Not just for Red Dwarf fans, 05 Nov 2008
Unusually I've never been a particular fan of RD.
The show always seemed to fall into formula latterly, basically they'd leave the ship, discover something engage in some slapstick and head home.

However the books are a different matter - these are the classic two writer books and are much superior to the later Backwards/ Last Human books.

So basically the plot is that a motley crew of a revived human, a hologram of a dead man, a super-evolved cat and a sanitation droid (robot) try to pick their way through an decrepit universe. The comedy is mainly of the Odd Couple type with Rimmer and Lister at each others throats.
The books are highly inventive and very readable, not actually laugh out loud funny for me, but excellent sci-fi comedy.

This is a two book set and well worth buying if you're either a sci-fi or a comedy fan.

Dwarfing Heaven, 21 Dec 2006
If you have ever seen, and enjoyed, the surreal and cult classic Red Dwarf, this book is a must. The insane situations that the Lister, Rimmer, Cat, Holly (and later Kryten) get up to are quite simply hilarious on teh screen and the first book follows more or less the storyline of the first 3-4series. its promotes and expands on some of the storylines that could never had been suitable televised in the late 80s & ealry 90s like Rimmers capitalist empire and listers original story. i simply could not put the omnibus down and have read it time after time.
for fans of: red dwarf (obviously), hitch-hikers guide, other rob grant books (imcompetance and colony... both worth a look) and life in general.


Red dwarf - an oldie but a goodie, 03 Mar 2006
straight from the writers of the hit SCI-FI show Red Dwarf. This book, written by Rob Grant and Doug naylor (Grant Naylor),has to be the perfect additon to any dwarfers' collection.
the majourity of the 1st book 'Infinity welcomes careful drivers' ties up many of the loose ends the early seires' (1-4/5) failed to cover/broadcast such as what ever happend to all those other Cats? where as the 2nd book 'Better than life' continues the journey of Lister and co In the literacy world as well as tieing up someof the issues in the Later series'(5/6 -8/7) and provideing connections to the other books 'Backwards and 'Last human'.
this is a Fantastic book a must for any Dwarf Fan, like myself,and all the Grant Naylor books are 'un-put-downable...' !! Read it, Read it now! you will not be dissapointed. :D

Really really good!, 13 Dec 2005
I love this book so much it is unbelievable. It is often laugh out loud funny and the gang complement each other so well! I have to say my favourite character is Lister followed closely by Rimmer they are both so brilliant. I would recommend this book for anyone, even if they are not science fiction fans as it has little to do with reality! It would be an ideal christmas present for anybody that can read! I cannot wait to start on the other books.

Along the lines of "Hitchhikers' Guide", 08 Nov 2005
The Red Dwarf omnibus is along the lines of the Hitchhikers' Guide the Galaxy. I don't know if Brits wrote both, but the humor certainly seems British. I was hopeful when I began reading it and was not disappointed. After a few years I went back to it. I actually thought it was another book that I'd not liked quite as much, but happily my memory was faulty. Lister manages to get into the strangest situations in his journeys through space and time. With the Cat, Rimmer and Holly (oops, forgot the happily cleaning robot Kryten) life will never be the same. If you like British humor, this book will make you laugh.

Not just for Red Dwarf fans, 05 Nov 2008
Unusually I've never been a particular fan of RD.
The show always seemed to fall into formula latterly, basically they'd leave the ship, discover something engage in some slapstick and head home.

However the books are a different matter - these are the classic two writer books and are much superior to the later Backwards/ Last Human books.

So basically the plot is that a motley crew of a revived human, a hologram of a dead man, a super-evolved cat and a sanitation droid (robot) try to pick their way through an decrepit universe. The comedy is mainly of the Odd Couple type with Rimmer and Lister at each others throats.
The books are highly inventive and very readable, not actually laugh out loud funny for me, but excellent sci-fi comedy.

This is a two book set and well worth buying if you're either a sci-fi or a comedy fan.

Dwarfing Heaven, 21 Dec 2006
If you have ever seen, and enjoyed, the surreal and cult classic Red Dwarf, this book is a must. The insane situations that the Lister, Rimmer, Cat, Holly (and later Kryten) get up to are quite simply hilarious on teh screen and the first book follows more or less the storyline of the first 3-4series. its promotes and expands on some of the storylines that could never had been suitable televised in the late 80s & ealry 90s like Rimmers capitalist empire and listers original story. i simply could not put the omnibus down and have read it time after time.
for fans of: red dwarf (obviously), hitch-hikers guide, other rob grant books (imcompetance and colony... both worth a look) and life in general.


Red dwarf - an oldie but a goodie, 03 Mar 2006
straight from the writers of the hit SCI-FI show Red Dwarf. This book, written by Rob Grant and Doug naylor (Grant Naylor),has to be the perfect additon to any dwarfers' collection.
the majourity of the 1st book 'Infinity welcomes careful drivers' ties up many of the loose ends the early seires' (1-4/5) failed to cover/broadcast such as what ever happend to all those other Cats? where as the 2nd book 'Better than life' continues the journey of Lister and co In the literacy world as well as tieing up someof the issues in the Later series'(5/6 -8/7) and provideing connections to the other books 'Backwards and 'Last human'.
this is a Fantastic book a must for any Dwarf Fan, like myself,and all the Grant Naylor books are 'un-put-downable...' !! Read it, Read it now! you will not be dissapointed. :D

Really really good!, 13 Dec 2005
I love this book so much it is unbelievable. It is often laugh out loud funny and the gang complement each other so well! I have to say my favourite character is Lister followed closely by Rimmer they are both so brilliant. I would recommend this book for anyone, even if they are not science fiction fans as it has little to do with reality! It would be an ideal christmas present for anybody that can read! I cannot wait to start on the other books.

Along the lines of "Hitchhikers' Guide", 08 Nov 2005
The Red Dwarf omnibus is along the lines of the Hitchhikers' Guide the Galaxy. I don't know if Brits wrote both, but the humor certainly seems British. I was hopeful when I began reading it and was not disappointed. After a few years I went back to it. I actually thought it was another book that I'd not liked quite as much, but happily my memory was faulty. Lister manages to get into the strangest situations in his journeys through space and time. With the Cat, Rimmer and Holly (oops, forgot the happily cleaning robot Kryten) life will never be the same. If you like British humor, this book will make you laugh.

Last hurrah, 02 Jan 2009
OK, It's Red Dwarf, so I was always going to buy it, but that's where they get you. I loved Infinity Welcomes, I loved BTL (hard to pick a fave between them) and, unlike other reviewers I have read, I loved Backwards, and felt that it was truly a worthwile successor to the other two fantastic books and the TV series. Last human in NOT awful, however, it's messy, piecemeal and unfunny, which is ok for SF, SF is often not funny and still immensely rivetting, but this one left me in a state of complete non-gripped-ness. I was completely,smegging, un-gripp-ed. It also struck me that there weren't gong to be any more RD books, which is sad.

