Friday, May 09, 2008

Dirk Gently's Holisistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams

Whether or not you're a fan of H2G2, if you like humorous novels you'll like Dirk Gently. There's a slight SF feel to it—like a secondary or tertiary flavor that won't bother non-SF fans. Perhaps. One storyline involves a ghost trying to get his final message through, who has problems grappling phones and such. And the book opens with mention of a different planet, but that part is just background and not crucial to the plot. There are other SF elements, and mentioning them would take some of the surprise out if it, but suffice it to say that they're tame. It would be a good idea to reread Coleridge's Kubla Khan before reading this book; also knowing that the Rime of the Ancient Mariner (Coleridge) involves an albatross, and the story surrounding the unfinishedness of Kubla Khan is a help. Otherwise, please dive in. Rating 9/10 (p.s. stick with the slower chapter with the Coleridge quotes).
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A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. — 'Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.' — Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood. --Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Self-Reliance"