeated through pie-in-the-face slapstick, even if it is imaginatively done.
There is power in the argument that the world is absurd. But it is the power that lives in the world of impressions, not the world of realism. A fellow called "The Preacher" wrote about that 3500 years ago in a book called Ecclesiastes. He makes the same point a lot more clearly and, quite frankly, with far more zeal.
Live life, enjoy what you get out of it, take pleasure in doing the work God has given you to do and contentment is possible.
But thanks for all the fish anyway
Customer Reviews:
The first and best!.......2007-07-12
Of all the incarnations this story has gone through, I still believe that this original BBC radiophonic production is the best!
The Original BBC series. Must have for any Hitch-Hiker Fan.......2005-11-09
This is the original BBC radio series (I know I have an old cassette copy from the early 1908's). The radio series was first, then the book, then the TV series, and now the movie. In my opinion the radio series was the best. It has all of the great lines my friend love to quote. The actors are wonderful. The sound effects make you feel like you are right there with Arthur and Ford exploring the universe. Highly recommend it. Great way to pass the time while you are driving to work.
Average customer rating:
- Grab Your Towel and Blast Off!
- Great read
- A must read for every human on earth
- A Very Fast Read
- Enduringly Hilarious
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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Douglas Adams
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The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
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Life, the Universe and Everything (Hitchhiker's Trilogy)
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So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Widescreen Edition)
ASIN: 0345391802
Release Date: 1995-09-27 |
Book Description
"IRRESISTIBLE!"
--The Boston Globe
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 fifteen 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; 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 between wearing digital watches? For all the answers stick your thumb to the stars. And don't forget to bring a towel!
"[A] WHIMSICAL ODYSSEY...Characters frolic through the galaxy with infectious joy."
--Publishers Weekly
Amazon.com
Join Douglas Adams's hapless hero Arthur Dent as he travels the galaxy with his intrepid pal Ford Prefect, getting into horrible messes and generally wreaking hilarious havoc. Dent is grabbed from Earth moments before a cosmic construction team obliterates the planet to build a freeway. You'll never read funnier science fiction; Adams is a master of intelligent satire, barbed wit, and comedic dialogue. The Hitchhiker's Guide is rich in comedic detail and thought-provoking situations and stands up to multiple reads. Required reading for science fiction fans, this book (and its follow-ups) is also sure to please fans of Monty Python, Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, and British sitcoms.
Customer Reviews:
Grab Your Towel and Blast Off!.......2007-08-21
So, let's see if I have this straight. For interstellar travel, the single most important thing for anyone to remember to pack is ... a towel?
Yes, it's that kind of book. The amazing thing is, Douglas Adams can really make a case for the Towel Argument, and he does. THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY is the funniest thing he--or most anyone else this past 100 years--ever wrote. It's highbrow, lowbrow, and ever-so-intellectual silliness that makes the book so entertaining. I'll never forget the dolphins evacuating Earth before its destruction (via a preconceived plan) and leaving behind the message to all the doomed humans: "So long, and thanks for all the fish!"
GUIDE is also a textbook example of books that completely lose all of their power when adapted by high-budget, vacuous Hollywood movie churners. If you want the HITCHHIKER experience, I'm afraid you'll just have to (gulp!) read it ...
(This review has been posted by Marcus Damanda, author of the vampire novel "Teeth: A Horror Fantasy.")
Great read.......2007-07-29
This book made me laugh so much. It was great but the only bad thing was it was such a quick read.
A must read for every human on earth.......2007-07-27
If you have a sense of humor, this book is for you. The perfect mix of science fiction and humor, it cannot fail to throw you into pangs of laughter.
A Very Fast Read.......2007-06-30
As I was reading this, I said, "Man, this book is almost over already. How in the world is it going to be wrapped up in the last 3 pages?" Well, it doesn't get wrapped up. Its one of those deals where you have to read the whole series for stuff to get wrapped up. I usually hate those kinds of books, and I'm also not a big fan of Sci-Fi books in general, but this book was quite funny in certain places and I got a kick out of reading it. I particularly liked the part where the police officers discussed how they were really sensitive literary people during their big shoot out.
I wouldn't be surprised if I finished the entire Hitchhiker series because the first book is pretty funny as far as written works go, and I would imagine the whole series would move as fast as this book does. I was kind of hoping it would be more surreal and less funny like the Neverending Story, but I still found it to be quite enjoyable.