Colony is not bad BTW, it's less emotionally charged then even the Red Dwarf books, (though I honestly found that the other 3 RD books were quite an emotional rollercoaster, because you really get to care about the characters - well, Rimmsy and Listy anyway...)Last Human left me sad because it was the last book, but only because it was so non-brilliant.

Shameless lazy cash-in, 03 Jan 2008
Having read "Backwards" and "incompetence" by rob grant, it is clear to see where the writing talent lay in the grant/naylor writing partnership. I almost felt personally insulted by how lazy and unoriginal this book was. Where Rob Grant, in Backwards, took a few situations from the episodes and strung an original, interesting and hilarious story together with entirely new and very funny jokes, "the last human" by doug naylor is essentially carbon copies of scripts and jokes merely placed within slightly different situations with characters that shouldn't even be there to rehash these same jokes and some poorly written prose in between to badly weld them together. this is a lazy book by a man who isn't, in fact, very funny or good at writing. Read "Backwards" instead and don't waste your time.

Red Dwarf. Smegging Great, 30 Nov 2005
This book is an amayzing find for any reader, fan of Red Dwarf or not your going to like it. It has a unique blend of action and comedy that works briliantly well, the story line is clever very unpredictable and witty, You can never tell whats going to happen. And to add it has a laugh out loud joke over every page which arn't even needed to stay in intrest. The Story line works so well, everything fits together from seperate stories and there are puzzles to work out that engages you, you really dont want to put it down. To sum up it's a hilerious and fun book, you'll really miss it when you've finished and is something you would want to read again. Red Dwarf fan or not

Not what you'd expect from a Red Dwarf Creation but.., 06 Mar 2005
The book does not really follow the pattern of the other Red Dwarf books where it's split up into linked sub-stories, where each sub-story expands on a certain Red Dwarf episode.
It stands out on its own as a book and not just an expansion of a few Red Dwarf episodes (there's nothing wrong with this). There are a couple charaters brought in from the show (e.g. Kinotowowi from Emohawk) but nothing else directly.

The story itself is excellent, well thought out, unpredictable and does not have that feel good factor of the TV show. It is dark and has a sinister element to it.

It is definately worth getting as it gets a big tick in two boxes: for those who have a thirst for Red Dwarf and for those who want a good book with a strong story.

Genius, 26 Apr 2004
For the past eight years I have been a dedicated reader of Sci-Fi, beforethis I had a very short concentration span and very rarely got into a goodbook. The Red Dwarf series taught me that not all books are hard to followand that even I couldn't put a good book down once in a while. I was a bigfan of the TV series so the books were a natural progression and I wasn'tdissapointed, the two authors (Rob Grant and Doug Naylor) quite obviouslywork exceptionally well together and have produced the funniest series ofsci-fi books since Douglas Adams Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy. In factI could safely say that together they continue the genius that was DouglasAdams. The concepts and characters that make up Red Dwarf are fantastic,perfectly thought out and expertly developped. Things like Better ThanLife, Cat, Polymorph - in fact I am going to stop there because I could goon and name everything, but it is all brilliant stuff which immerses yourinquisitive minds into a world of comedy, claustrophobia, space and smeg!

Not just for Red Dwarf fans, 05 Nov 2008
Unusually I've never been a particular fan of RD.
The show always seemed to fall into formula latterly, basically they'd leave the ship, discover something engage in some slapstick and head home.

However the books are a different matter - these are the classic two writer books and are much superior to the later Backwards/ Last Human books.

So basically the plot is that a motley crew of a revived human, a hologram of a dead man, a super-evolved cat and a sanitation droid (robot) try to pick their way through an decrepit universe. The comedy is mainly of the Odd Couple type with Rimmer and Lister at each others throats.
The books are highly inventive and very readable, not actually laugh out loud funny for me, but excellent sci-fi comedy.

This is a two book set and well worth buying if you're either a sci-fi or a comedy fan.

Dwarfing Heaven, 21 Dec 2006
If you have ever seen, and enjoyed, the surreal and cult classic Red Dwarf, this book is a must. The insane situations that the Lister, Rimmer, Cat, Holly (and later Kryten) get up to are quite simply hilarious on teh screen and the first book follows more or less the storyline of the first 3-4series. its promotes and expands on some of the storylines that could never had been suitable televised in the late 80s & ealry 90s like Rimmers capitalist empire and listers original story. i simply could not put the omnibus down and have read it time after time.
for fans of: red dwarf (obviously), hitch-hikers guide, other rob grant books (imcompetance and colony... both worth a look) and life in general.


Red dwarf - an oldie but a goodie, 03 Mar 2006
straight from the writers of the hit SCI-FI show Red Dwarf. This book, written by Rob Grant and Doug naylor (Grant Naylor),has to be the perfect additon to any dwarfers' collection.
the majourity of the 1st book 'Infinity welcomes careful drivers' ties up many of the loose ends the early seires' (1-4/5) failed to cover/broadcast such as what ever happend to all those other Cats? where as the 2nd book 'Better than life' continues the journey of Lister and co In the literacy world as well as tieing up someof the issues in the Later series'(5/6 -8/7) and provideing connections to the other books 'Backwards and 'Last human'.
this is a Fantastic book a must for any Dwarf Fan, like myself,and all the Grant Naylor books are 'un-put-downable...' !! Read it, Read it now! you will not be dissapointed. :D

Really really good!, 13 Dec 2005
I love this book so much it is unbelievable. It is often laugh out loud funny and the gang complement each other so well! I have to say my favourite character is Lister followed closely by Rimmer they are both so brilliant. I would recommend this book for anyone, even if they are not science fiction fans as it has little to do with reality! It would be an ideal christmas present for anybody that can read! I cannot wait to start on the other books.

Along the lines of "Hitchhikers' Guide", 08 Nov 2005
The Red Dwarf omnibus is along the lines of the Hitchhikers' Guide the Galaxy. I don't know if Brits wrote both, but the humor certainly seems British. I was hopeful when I began reading it and was not disappointed. After a few years I went back to it. I actually thought it was another book that I'd not liked quite as much, but happily my memory was faulty. Lister manages to get into the strangest situations in his journeys through space and time. With the Cat, Rimmer and Holly (oops, forgot the happily cleaning robot Kryten) life will never be the same. If you like British humor, this book will make you laugh.

