review of The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

Douglas Adams reviewed human nature and pointed out the strange contradictions in hilarious ways.  He played with how we think of things.  Our strange perception that limits the world around us.  He understood human nature to a bizarre degree, so he presented his knowledge in a bizarre fashion.  It could be argued that he was the savior of science fiction by making it into something comical that people who don’t like sci-fi would be able to listen to and read.

One of his many understandings of human nature could be found in the quote, ‘Life is wasted on the living.’  (The idea that people do not value what they have and take things for granted.)  People do take life for granted these days.  Since it is something that is a part of our existence, we are stuck with it.  Life is simply something to go through to us when it should be something that is lived.

The idea of being controlled is something that people also struggle with on a daily basis.  If someone feels as if another is controlling them, they start to act differently.   It would depend on the person, but it tends to lead to rebelling attitudes.  ‘I’m not going to be anybody’s puppet, particularly not my own.’  (He doesn’t want to be owned even by himself.  He doesn’t want to be something/someone to be simply used.)  We get so blinded with the idea of something such as being controlled that we don’t even consider who should have it.  We simply resist.

Regret and anger are also dealt with only a daily basis.  Especially, blaming ourselves.  The mantra in our head of ‘why did I do/say that?’  This is what makes us unsure of ourselves. ‘If I ever meet myself, I’ll hit myself so hard I won’t know what hit me.’  (Playing with the strange sayings that we use and still understanding that we make our own mistakes and go on from there.)  We are so afraid of being wrong that we can’t even risk being right at some points.

 ‘”Future Perfect” has been abandoned since it was discovered not to be.’ ( A play on grammar and the idea of time and how it is something that we try to define and live our lives by but cannot.)

‘In an Infinite Universe anything can happen.  Even survival.  Strange but true.’

‘One’s never alone with a rubber duck.’

‘Totally mad, utter nonsense.  But we’ll do it because it’s brilliant nonsense.’

‘We were just about to do nothing at all for a while but it can wait.’

‘You could say I’m more differed from than differing.’

‘Please don’t hesitate to get lost.’

‘The Guide is definitive Reality is frequently inaccurate.’

‘Oh fine, if you happen to like being me, which personally I don’t.’

‘What a depressingly stupid machine,’ said Marvin and trudged away.

‘He was clearly a man of many qualities, even if they were mostly bad ones.’

‘I’m afraid you cannot leave, you are entwined in the Improbability Field.  You cannot escape.’