Enduringly Hilarious.......2007-06-12
One of the few books I find laugh-out-loud funny. Each time I read it, it still makes me chuckle. Sure, it's a little lacking in the plot department, but Adams can show us the humour in things we've taken for granted like no other author I know. An eternal favourite.
Customer Reviews:
SQL RS Beyond the basics (and some basics too).......2006-09-23
If you're a moderately skilled programmer, a self-learner, and you want to get beyond just "getting started" deploying and using Sql Server 2000 Reporting Services, this is the book for you.
I especially found the chapters on customized set up extremely helpful. The installation wizard doesn't offer a whole lot of options, and most of teh time you don't know fully how you want to configure it until you've tried it out. You'll get some good starters on rconfiguring your installation here.
You'll get enough basics to be ready to dive in, and then some tricks well enough beyond that to give you well on your way to devleoping customized solutions.
Excellent and surprisingly good........2006-03-24
For a total beginner (which I definately was) this is a FANTASTIC introduction to Reporting Services. Three months after starting my first job as a programmer straight out of University, and now I'm the main person in the firm with Reporting Services knowledge - and it's all thanks to this book.
The writing style is actually excellent for beginners, as I was terrified by the prospect of reading such a mammoth. But these guys make it fun and interesting to read (right down to the jokes and sidenotes) and really do touch on everything you need in a useful manner without boring you.
And excellent resource that now never leaves my desk. I can only hope these guys do a SQL Sever 2005 one. I cannot recommend this book enough for those starting on Reporting Services. It really is the book to read.
And if you are looking for a book on SQL Reportin 2005 - I would still recommend this book to give you the basics and introduction which is unbeatable thus far.
Good for developers.......2005-12-14
This book has been written from a VB programmers point of view. If you want to just start creating reports or if you're not a VB programmer (ie DBA etc) you may find this hard work.As another reviewer mentioned, you may find the authors' jokes and writing style to be a hit and miss affair.
Nevertheless, there is some depth on Reporting Services not to be found elsewhere that is quite handy.
Let's be realistic.......2005-10-15
Now that all the friends and family have promoted the book...
In order to understand something new, we all must relate that which we're learning to that which we already know.
Pete and Bill have a difficult time transitioning from campy comedians to thoughtful educators. To this extent, their writing style lacks any useful analogies whatsoever which might bridge the gap between the known and the unknown.
The book is full of droll and distracting fantasy references which are completely irrelevant to the subject matter, and are prone to taking the unsuspecting reader off task.
The potential purchaser should also be forewarned that the authors tend towards another immature trait of attempting to impress the reader with their linguistic abilities. Yet, to be effective at teaching they should have remembered to never use a complicated word where a simple one will do.
Many examples are rambling and inconcise, where step-by-step quickly degrades into an ambiguous and vague path.
Not every developer can obtain DOMAIN Authority in order to issue SSL certificates and it's too bad that the authors don't allow for this type of scenario, especially when a reporting system is on a VPN.
All of the content is there, but it's up to the reader to filter and translate most of it from the pitfalls aforementioned into something more to the center of the bell curve.
Good Book on Reporting services.......2005-10-02
I really the beginning part on the setup and installation of the reporting services themselves. At my firm we needed to set up a seperate server for this purpose and the IT group was swamped with another project and this helped a great deal. I still am workign on development but the book has been very usefula and easy to understand.
Average customer rating:
- Great collection...
- So long Douglas, and thanks for the all the laughs
- Imaginative, brilliant, uneven
- Oh, the irony
- Ultimate Entertainment
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The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide
Douglas Adams
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Last Chance to See
ASIN: 0517149257
Release Date: 1996-01-17 |
Amazon.com
It's safe to say that The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is one of the funniest science fiction novels ever written. Adams spoofs many core science fiction tropes: space travel, aliens, interstellar war--stripping away all sense of wonder and repainting them as commonplace, even silly.