Last hurrah, 02 Jan 2009
OK, It's Red Dwarf, so I was always going to buy it, but that's where they get you. I loved Infinity Welcomes, I loved BTL (hard to pick a fave between them) and, unlike other reviewers I have read, I loved Backwards, and felt that it was truly a worthwile successor to the other two fantastic books and the TV series. Last human in NOT awful, however, it's messy, piecemeal and unfunny, which is ok for SF, SF is often not funny and still immensely rivetting, but this one left me in a state of complete non-gripped-ness. I was completely,smegging, un-gripp-ed. It also struck me that there weren't gong to be any more RD books, which is sad.

Colony is not bad BTW, it's less emotionally charged then even the Red Dwarf books, (though I honestly found that the other 3 RD books were quite an emotional rollercoaster, because you really get to care about the characters - well, Rimmsy and Listy anyway...)Last Human left me sad because it was the last book, but only because it was so non-brilliant.

Shameless lazy cash-in, 03 Jan 2008
Having read "Backwards" and "incompetence" by rob grant, it is clear to see where the writing talent lay in the grant/naylor writing partnership. I almost felt personally insulted by how lazy and unoriginal this book was. Where Rob Grant, in Backwards, took a few situations from the episodes and strung an original, interesting and hilarious story together with entirely new and very funny jokes, "the last human" by doug naylor is essentially carbon copies of scripts and jokes merely placed within slightly different situations with characters that shouldn't even be there to rehash these same jokes and some poorly written prose in between to badly weld them together. this is a lazy book by a man who isn't, in fact, very funny or good at writing. Read "Backwards" instead and don't waste your time.

Red Dwarf. Smegging Great, 30 Nov 2005
This book is an amayzing find for any reader, fan of Red Dwarf or not your going to like it. It has a unique blend of action and comedy that works briliantly well, the story line is clever very unpredictable and witty, You can never tell whats going to happen. And to add it has a laugh out loud joke over every page which arn't even needed to stay in intrest. The Story line works so well, everything fits together from seperate stories and there are puzzles to work out that engages you, you really dont want to put it down. To sum up it's a hilerious and fun book, you'll really miss it when you've finished and is something you would want to read again. Red Dwarf fan or not

Not what you'd expect from a Red Dwarf Creation but.., 06 Mar 2005
The book does not really follow the pattern of the other Red Dwarf books where it's split up into linked sub-stories, where each sub-story expands on a certain Red Dwarf episode.
It stands out on its own as a book and not just an expansion of a few Red Dwarf episodes (there's nothing wrong with this). There are a couple charaters brought in from the show (e.g. Kinotowowi from Emohawk) but nothing else directly.

The story itself is excellent, well thought out, unpredictable and does not have that feel good factor of the TV show. It is dark and has a sinister element to it.

It is definately worth getting as it gets a big tick in two boxes: for those who have a thirst for Red Dwarf and for those who want a good book with a strong story.

Genius, 26 Apr 2004
For the past eight years I have been a dedicated reader of Sci-Fi, beforethis I had a very short concentration span and very rarely got into a goodbook. The Red Dwarf series taught me that not all books are hard to followand that even I couldn't put a good book down once in a while. I was a bigfan of the TV series so the books were a natural progression and I wasn'tdissapointed, the two authors (Rob Grant and Doug Naylor) quite obviouslywork exceptionally well together and have produced the funniest series ofsci-fi books since Douglas Adams Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy. In factI could safely say that together they continue the genius that was DouglasAdams. The concepts and characters that make up Red Dwarf are fantastic,perfectly thought out and expertly developped. Things like Better ThanLife, Cat, Polymorph - in fact I am going to stop there because I could goon and name everything, but it is all brilliant stuff which immerses yourinquisitive minds into a world of comedy, claustrophobia, space and smeg!

Brilliant, 21 Jan 2008
A fantastic peice of science-fiction comedy that outshines Doug Naylor's "last Human" in every way. Very well written and has an intrigueing plot that, while it borrows its general situations from episodes from the series, does not spend its time rehashing the same plot twists and verbal interchanges. "last human" contained many conversations and jokes between characters that where merely carbon copies from the tv scripts, very lazy indeed. "Backwards", however, develops the basic ideas of several episodes and turns them into something new and wonderful. I have read this book at least five or six times since I first read it and i'm sure I will again. If you like Rob Grants humour then I would highly recommend his other book "incompetence". it is laugh out loud funny very very often. Great Book!

Grant , how could you be bitter enough to foist this on us??, 21 Jan 2008
You can tell which writers do what on Red Dwarf after reading this and The Last Human. Naylor is the plot and comedy genius ie the Skinner of the two and Grant is the Baddiel (ie the not so funny one). Grant is the sarcasm and dark, twisted side of the partnership as evidenced here with this sadly unnecessary addition to the series. He (Grant) has ignored the previous 3 books completely and opted to set this in a completely different reality to the other 3 books, as by the end there is no possible way it could lead into The Last Human. (its 'supposed' to be set between BTL and TLH) Er... why?? Without giving anything away I found this book funny but hard to digest as things go from bad to worse to worse for our intrepid heroes with absolutely no light at the end of the tunnel - not what we want from a serial that sees baddies and other problems overcome at the end of every episode. I have owned this book for a while and read it a number of times and still think this book is a travesty compared to the other 3 that had ingrediants of everything. It looks like being the last in the series too, which is sad because basically Grant has ruined the whole thing and STILL left it open-ended. If I were you I would get the other 3 and ignore this one. A telling thing is that Grant left the Red Dwarf fold completely after this and handed everything to Naylor and it shows - he seems to have nothing but contempt for the characters. Read it and you'll see what I mean: they act and speak differently and some of the adventures they get up to are simply ridiculous and totally out of character. A sad ending to a fine series. Now Doug, please come back and fix what Grant ruined!

Entertaining, but..., 18 Oct 2004
I bought this book, along with Doug Naylor's effort "Last Human" a couple of months ago to bring to University with me. I have read the "Red Dwarf Omnibus" by Grant/Naylor multiple times, and absolutely adored it, so I thought these two books would be a great choice.
I am a little disappointed. Whilst both Last Human and this one, Backwards, have their moments of hilarity and inspired comedic setups, there just isn't the magic that was present when Grant and Naylor wrote together. In this case it is not true that: 'two halves make a whole,' as I was left slightly unimpressed by both author's books.
I have to say, however, that Backwards is far superior to Last Human. It is more in the well-known Red Dwarf spirit. I almost got the impression that in this book Rob Grant was more than willing to embrace his years as writer of Red Dwarf and use his experience to create a warm-hearted, eccentric yet entertaining read. Conversely, Last Human's author Doug Naylor seemed to wish to make a departure from the Red Dwarf style, which left me cold, I'm sad to say.
So, in conclusion, buy this book (Backwards) it's great, if not as great as the first two R.D. novels. In my opinion, it is better than Last Human.

a worthy addition to the first 2 Red Dwarf books, 27 Feb 2003
After the joint ventures of Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers and Better Than Life, Rob and Doug chose to write separate novels branching from the end of Better than life. Of the 2 books Backward is far superior. OF all the characters it's Rimmer's book. Grant's style of writing is very good not great but hey he's a TV writer.
The reason Backwards works is because of Rimmer: as a reader we get much more of the Rimmer/ace Rimmer problem leading top further deepening of the red dwarf crew. Of all the books this is the most positive, readers will say "positive what!!!" In backwards there is a lot of death and explosions and negative points but the development of Ace can't help but show the hope of Rimmer and feel pity.
The book is at time beautifully written: the two comparisons of Rimmer and ace Rimmer in the 100m sprint adds more life to the books. For these reasons alone it is the worthy 3rd Red Dwarf novel.

