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Comment by b0rsuk | Hacker News Reader

This reads like a Robert Sheckley short story. I never understood the fuss about Hitchhiker's Guide to Galaxy. To me, Robert Sheckley is the master of witty, provocative sci-fi short form. Douglas Adams is seems like random absurd for the sake of absurd. And yes Douglas Adams openly said he was inspired by Sheckley.

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Some people enjoy absurd humor.

I do. You can't enjoy Monty Python without enjoying absurd. Everyone draws the line in a different spot I suppose.

Probably a form of 'acquired taste', where the kind you become accustomed to tends to be very narrow. One person's absurd is another's nonsense, in a way?

I remember a lot of "Hitchhiker's Guide" being random floating out-of-place objects. It stops feeling creative after a while. Even characters soon stopped commenting on them.

I'd definitely say I prefer Monty Python and Terry Pratchett's take on absurdism over Douglas Adams'; I do have a soft spot for some of the higher-level gags Adams sometimes included, as opposed to the moment-to-moment there-and-gone gags.

can you recommend anything in particular by Robert Sheckley? I'd be interested to check out his style.

Any short stories collection, really. If you want something particular, out of top of my head:

Lifeboat mutiny, Seventh victim, A ticket to Tranai, A problem with natives.

Polish short story collections sometimes differ in content, but my favorites were:

- Ticket to Tranai

... and another one which included two separate stories with machines in name, one of which was more less "Machine Which Didn't Like To Repeat". I also loved the one with a planet where all animals had green fur :D

There is a distinct drop in quality as time passes, anything written in the 50s is golden (Untouched by Human Hands, Store of Infinity) , in the 60s is mixed but still some good stuff (Can you Feel Anything When I do This?). After that is pretty hit or miss (Options), including a collaboration with Zelazny that I found quite disappointing.

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