This omnibus edition begins with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, in which Arthur Dent is introduced to the galaxy at large when he is rescued by an alien friend seconds before Earth's destruction. Then in The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Arthur and his new friends travel to the end of time and discover the true reason for Earth's existence. In Life, the Universe, and Everything, the gang goes on a mission to save the entire universe. So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish recounts how Arthur finds true love and "God's Final Message to His Creation." Finally, Mostly Harmless is the story of Arthur's continuing search for home, in which he instead encounters his estranged daughter, who is on her own quest. There's also a bonus short story, "Young Zaphod Plays It Safe," more of a vignette than a full story, which wraps up this completist's package of the Don't Panic chronicles. As the series progresses, its wackier elements diminish, but the satire of human life and foibles is ever present. --Brooks Peck
Book Description
This outrageous volume contains six zany, out-of-this-world adventure stories by this incomparable novelist. From the very first to the very latest—all best sellers—includes
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; The Restaurant at the End of the Universe; Life, the Universe and Everything, So Long and Thanks for all the Fish; Young Zaphod Plays it Safe; and
Mostly Harmless. 768 pages.
Customer Reviews:
Great collection..........2007-08-23
Great read, I didn't even know about the Zaphod short story (my own words) that was included in this book. Happy to have all of the stories all in one book and makes it easy for me to go back and reference parts from the earlier stories, especially since I enjoy noting the really good lines.
So long Douglas, and thanks for the all the laughs.......2007-08-20
I've lost track of the number of times I've read the Guide novels over the years. This compilation of a 'trilogy in 5 parts' makes it nice and easy to read them all as one continuous story. I don't really need to elaborate on how good these stories are as those who have read them will already know. But to the uninitiated I strongly urge you to purchase a copy, prop yourself up against your towel, and eat plenty of peanuts. And most importantly, Don't Panic!
Imaginative, brilliant, uneven.......2007-07-28
If finding out your house is about to be bulldozed to make way for a highway bypass is unnerving and life changing, imagine finding out the same is about to happen to your planet. Thus begin the adventures of human Arthur Dent in The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide by Douglas Adams.
Of course Adams is not the first writer to use science fiction to satirize the foibles of the human race and its institutions and culture (including science fiction), but he does does so with a rare combination of sophistication, style, and humor. His description of why the bypass is being built and why Arthur doesn't know about it alone starts the series off on a scathing note. In the universe of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (the book within a book), people sometimes survive government and corporate bureaucracy and personal greed and thoughtlessness, but more often destruction and waste seem to result.
Throughout his post-Earth adventures with Ford Prefect, the two-headed Zaphod Beeblebrox, fellow human Trillian (Tricia McMillan), and Marvin the perpetually downcast robot who takes lows to new highs, Arthur is the proverbial Everyman, whose struggles to make tea (and thus achieve some sense of ordinariness) in his new life result in near-destruction. At one point, he happily serves as "Sandwich Maker" on a pre-technological world that views this skill with awe.
Adams is perhaps strongest in his numerous asides in which he talks about The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the publication for which Ford Prefect researches and writes, and the Encyclopedia Galactica; the nature of improbability; the humorously and seemingly invariable and inevitable tragic histories of various planets and races; and various theories surrounding such things as time, space, and infinity, almost always with a slyly serious wink about the absurdity of it all. These digressions allow his imagination and his intellect to soar and in many cases are more interesting than the story itself. This may go back to how The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy begins--that people want to move between Points A and B very fast, and that people at Point C in between (Everyman Arthur Dent) "often wish that people would just once and for all work out where the hell they wanted to be." There seem to be no Points A and B in Arthur's new universe; there are infinite points and lines and continuums, most of them absurd in one way or another.
With the exception of Trillian, Arthur's fellow travelers are well drawn. The most amusing is, sadly, Marvin, whose programmed depression is annoying and whose perception is accurate.
There are ingenious ideas scattered throughout the six stories, including the irony of a lorry driver who hates the perpetual rain that follows him no matter where he goes because, unbeknownst to him, he is a Rain God.
The problem is that many of these ideas, like life events, crop up randomly, play themselves out, and then seem to fall flat in the end. Undoubtedly, this is part of the universe as Adams sees it; it is made up of absurdity upon absurdity, which may not have neat Point A to Point B progressions. Some of this lack of cohesion also may be the result of transforming material written for episodic radio into book form; a certain sense and continuity may have been lost as the author diverts his tale to Points E, M, and T.