An action packed Sci-fi exposion of comedy.., 19 Jan 2002
I have been a huge Red Dwarf for many years, and just recently I blew the cobwebs off the bookshelf and decided to give BACKWARDS a read again. Before I start, let me just set the scene: This book DOES NOT start after the end of last human, but starts in the same place, after the end of BETTER THAN LIFE. The first half of the book is set in Backwards world, where Lister has served an 8 year jail sentace for a crime he doesn't know he's committed. Rob Grant must have spent a long time writing the backwards language, because I had to read the sentance a few times to understand what's being said!! (Nice one Rob!). Anyway, they finally find out what happened, and after a little delay work their way back to the forward universe, only to find that the small rouge one is missing...
The rest of the book follows the crew as they fight through one tragedy after another, injecting lines from the series into its fast moving comedy plotlines. The highlight of the book is the appearance of Ace Rimmer who strides in to save the day on more than one occassion.
The book is a constant rollercoster of comedy action, but lacks the complexities of Doug Naylor's Last human. But, all in all rounder well worth buying to read again
and again
and again
and again
and again
and again
and again
sorry.. I appear to be caught in some kind of spatial distortion that's spewing time into the universe...

Not just for Red Dwarf fans, 05 Nov 2008
Unusually I've never been a particular fan of RD.
The show always seemed to fall into formula latterly, basically they'd leave the ship, discover something engage in some slapstick and head home.

However the books are a different matter - these are the classic two writer books and are much superior to the later Backwards/ Last Human books.

So basically the plot is that a motley crew of a revived human, a hologram of a dead man, a super-evolved cat and a sanitation droid (robot) try to pick their way through an decrepit universe. The comedy is mainly of the Odd Couple type with Rimmer and Lister at each others throats.
The books are highly inventive and very readable, not actually laugh out loud funny for me, but excellent sci-fi comedy.

This is a two book set and well worth buying if you're either a sci-fi or a comedy fan.

Dwarfing Heaven, 21 Dec 2006
If you have ever seen, and enjoyed, the surreal and cult classic Red Dwarf, this book is a must. The insane situations that the Lister, Rimmer, Cat, Holly (and later Kryten) get up to are quite simply hilarious on teh screen and the first book follows more or less the storyline of the first 3-4series. its promotes and expands on some of the storylines that could never had been suitable televised in the late 80s & ealry 90s like Rimmers capitalist empire and listers original story. i simply could not put the omnibus down and have read it time after time.
for fans of: red dwarf (obviously), hitch-hikers guide, other rob grant books (imcompetance and colony... both worth a look) and life in general.


Red dwarf - an oldie but a goodie, 03 Mar 2006
straight from the writers of the hit SCI-FI show Red Dwarf. This book, written by Rob Grant and Doug naylor (Grant Naylor),has to be the perfect additon to any dwarfers' collection.
the majourity of the 1st book 'Infinity welcomes careful drivers' ties up many of the loose ends the early seires' (1-4/5) failed to cover/broadcast such as what ever happend to all those other Cats? where as the 2nd book 'Better than life' continues the journey of Lister and co In the literacy world as well as tieing up someof the issues in the Later series'(5/6 -8/7) and provideing connections to the other books 'Backwards and 'Last human'.
this is a Fantastic book a must for any Dwarf Fan, like myself,and all the Grant Naylor books are 'un-put-downable...' !! Read it, Read it now! you will not be dissapointed. :D

Really really good!, 13 Dec 2005
I love this book so much it is unbelievable. It is often laugh out loud funny and the gang complement each other so well! I have to say my favourite character is Lister followed closely by Rimmer they are both so brilliant. I would recommend this book for anyone, even if they are not science fiction fans as it has little to do with reality! It would be an ideal christmas present for anybody that can read! I cannot wait to start on the other books.

Along the lines of "Hitchhikers' Guide", 08 Nov 2005
The Red Dwarf omnibus is along the lines of the Hitchhikers' Guide the Galaxy. I don't know if Brits wrote both, but the humor certainly seems British. I was hopeful when I began reading it and was not disappointed. After a few years I went back to it. I actually thought it was another book that I'd not liked quite as much, but happily my memory was faulty. Lister manages to get into the strangest situations in his journeys through space and time. With the Cat, Rimmer and Holly (oops, forgot the happily cleaning robot Kryten) life will never be the same. If you like British humor, this book will make you laugh.

Last hurrah, 02 Jan 2009
OK, It's Red Dwarf, so I was always going to buy it, but that's where they get you. I loved Infinity Welcomes, I loved BTL (hard to pick a fave between them) and, unlike other reviewers I have read, I loved Backwards, and felt that it was truly a worthwile successor to the other two fantastic books and the TV series. Last human in NOT awful, however, it's messy, piecemeal and unfunny, which is ok for SF, SF is often not funny and still immensely rivetting, but this one left me in a state of complete non-gripped-ness. I was completely,smegging, un-gripp-ed. It also struck me that there weren't gong to be any more RD books, which is sad.

Colony is not bad BTW, it's less emotionally charged then even the Red Dwarf books, (though I honestly found that the other 3 RD books were quite an emotional rollercoaster, because you really get to care about the characters - well, Rimmsy and Listy anyway...)Last Human left me sad because it was the last book, but only because it was so non-brilliant.

Shameless lazy cash-in, 03 Jan 2008
Having read "Backwards" and "incompetence" by rob grant, it is clear to see where the writing talent lay in the grant/naylor writing partnership. I almost felt personally insulted by how lazy and unoriginal this book was. Where Rob Grant, in Backwards, took a few situations from the episodes and strung an original, interesting and hilarious story together with entirely new and very funny jokes, "the last human" by doug naylor is essentially carbon copies of scripts and jokes merely placed within slightly different situations with characters that shouldn't even be there to rehash these same jokes and some poorly written prose in between to badly weld them together. this is a lazy book by a man who isn't, in fact, very funny or good at writing. Read "Backwards" instead and don't waste your time.

