I borrowed Douglas Adams' complete
Hitchiker's Guide series from the library the other day on a lark while I was looking for
The Gathering Storm I originally read the first book 20 years ago or so which I enjoyed a great deal, and some time after that the fourth which I had trouble following and didn't remember except for the flying scene in the middle (something that would certainly stick in the mind of an adolescent boy

). Around the middle of the second book, I started wondering if Adams was hitting the Gargle Blasters a bit much when he came up with the stuff, especially how the narrative can go off on some of the strangest non sequiturs. But as I got to the end of the third book, I was somewhat impressed by how the plot was developing.
I thought the original was funny enough when I was 13, but being older, wiser, more experienced and far, far, more cynical, I appreciate the humor more deeply this time. And when the text decribes the Guide as being remarkable and inaccurate and how it is written, I can't help but think of
Wikipedia. I am probably not even the millionth person to do so.
I'm at the beginning of the fourth book, at the scene where Ford is in that alien bar. When the patrons were described as "thugs, pimps, and record company executives", I howled with laughter because of things like Napster.