The first two books, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, are the best in the series. Life, the Universe and Everything is, almost as the title promises, too contorted and meandering. So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, which takes place on Earth, lacks an engaging focal point, which makes it seem long and tedious at times. "Young Zaphod Plays It Safe" appears to be a throwaway story reflecting the author's views. Mostly Harmless, written at what Adams admitted was a bad time in his life, lacks the élan of the earliest books; it is more downbeat in attitude than its predecessors and borders on determined and grim. Marvin is long gone as comic relief; the weakest character, Tricia/Trillian, now moves to the forefront but without further development; and even Ford Prefect has sobered up, quite out of character. It as though Adams wanted his characters, most notably Random, to reflect his anger and depression and his universe to end without possibility of resurrection--in the same way that Arthur Conan Doyle tried to kill off Sherlock Holmes.
Underneath the satire, the humor, and the bitterness, The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide is imaginative and thought provoking, revealing a rare story-telling and writing gift that is brilliant both on the surface and in the depths.
Oh, the irony.......2007-05-12
As usual the movie can't live up to the book. This is a must-read -- one of those points of cultural brilliance that will still be read three hundred years from now. Be prepared for very dry humor, British-style...
Ultimate Entertainment.......2007-01-31
Man, this compilation of the five hitchhiker books is awsome. These books are so entertaining I could puke. In fact I did puke, I was sick at one point while reading these. Seriously though, this is quality quality reading material that will take you away from it all and place you in a land of good times. Looking for a hardy chuckle then here it is. This is original stuff and is deserving of your entertainment concentration.
Book Description
Since 1994 when he wrote his first âHitchhiker’s Guideâ, William Vaughn has been providing developers all over the world the intimate details of how SQL Server can be accessed and managed from RAD languages like Visual Basic and Visual Basic .NET. With the 7th Edition, Bill has completely rewritten this encyclopedic work from cover to cover–giving readers his insightful views on how applications should be built to maximize both developer and code performance. Visual Studio and the languages it hosts have never been as sophisticated as they are today–the same can be said for SQL Server. This makes it even more important for developers to understand how to best leverage their features without being held back by their complexity. That’s what this book is all about–making it easier for developers regardless of their know-how.
The 7th edition is unique in that it’s designed to provide not only up-to-date tutorials on the latest development tools provided by Visual Studio and SQL Server, but also a solid platform of architectural advice and rich examples for developers trying to choose between the myriad of platform options. Beginners and experts alike will find comprehensive step-by-step instructions that can make the reader’s introduction to the latest versions of Visual Studio and SQL Server far easier.
Key topic coverage includes:
• Data access architectures and how to choose the best strategy for Windows Forms, ASP.NET, XML Web Services, and SQL Server CLR executables. Where
do these make sense and how much will they cost to build and maintain?
• SQL Server and relational database fundamentals and inner-machinery.
How does SQL Server work and why is it important that developers know?
• Making the development experience more productive through judicious use of the Visual Studio toolset, and how to know when the wizards can help.
• Using the latest ADO.NET data provider efficiently and safely.
• How to protect the security of your database–and your job–by avoiding common mistakes.
• How to build secure, efficient, scalable applications in less time with fewer resources–how to create faster code faster.
• How to leverage the potential of SQL Server CLR executables and knowing
when these features make sense.
• How to work with your DBA to maintain database integrity and security.
• Working with the new Visual Studio report controls to expose your
organization’s data safely and easily with or without leveraging existing
SQL Server Reporting Services technology.
William R. Vaughn is the President of Beta V Corporation and a Microsoft MVP. In 2000 he retired from Microsoft after 14 years to focus on mentoring, speaking, and writing. His specialty is data access application design especially when connecting to SQL Server–over the years he’s written 12 books on the subject. He’s a popular speaker at technical conferences all over the world where his wit and no-holds-barred technical insights win him rave reviews. William is also a member of the prestigious INETA Speaker’s Bureau. His works include articles for SQL Server Magazine and a bi-weekly editorial for Processor Magazine as well as books published by Microsoft Press and Apress.
The book includes a DVD that contains a wealth of examples as well as several sample databases used to illustrate points discussed in the book. Authenticated readers will also have unrestricted access to the book’s supporting web site, www.hitchhikerguides.net, where additional examples, online forums, and other supplementary materials are available.
www.awprofessional.com/msserverseries
www.hitchhikerguides.net
www.betav.com/blogs/billva
www.betav.com
Customer Reviews:
Great!!.......2007-07-03
I am very inmpressed with this book! This is one that will be dog earred.
A must own for DBAs and Developers.......2007-06-11
This is truly an outstanding book. Not only is it extremely well written and "readable" (unfortunately many a tech book is not these days), I feel it begins a dialog of sorts between the developer side of the fence and the database side of the fence (were that there were no fences, alas).