Red Dwarf. Smegging Great, 30 Nov 2005
This book is an amayzing find for any reader, fan of Red Dwarf or not your going to like it. It has a unique blend of action and comedy that works briliantly well, the story line is clever very unpredictable and witty, You can never tell whats going to happen. And to add it has a laugh out loud joke over every page which arn't even needed to stay in intrest. The Story line works so well, everything fits together from seperate stories and there are puzzles to work out that engages you, you really dont want to put it down. To sum up it's a hilerious and fun book, you'll really miss it when you've finished and is something you would want to read again. Red Dwarf fan or not

Not what you'd expect from a Red Dwarf Creation but.., 06 Mar 2005
The book does not really follow the pattern of the other Red Dwarf books where it's split up into linked sub-stories, where each sub-story expands on a certain Red Dwarf episode.
It stands out on its own as a book and not just an expansion of a few Red Dwarf episodes (there's nothing wrong with this). There are a couple charaters brought in from the show (e.g. Kinotowowi from Emohawk) but nothing else directly.

The story itself is excellent, well thought out, unpredictable and does not have that feel good factor of the TV show. It is dark and has a sinister element to it.

It is definately worth getting as it gets a big tick in two boxes: for those who have a thirst for Red Dwarf and for those who want a good book with a strong story.

Genius, 26 Apr 2004
For the past eight years I have been a dedicated reader of Sci-Fi, beforethis I had a very short concentration span and very rarely got into a goodbook. The Red Dwarf series taught me that not all books are hard to followand that even I couldn't put a good book down once in a while. I was a bigfan of the TV series so the books were a natural progression and I wasn'tdissapointed, the two authors (Rob Grant and Doug Naylor) quite obviouslywork exceptionally well together and have produced the funniest series ofsci-fi books since Douglas Adams Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy. In factI could safely say that together they continue the genius that was DouglasAdams. The concepts and characters that make up Red Dwarf are fantastic,perfectly thought out and expertly developped. Things like Better ThanLife, Cat, Polymorph - in fact I am going to stop there because I could goon and name everything, but it is all brilliant stuff which immerses yourinquisitive minds into a world of comedy, claustrophobia, space and smeg!

Brilliant, 21 Jan 2008
A fantastic peice of science-fiction comedy that outshines Doug Naylor's "last Human" in every way. Very well written and has an intrigueing plot that, while it borrows its general situations from episodes from the series, does not spend its time rehashing the same plot twists and verbal interchanges. "last human" contained many conversations and jokes between characters that where merely carbon copies from the tv scripts, very lazy indeed. "Backwards", however, develops the basic ideas of several episodes and turns them into something new and wonderful. I have read this book at least five or six times since I first read it and i'm sure I will again. If you like Rob Grants humour then I would highly recommend his other book "incompetence". it is laugh out loud funny very very often. Great Book!

Grant , how could you be bitter enough to foist this on us??, 21 Jan 2008
You can tell which writers do what on Red Dwarf after reading this and The Last Human. Naylor is the plot and comedy genius ie the Skinner of the two and Grant is the Baddiel (ie the not so funny one). Grant is the sarcasm and dark, twisted side of the partnership as evidenced here with this sadly unnecessary addition to the series. He (Grant) has ignored the previous 3 books completely and opted to set this in a completely different reality to the other 3 books, as by the end there is no possible way it could lead into The Last Human. (its 'supposed' to be set between BTL and TLH) Er... why?? Without giving anything away I found this book funny but hard to digest as things go from bad to worse to worse for our intrepid heroes with absolutely no light at the end of the tunnel - not what we want from a serial that sees baddies and other problems overcome at the end of every episode. I have owned this book for a while and read it a number of times and still think this book is a travesty compared to the other 3 that had ingrediants of everything. It looks like being the last in the series too, which is sad because basically Grant has ruined the whole thing and STILL left it open-ended. If I were you I would get the other 3 and ignore this one. A telling thing is that Grant left the Red Dwarf fold completely after this and handed everything to Naylor and it shows - he seems to have nothing but contempt for the characters. Read it and you'll see what I mean: they act and speak differently and some of the adventures they get up to are simply ridiculous and totally out of character. A sad ending to a fine series. Now Doug, please come back and fix what Grant ruined!

Entertaining, but..., 18 Oct 2004
I bought this book, along with Doug Naylor's effort "Last Human" a couple of months ago to bring to University with me. I have read the "Red Dwarf Omnibus" by Grant/Naylor multiple times, and absolutely adored it, so I thought these two books would be a great choice.
I am a little disappointed. Whilst both Last Human and this one, Backwards, have their moments of hilarity and inspired comedic setups, there just isn't the magic that was present when Grant and Naylor wrote together. In this case it is not true that: 'two halves make a whole,' as I was left slightly unimpressed by both author's books.
I have to say, however, that Backwards is far superior to Last Human. It is more in the well-known Red Dwarf spirit. I almost got the impression that in this book Rob Grant was more than willing to embrace his years as writer of Red Dwarf and use his experience to create a warm-hearted, eccentric yet entertaining read. Conversely, Last Human's author Doug Naylor seemed to wish to make a departure from the Red Dwarf style, which left me cold, I'm sad to say.
So, in conclusion, buy this book (Backwards) it's great, if not as great as the first two R.D. novels. In my opinion, it is better than Last Human.

a worthy addition to the first 2 Red Dwarf books, 27 Feb 2003
After the joint ventures of Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers and Better Than Life, Rob and Doug chose to write separate novels branching from the end of Better than life. Of the 2 books Backward is far superior. OF all the characters it's Rimmer's book. Grant's style of writing is very good not great but hey he's a TV writer.
The reason Backwards works is because of Rimmer: as a reader we get much more of the Rimmer/ace Rimmer problem leading top further deepening of the red dwarf crew. Of all the books this is the most positive, readers will say "positive what!!!" In backwards there is a lot of death and explosions and negative points but the development of Ace can't help but show the hope of Rimmer and feel pity.
The book is at time beautifully written: the two comparisons of Rimmer and ace Rimmer in the 100m sprint adds more life to the books. For these reasons alone it is the worthy 3rd Red Dwarf novel.

An action packed Sci-fi exposion of comedy.., 19 Jan 2002
I have been a huge Red Dwarf for many years, and just recently I blew the cobwebs off the bookshelf and decided to give BACKWARDS a read again. Before I start, let me just set the scene: This book DOES NOT start after the end of last human, but starts in the same place, after the end of BETTER THAN LIFE. The first half of the book is set in Backwards world, where Lister has served an 8 year jail sentace for a crime he doesn't know he's committed. Rob Grant must have spent a long time writing the backwards language, because I had to read the sentance a few times to understand what's being said!! (Nice one Rob!). Anyway, they finally find out what happened, and after a little delay work their way back to the forward universe, only to find that the small rouge one is missing...
The rest of the book follows the crew as they fight through one tragedy after another, injecting lines from the series into its fast moving comedy plotlines. The highlight of the book is the appearance of Ace Rimmer who strides in to save the day on more than one occassion.
The book is a constant rollercoster of comedy action, but lacks the complexities of Doug Naylor's Last human. But, all in all rounder well worth buying to read again
and again
and again
and again
and again
and again
and again
sorry.. I appear to be caught in some kind of spatial distortion that's spewing time into the universe...

