The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
by Douglas Adams · first published 1988
50% recommend50% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Comic detective novel in Douglas Adams's loose, digressive style. Its humor runs throughout, and the opening airport chapter stands out. Suits fans of Hitchhiker's Guide who want more of his absurdist writing.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul is a 1988 humorous fantasy detective novel by Douglas Adams. It is the second book by Adams featuring private detective Dirk Gently, the first being Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. It was followed by the Salmon of Doubt, an incomplete Dirk Gently novel included in a posthumous collection of the same name. The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul has been adapted for radio, and several plot lines appear in the 2010 BBC TV series.
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got to love Hitchhikers, I also enjoyed Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul by adams too.
on “Ask YC: favorite books” ↗If you don't know it already, you might be interested in 'Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency' by Douglas Adams and/or the funnier second part 'The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul'.
on “The control group is out of control (2014)” ↗Douglas Adams did a great parody of this genre in The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul: > "Gilks!" he said. "Your smart-alec suicide theory. I like it. It works for me. And I think I see how the clever bastard pulled it off. Bring me pen. Bring me paper." > He sat down with a flourish…
on “How to commit murder inside a locked room” ↗I hear you; Douglas Adams (like Monty Python) isn't for everyone. But, before you give up on his works forever, I highly recommend listening to* just the first chapter of his last book -- The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul. It's possibly the funniest thing I've ever listened to, and I say that as someone who read but never went bonkers over his paperbacks as a young reader. *"listen" vs read, bc he narrates the audiobook…
on “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: 40 years of parody and predictions” ↗YMMV, but I just finished laughing my way through the unabridged, author-narrated(!) "The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul" audiobook; for me, the experience stands up to the best of his treasured early works. The opening chapter (getting to the airport) is singular. Don't miss it! :)
on “Today is Towel Day” ↗…The Altered Carbon trilogy has depth and sublime world-building that I have now enjoyed at least a half dozen times. I second mentions of Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency (and will mention The Long, Dark Tea Time of the Soul as well). Ender’s Game is also comfort food for me. Breaking from the speculative fiction reco’s above... The Power of Vulnerability (Brené Brown) is more lecture series than audiobook, but as for non…
on “Ask HN: Which books have you read more than once?” ↗And its sequel The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul. And the very strange not-for-everybody-but-definitely-for-me TV adaptation.
on “They're Made Out of Meat” ↗“It can hardly be a coincidence that no language on earth has ever produced the expression, 'As pretty as an airport.” ― Douglas Adams, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
on “Airports make the indignities inherent to air travel cohere with its fantasies” ↗…in the night sky, and wherever possible expose the plumbing on the grounds that it is functional, and conceal the departure gates, presumably on the assumption that they are not" – Douglas Adams, The Long Dark Tea Time Of The Soul (In all honesty, I suspect I'm guilty of producing several websites that could easily be accused of those same faults – though I don't _think_ I've ever accidentally sent anyone to Murmansk…)
on “The Dribbblisation of Design” ↗…to get things taken care of for me. Hey, you know? It was really funny seeing how far and how fast that particular potato got passed on. That told me a lot about who was bright and who was not." The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul - Douglas Adams
on “America’s Fastest-Growing Loan Category Has Eerie Echoes of Subprime Crisis” ↗…tenth of their brains, and that no one was really clear what the other nine tenths were for, but she had certainly never heard it suggested that they were used for storing penguins.” ― Douglas Adams, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
on “Ten Percent of the Brain Myth” ↗That's a known bug whenever the calculated result is > 4.0. Just scale down your inputs/outputs and it will work fine :) (for those who don't know, the original comment is a reference to the novel "The Long Dark Tea-time of the Soul" by Douglas Adams)
on “A Puzzle about a Calculator” ↗I read the Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul, but it's a good reminder to read the whole series, thank you.
on “So Long and Thanks for All the Words: A Toast to Douglas Adams” ↗