I've visited far too many organizations that work in near complete isolation when developing applications. For those types of organizations, no tool like Team System will improve things: if they don't collaborate already, a tool won't get them to do so.
We need more books like this in the market. Today's technology is so complex you simply can not perform your role properly without understanding the larger picture.
Excellent Book.......2007-03-10
I'm a C programmer, new to SQL and Windows programming.
Bill's book has gotten me up to speed on SQL Server and Visual Studio in record time.
I looked at a number of books on these subjects and this one definitely stands out as being the most comprehensive. At the same time, it is easy to follow.
I highly recommend the book.
A treasure chest of SQL gems.......2007-02-02
Reading the book, it is clear why Bill is a Microsoft MVP. I appreciate how Peter and he precisely describe and assess this complex landscape, including traps and warts. I believe you will also appreciate their deep knowledge.
Depending where you are on your journey to designing and building powerful solutions with SQL Server and Visual Studio, some of the chapters will be more valuable than others. I assure you that there will be sections of the book that are exactly what you need. The knowledge can keep you from making big mistakes, either in your selection of which version of SQL Server to use, in architecture and design, or simply in trying to figure out the myriad of implementation choices you might otherwise try on your own through days and days of trial and error.
As a software program manager, I appreciated gaining an overall appreciation for how the technologies and techniques need to fit together to deliver a successful solution. I especially appreciated the early chapters on architecture, the flowchart showing how to debug a connection on page 142, and other advice scatter through the book.
In subsequent books or articles from these authors, I'd appreciate more architectural graphics, e.g. showing various data access layers, and also a description of how AJAX techniques affect how we should think about building data-centric web applications.
I expect this book to be a valuable reference for many years to come.
Thank you Bill for another great journey........2007-01-29
So, you want to program SQL Server 2005 using Visual Basic 2005. Then you should buy this book. No one does things quite as Bill does. In a tour-de-force effort, Bill, with the some help from Peter, shares a treasure trove of valuable information about how to build the best data-enabled applications regardless of your skill level. Bill's a master and his experience with SQL Server is legendary. What's even better is you get Bill's candid view on things. He's not afraid to tell you what works and what doesn't. He takes his job as an author seriously.
At over 1000 pages, this is a serious book. The range of topics covered is rich. Bill covers writing code by hand and using drag & drop. He compares new features like CLR stored procedures with more traditional approaches and he backs up his opinion with code and tests. Bill has filled this seventh (yes, he's been doing this a while) edition with annotated screen shots, code listings, and thoughtful commentary--all of which help you, dear reader, to have a safe and happy journey. For the price of this book, you're getting priceless amounts of help and guidance. Buy it now.
Customer Reviews:
Pure entertainment.......2007-01-14
These BBC Radio Plays are great. I first heard them about 20 years ago on our local public radio station. If you enjoy British humor at all, these HHG discs are a must
Book Description
Panic! It's the last installment of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, with a brand new full-cast dramatization of Mostly Harmless, the final book in Douglas Adams' famous "trilogy in five parts." 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.A stolen ship, a dramatic stampede, and a new and sinister Guide lead to a race to save the earth...again.
Presented dramatized on 2 CDs.
Customer Reviews:
So Long... and Thanks!.......2006-10-26
Well, that about wraps it up for...
Arthur Dent
Ford Prefect and
Trillian
...not to mention the galaxy of other characters who have appeared - even if only for a line or two - on the BBC radio series that has built a global and intensely loyal following for the past 28 years.
"There's nothing penultimate about this one: this - ladies and gentlemen - is the proverbial it."
Finally, there is closure. A conclusion that this listener has longed for ever since the original THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY invaded my awareness in 1981.
And what a conclusion! At the risk of spoiling it for other Hitchhiker wannabe's, BBC4 and Dirk Maggs have managed to remain faithful to Douglas Adams' final installment to the inaccurately numbered trilogy of books, spawned from the original radio series and then respawning into new radio shows. Go to their web for some priceless photos and other cool stuff: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hitchhikers/newseries.shtml
And yet, there's more. The book was as dark as the space encompassing the outer eastern rim of the galaxy, and closed on a note that I'd swear was written by Marvin, the paranoid android. A series that the Beeb billed as "light entertainment" can't leave its audience that depressed and morose, now can it?