Better than life, indeedy, 21 Nov 2005
Based on Better Than Life, this is the follow on 12 part series written for BBC Radio. Chris Barrie does a much better job than Grant Naylor has in previous readings, you can tell the latter is an author rather than an actor. Even if you choose the unabridged versions of Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers and Better Than Life, I strongly recommend the Chris Barrie versions after listening to this.

Audio book FINALLY up to scratch, 14 Nov 2004
Okay, okay. So it's not the entire thing. Admitted. But it's still great.
And let's face it, anything narrated by Chris Barrie would be great. But this is the VERY FIRST red dwarf book, argueably the best Red Dwarf book (if not simply the best BOOK full stop) and although the sound effects aren't cinema quality, they're funny and 'Rimmer' makes it even more so.
Great buy, great Audio book - smegging great!

Its still good, 19 Oct 1999
Well, it is most of the first RD book (Infinity welcomes careful drivers) as read by Chris Barrie with some sound effects... I only wish it was the full book!

Not just for Red Dwarf fans, 05 Nov 2008
Unusually I've never been a particular fan of RD.
The show always seemed to fall into formula latterly, basically they'd leave the ship, discover something engage in some slapstick and head home.

However the books are a different matter - these are the classic two writer books and are much superior to the later Backwards/ Last Human books.

So basically the plot is that a motley crew of a revived human, a hologram of a dead man, a super-evolved cat and a sanitation droid (robot) try to pick their way through an decrepit universe. The comedy is mainly of the Odd Couple type with Rimmer and Lister at each others throats.
The books are highly inventive and very readable, not actually laugh out loud funny for me, but excellent sci-fi comedy.

This is a two book set and well worth buying if you're either a sci-fi or a comedy fan.

Dwarfing Heaven, 21 Dec 2006
If you have ever seen, and enjoyed, the surreal and cult classic Red Dwarf, this book is a must. The insane situations that the Lister, Rimmer, Cat, Holly (and later Kryten) get up to are quite simply hilarious on teh screen and the first book follows more or less the storyline of the first 3-4series. its promotes and expands on some of the storylines that could never had been suitable televised in the late 80s & ealry 90s like Rimmers capitalist empire and listers original story. i simply could not put the omnibus down and have read it time after time.
for fans of: red dwarf (obviously), hitch-hikers guide, other rob grant books (imcompetance and colony... both worth a look) and life in general.


Red dwarf - an oldie but a goodie, 03 Mar 2006
straight from the writers of the hit SCI-FI show Red Dwarf. This book, written by Rob Grant and Doug naylor (Grant Naylor),has to be the perfect additon to any dwarfers' collection.
the majourity of the 1st book 'Infinity welcomes careful drivers' ties up many of the loose ends the early seires' (1-4/5) failed to cover/broadcast such as what ever happend to all those other Cats? where as the 2nd book 'Better than life' continues the journey of Lister and co In the literacy world as well as tieing up someof the issues in the Later series'(5/6 -8/7) and provideing connections to the other books 'Backwards and 'Last human'.
this is a Fantastic book a must for any Dwarf Fan, like myself,and all the Grant Naylor books are 'un-put-downable...' !! Read it, Read it now! you will not be dissapointed. :D

Really really good!, 13 Dec 2005
I love this book so much it is unbelievable. It is often laugh out loud funny and the gang complement each other so well! I have to say my favourite character is Lister followed closely by Rimmer they are both so brilliant. I would recommend this book for anyone, even if they are not science fiction fans as it has little to do with reality! It would be an ideal christmas present for anybody that can read! I cannot wait to start on the other books.

Along the lines of "Hitchhikers' Guide", 08 Nov 2005
The Red Dwarf omnibus is along the lines of the Hitchhikers' Guide the Galaxy. I don't know if Brits wrote both, but the humor certainly seems British. I was hopeful when I began reading it and was not disappointed. After a few years I went back to it. I actually thought it was another book that I'd not liked quite as much, but happily my memory was faulty. Lister manages to get into the strangest situations in his journeys through space and time. With the Cat, Rimmer and Holly (oops, forgot the happily cleaning robot Kryten) life will never be the same. If you like British humor, this book will make you laugh.

Last hurrah, 02 Jan 2009
OK, It's Red Dwarf, so I was always going to buy it, but that's where they get you. I loved Infinity Welcomes, I loved BTL (hard to pick a fave between them) and, unlike other reviewers I have read, I loved Backwards, and felt that it was truly a worthwile successor to the other two fantastic books and the TV series. Last human in NOT awful, however, it's messy, piecemeal and unfunny, which is ok for SF, SF is often not funny and still immensely rivetting, but this one left me in a state of complete non-gripped-ness. I was completely,smegging, un-gripp-ed. It also struck me that there weren't gong to be any more RD books, which is sad.

Colony is not bad BTW, it's less emotionally charged then even the Red Dwarf books, (though I honestly found that the other 3 RD books were quite an emotional rollercoaster, because you really get to care about the characters - well, Rimmsy and Listy anyway...)Last Human left me sad because it was the last book, but only because it was so non-brilliant.

Shameless lazy cash-in, 03 Jan 2008
Having read "Backwards" and "incompetence" by rob grant, it is clear to see where the writing talent lay in the grant/naylor writing partnership. I almost felt personally insulted by how lazy and unoriginal this book was. Where Rob Grant, in Backwards, took a few situations from the episodes and strung an original, interesting and hilarious story together with entirely new and very funny jokes, "the last human" by doug naylor is essentially carbon copies of scripts and jokes merely placed within slightly different situations with characters that shouldn't even be there to rehash these same jokes and some poorly written prose in between to badly weld them together. this is a lazy book by a man who isn't, in fact, very funny or good at writing. Read "Backwards" instead and don't waste your time.

