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The Deeper Meaning of Liff by: Douglas Adams, John Lloyd

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Rating: - This book had me helpless with laughter

A wonderful concept. Douglas Adams and John Lloyd used actual place names from the UK and beyond, and then assigned meanings to them for situations and descriptions of things that don't have a word in the English Language.

That descrition doesn't do it justice really, but a quick read of a few of the definitions at my local book shop had me convinced (You'll be lucky to find it at a local bookshop these days, so buy it here).

I'm a major fan of all of Douglas Adams work, and this ranks right up with the best of them. It isn't a story like the Hitch-hikers 'trilogy' or Dirk Gently books, but it just bursting with Douglas' unique brand of humour. I was truly helpless with laughter.

Fantastic!!

Rating: - This is a work of genius.

This book is a great companion when touring the country. Look again at all those boring road signs and look up the definitions that have been assigned to them. Never again will journeys be dull. Witty, hilarious and some just down right rude, this is the work of a warped mind and it's brilliant! One of the most tumbed books in my collection. Every "Hitch Hikers Guide" fan will love this and so will others new to Adams' work. Not yet met anyone who didn't appreciate it.

Rating: - Save the language - recycle place names!

The idea behind The Meaning of Liff, first published in 1983, as well as The Deeper Meaning of Liff, which followed seven years later, is actually quite simple. As the authors put it: there are hundreds of common experiences, feelings, situations and even objects which we all know and recognize, but for which no word exists. On the other hand, the world is littered with thousands of spare words doing nothing but loafing about on signposts pointing at places.

Douglas Adams - the one of the Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy fame - and John Lloyd have done their best trying to pair the two. Just for the gusto, here's an example of dictionary entry: Wyoming (ptcpl.vb.) Moving in hurried desperation from one cubicle to another in a public lavatory trying to find one which has a lock on the door, a seat on the bowl and no brown streaks on the seat.

Although The Deeper Meaning of Liff is significantly expanded in size over the original, I guess I would choose the latter. While The Meaning of Liff mostly covers place names from the Britain, the expansions seem to be predominantly reaching abroad, resulting in somewhat diluted compendium. After all, there is some logic that English place names are fitting best in an English dictionary, isn't it?

Rating: - Reading this book is akin to taking a soak in a hot bath

This book is a 'dictionary' of words for things or situations which there are no specific words yet. For example, Ipplepen - "A useless writing implement made by sellotaping 6 biros together which is supposed to make it easier to write 100 lines".

What makes this book totally brilliant and original is the shock of realisation that everything described in this book is totally familiar to us and yet we never give them a second thought. Until now. It is a book to be dipped into when you are tired of meandering through Middlemarch or bored of being bamboozled by Beckett, and you just want to put your brain in neutral. It's unashamedly light reading, but what of it. You pick it up and it makes you go 'ahhhh'. Douglas Adams's stamp is all over it - the book has a life of its own. Buy it NOW !

Rating: - Not really the high quality we expect from Douglas Adams

The book's funny in places, witty in others, but there is a limit to the number of place names once can read with trite 2 line make-beleive definitions beside them. A fair book, but lacking the sparkle and imagination I'd normally expect from Douglas Adams I'm afraid.

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