As I listened to the last episode of the fifth series, I awaited the darkness of the book's conclusion. When I read the book, MOSTLY HARMLESS, on which this radio series was based, I wondered if Adams was so annoyed with the insatiable appetite of readers and listeners that he decided to dispense with his much beloved characters once and for all. Was this the final disposition of the everyman hero, Arthur Dent, his hedonistic traveling companion and Guide field researcher Ford Prefect, and the only other survivor of the Earth's demolition, Trillian? As I wondered and listened, I achingly mourned Adams' passing. I'll miss forever his command of the English language - weaving similes and other literary devices into a tapesty that delights the listener/reader as much on the 10th or even 100th time as much as it does on the first. Sure, those words would will last for a long, long time. But there would be nothing new from that well that watered and nourished so many of us over the years.
On a somewhat related tangent, I responded to a query on the IMDB web page for Farhenheit 451 as to what book you would memorize for posterity's sake if that book/movie's scenario came true. No question: the original HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY or any of its sequels.
Back to this CD collection: The producer, director, script-writers, performers and other talented members of the ensemble succeed admirably in this final reunion, ushering radio story-telling well into the 21st Century. Sure, the voices had aged. Some had passed and are dearly missed: Peter Jones as the Book and Richard Vernon as the definitive Slartybartfast. But to hear the final reunion was absolutely golden.
Years ago, when I began my career as a road warrior, I used to tune into CBS Radio's nighttime mystery series on a 50,000 Watt AM radio station. (Hey, this was pre-CDs, way pre- XM or Sirius). There's something about driving down a rural two-lane road in the dark that made those tales that much more spine-tingley.
In like manner, listening to any of the CDs of the BBC Radio4's productions of Adams' work makes the miles fly by so much more easily. Books on tape/CD pale in comparison, in much the same way that a black hole is outshone by a supernova or even a red giant. The sound effects and incidental music add such a rich and complex dimension to the story-telling that is so sadly lacking with all the audio books on the market these days. OK, Ok, the flatulence noice is a bit puerile, but it works so well in the scene.
Douglas Adams is a true artiste whose talents will be appreciated for years to come.
So long... and thanks!
So Long, Hitchhiker's Guide, and Thanks for All the Fun.......2005-10-10
This is the superb final BBC radio series of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, this one adapting Douglas Adams' final book Mostly Harmless. It features the same creators and cast from the recent Tertiary and Quandary Phases (which means that most of the original cast from the 1978 to 1980 radio shows appear.)
While the book itself was a major disappointment, the radio adaption manages to be funny, interesting, thought-provoking and very satisfying. The writers have focused the story, created new scenes, included characters which Adams had apparently forgotten about over the course of the "trilogy," brilliantly converted the novel's rambling prose into dialogue and guide entries, stayed true to Adams' original intentions while simultaneously improving them considerably, and have created a new epilogue for the story which takes us beyond what Adams ever wrote and ties up the entire saga in a way so clever and sweet as to make a grown man cry. Such a brilliant adaption stands in stark contrast with the abysmal, dumbed-down script which was used for the recent film. THIS is the way to adapt a Hitchhiker's book.
Since the book concerns a parallel Earth and features two versions of the character Trillian (each from a different continuity in improbability,) it's of particular fan interest that the two Trillians are played by Susan Sheridan, the original radio actress, and Sandra Dickinson, who created the role for BBC television. As in the Tertiary Phase, Douglas Adams himself appears as Agrajag. I won't spoil the surprise of who else shows up.
As with all the previous radio entries, it's odd, brilliant, confusing and dense enough to warrant an immediate second listening, and has enough depth to offer new discoveries several listenings later. I couldn't be happier with how it all came out. Which leads me to wonder...
Why does this have to be the last one? If the producers don't wish to invent their own H2G2 episodes, I hope they turn their attentions to Dirk Gently, Douglas Adams' other comedic book series. A creative unit as successful as this shouldn't stop now.
Books:
- The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town
- The Johnstown Flood
- The Language of Letting Go (Hazelden Meditation Series)
- The Maker's Diet: The 40 Day Health Experience That Will Change Your Life Forever
- The Meaning of Difference: American Constructions of Race, Sex and Gender, Social Class, and Sexual Orientation
- The Meaning of Difference: American Constructions of Race, Sex and Gender, Social Class, and Sexual Orientation
- The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
- The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
- The Power of One (Young Reader's Edition)
- The Scottish Golf Book
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