Red Dwarf. Smegging Great, 30 Nov 2005
This book is an amayzing find for any reader, fan of Red Dwarf or not your going to like it. It has a unique blend of action and comedy that works briliantly well, the story line is clever very unpredictable and witty, You can never tell whats going to happen. And to add it has a laugh out loud joke over every page which arn't even needed to stay in intrest. The Story line works so well, everything fits together from seperate stories and there are puzzles to work out that engages you, you really dont want to put it down. To sum up it's a hilerious and fun book, you'll really miss it when you've finished and is something you would want to read again. Red Dwarf fan or not

Not what you'd expect from a Red Dwarf Creation but.., 06 Mar 2005
The book does not really follow the pattern of the other Red Dwarf books where it's split up into linked sub-stories, where each sub-story expands on a certain Red Dwarf episode.
It stands out on its own as a book and not just an expansion of a few Red Dwarf episodes (there's nothing wrong with this). There are a couple charaters brought in from the show (e.g. Kinotowowi from Emohawk) but nothing else directly.

The story itself is excellent, well thought out, unpredictable and does not have that feel good factor of the TV show. It is dark and has a sinister element to it.

It is definately worth getting as it gets a big tick in two boxes: for those who have a thirst for Red Dwarf and for those who want a good book with a strong story.

Genius, 26 Apr 2004
For the past eight years I have been a dedicated reader of Sci-Fi, beforethis I had a very short concentration span and very rarely got into a goodbook. The Red Dwarf series taught me that not all books are hard to followand that even I couldn't put a good book down once in a while. I was a bigfan of the TV series so the books were a natural progression and I wasn'tdissapointed, the two authors (Rob Grant and Doug Naylor) quite obviouslywork exceptionally well together and have produced the funniest series ofsci-fi books since Douglas Adams Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy. In factI could safely say that together they continue the genius that was DouglasAdams. The concepts and characters that make up Red Dwarf are fantastic,perfectly thought out and expertly developped. Things like Better ThanLife, Cat, Polymorph - in fact I am going to stop there because I could goon and name everything, but it is all brilliant stuff which immerses yourinquisitive minds into a world of comedy, claustrophobia, space and smeg!

Brilliant, 21 Jan 2008
A fantastic peice of science-fiction comedy that outshines Doug Naylor's "last Human" in every way. Very well written and has an intrigueing plot that, while it borrows its general situations from episodes from the series, does not spend its time rehashing the same plot twists and verbal interchanges. "last human" contained many conversations and jokes between characters that where merely carbon copies from the tv scripts, very lazy indeed. "Backwards", however, develops the basic ideas of several episodes and turns them into something new and wonderful. I have read this book at least five or six times since I first read it and i'm sure I will again. If you like Rob Grants humour then I would highly recommend his other book "incompetence". it is laugh out loud funny very very often. Great Book!

Grant , how could you be bitter enough to foist this on us??, 21 Jan 2008
You can tell which writers do what on Red Dwarf after reading this and The Last Human. Naylor is the plot and comedy genius ie the Skinner of the two and Grant is the Baddiel (ie the not so funny one). Grant is the sarcasm and dark, twisted side of the partnership as evidenced here with this sadly unnecessary addition to the series. He (Grant) has ignored the previous 3 books completely and opted to set this in a completely different reality to the other 3 books, as by the end there is no possible way it could lead into The Last Human. (its 'supposed' to be set between BTL and TLH) Er... why?? Without giving anything away I found this book funny but hard to digest as things go from bad to worse to worse for our intrepid heroes with absolutely no light at the end of the tunnel - not what we want from a serial that sees baddies and other problems overcome at the end of every episode. I have owned this book for a while and read it a number of times and still think this book is a travesty compared to the other 3 that had ingrediants of everything. It looks like being the last in the series too, which is sad because basically Grant has ruined the whole thing and STILL left it open-ended. If I were you I would get the other 3 and ignore this one. A telling thing is that Grant left the Red Dwarf fold completely after this and handed everything to Naylor and it shows - he seems to have nothing but contempt for the characters. Read it and you'll see what I mean: they act and speak differently and some of the adventures they get up to are simply ridiculous and totally out of character. A sad ending to a fine series. Now Doug, please come back and fix what Grant ruined!

Entertaining, but..., 18 Oct 2004
I bought this book, along with Doug Naylor's effort "Last Human" a couple of months ago to bring to University with me. I have read the "Red Dwarf Omnibus" by Grant/Naylor multiple times, and absolutely adored it, so I thought these two books would be a great choice.
I am a little disappointed. Whilst both Last Human and this one, Backwards, have their moments of hilarity and inspired comedic setups, there just isn't the magic that was present when Grant and Naylor wrote together. In this case it is not true that: 'two halves make a whole,' as I was left slightly unimpressed by both author's books.
I have to say, however, that Backwards is far superior to Last Human. It is more in the well-known Red Dwarf spirit. I almost got the impression that in this book Rob Grant was more than willing to embrace his years as writer of Red Dwarf and use his experience to create a warm-hearted, eccentric yet entertaining read. Conversely, Last Human's author Doug Naylor seemed to wish to make a departure from the Red Dwarf style, which left me cold, I'm sad to say.
So, in conclusion, buy this book (Backwards) it's great, if not as great as the first two R.D. novels. In my opinion, it is better than Last Human.

a worthy addition to the first 2 Red Dwarf books, 27 Feb 2003
After the joint ventures of Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers and Better Than Life, Rob and Doug chose to write separate novels branching from the end of Better than life. Of the 2 books Backward is far superior. OF all the characters it's Rimmer's book. Grant's style of writing is very good not great but hey he's a TV writer.
The reason Backwards works is because of Rimmer: as a reader we get much more of the Rimmer/ace Rimmer problem leading top further deepening of the red dwarf crew. Of all the books this is the most positive, readers will say "positive what!!!" In backwards there is a lot of death and explosions and negative points but the development of Ace can't help but show the hope of Rimmer and feel pity.
The book is at time beautifully written: the two comparisons of Rimmer and ace Rimmer in the 100m sprint adds more life to the books. For these reasons alone it is the worthy 3rd Red Dwarf novel.

An action packed Sci-fi exposion of comedy.., 19 Jan 2002
I have been a huge Red Dwarf for many years, and just recently I blew the cobwebs off the bookshelf and decided to give BACKWARDS a read again. Before I start, let me just set the scene: This book DOES NOT start after the end of last human, but starts in the same place, after the end of BETTER THAN LIFE. The first half of the book is set in Backwards world, where Lister has served an 8 year jail sentace for a crime he doesn't know he's committed. Rob Grant must have spent a long time writing the backwards language, because I had to read the sentance a few times to understand what's being said!! (Nice one Rob!). Anyway, they finally find out what happened, and after a little delay work their way back to the forward universe, only to find that the small rouge one is missing...
The rest of the book follows the crew as they fight through one tragedy after another, injecting lines from the series into its fast moving comedy plotlines. The highlight of the book is the appearance of Ace Rimmer who strides in to save the day on more than one occassion.
The book is a constant rollercoster of comedy action, but lacks the complexities of Doug Naylor's Last human. But, all in all rounder well worth buying to read again
and again
and again
and again
and again
and again
and again
sorry.. I appear to be caught in some kind of spatial distortion that's spewing time into the universe...

Better than life, indeedy, 21 Nov 2005
Based on Better Than Life, this is the follow on 12 part series written for BBC Radio. Chris Barrie does a much better job than Grant Naylor has in previous readings, you can tell the latter is an author rather than an actor. Even if you choose the unabridged versions of Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers and Better Than Life, I strongly recommend the Chris Barrie versions after listening to this.

Audio book FINALLY up to scratch, 14 Nov 2004
Okay, okay. So it's not the entire thing. Admitted. But it's still great.
And let's face it, anything narrated by Chris Barrie would be great. But this is the VERY FIRST red dwarf book, argueably the best Red Dwarf book (if not simply the best BOOK full stop) and although the sound effects aren't cinema quality, they're funny and 'Rimmer' makes it even more so.
Great buy, great Audio book - smegging great!

Its still good, 19 Oct 1999
Well, it is most of the first RD book (Infinity welcomes careful drivers) as read by Chris Barrie with some sound effects... I only wish it was the full book!

Better than the tv series, 04 Nov 2000
Spanning about six episodes (which I can recognise) of the TV series, this book is simply a must, You can keep the voice of the ORIGINAL talkie toaster in your head as you read it and not the new thing they got for series 4. The jokes are funnier its better structered, just better genrally...

Very "listenable", 11 Jan 1999
I enjoyed this tape, listening to it after "lights out": I thought Chris Barrie's reproduction of the voices and accents of his co-stars from the TV series was very skilled: it was hard to believe that he was doing it all himself. It is not as zany as the tv series but I found it charmingly imaginative.

Not just for Red Dwarf fans, 05 Nov 2008
Unusually I've never been a particular fan of RD.
The show always seemed to fall into formula latterly, basically they'd leave the ship, discover something engage in some slapstick and head home.

However the books are a different matter - these are the classic two writer books and are much superior to the later Backwards/ Last Human books.

So basically the plot is that a motley crew of a revived human, a hologram of a dead man, a super-evolved cat and a sanitation droid (robot) try to pick their way through an decrepit universe. The comedy is mainly of the Odd Couple type with Rimmer and Lister at each others throats.
The books are highly inventive and very readable, not actually laugh out loud funny for me, but excellent sci-fi comedy.

This is a two book set and well worth buying if you're either a sci-fi or a comedy fan.

Dwarfing Heaven, 21 Dec 2006
If you have ever seen, and enjoyed, the surreal and cult classic Red Dwarf, this book is a must. The insane situations that the Lister, Rimmer, Cat, Holly (and later Kryten) get up to are quite simply hilarious on teh screen and the first book follows more or less the storyline of the first 3-4series. its promotes and expands on some of the storylines that could never had been suitable televised in the late 80s & ealry 90s like Rimmers capitalist empire and listers original story. i simply could not put the omnibus down and have read it time after time.
for fans of: red dwarf (obviously), hitch-hikers guide, other rob grant books (imcompetance and colony... both worth a look) and life in general.


Red dwarf - an oldie but a goodie, 03 Mar 2006
straight from the writers of the hit SCI-FI show Red Dwarf. This book, written by Rob Grant and Doug naylor (Grant Naylor),has to be the perfect additon to any dwarfers' collection.
the majourity of the 1st book 'Infinity welcomes careful drivers' ties up many of the loose ends the early seires' (1-4/5) failed to cover/broadcast such as what ever happend to all those other Cats? where as the 2nd book 'Better than life' continues the journey of Lister and co In the literacy world as well as tieing up someof the issues in the Later series'(5/6 -8/7) and provideing connections to the other books 'Backwards and 'Last human'.
this is a Fantastic book a must for any Dwarf Fan, like myself,and all the Grant Naylor books are 'un-put-downable...' !! Read it, Read it now! you will not be dissapointed. :D

Really really good!, 13 Dec 2005
I love this book so much it is unbelievable. It is often laugh out loud funny and the gang complement each other so well! I have to say my favourite character is Lister followed closely by Rimmer they are both so brilliant. I would recommend this book for anyone, even if they are not science fiction fans as it has little to do with reality! It would be an ideal christmas present for anybody that can read! I cannot wait to start on the other books.

Along the lines of "Hitchhikers' Guide", 08 Nov 2005
The Red Dwarf omnibus is along the lines of the Hitchhikers' Guide the Galaxy. I don't know if Brits wrote both, but the humor certainly seems British. I was hopeful when I began reading it and was not disappointed. After a few years I went back to it. I actually thought it was another book that I'd not liked quite as much, but happily my memory was faulty. Lister manages to get into the strangest situations in his journeys through space and time. With the Cat, Rimmer and Holly (oops, forgot the happily cleaning robot Kryten) life will never be the same. If you like British humor, this book will make you laugh.

Last hurrah, 02 Jan 2009
OK, It's Red Dwarf, so I was always going to buy it, but that's where they get you. I loved Infinity Welcomes, I loved BTL (hard to pick a fave between them) and, unlike other reviewers I have read, I loved Backwards, and felt that it was truly a worthwile successor to the other two fantastic books and the TV series. Last human in NOT awful, however, it's messy, piecemeal and unfunny, which is ok for SF, SF is often not funny and still immensely rivetting, but this one left me in a state of complete non-gripped-ness. I was completely,smegging, un-gripp-ed. It also struck me that there weren't gong to be any more RD books, which is sad.

Colony is not bad BTW, it's less emotionally charged then even the Red Dwarf books, (though I honestly found that the other 3 RD books were quite an emotional rollercoaster, because you really get to care about the characters - well, Rimmsy and Listy anyway...)Last Human left me sad because it was the last book, but only because it was so non-brilliant.

Shameless lazy cash-in, 03 Jan 2008
Having read "Backwards" and "incompetence" by rob grant, it is clear to see where the writing talent lay in the grant/naylor writing partnership. I almost felt personally insulted by how lazy and unoriginal this book was. Where Rob Grant, in Backwards, took a few situations from the episodes and strung an original, interesting and hilarious story together with entirely new and very funny jokes, "the last human" by doug naylor is essentially carbon copies of scripts and jokes merely placed within slightly different situations with characters that shouldn't even be there to rehash these same jokes and some poorly written prose in between to badly weld them together. this is a lazy book by a man who isn't, in fact, very funny or good at writing. Read "Backwards" instead and don't waste your time.

Red Dwarf. Smegging Great, 30 Nov 2005
This book is an amayzing find for any reader, fan of Red Dwarf or not your going to like it. It has a unique blend of action and comedy that works briliantly well, the story line is clever very unpredictable and witty, You can never tell whats going to happen. And to add it has a laugh out loud joke over every page which arn't even needed to stay in intrest. The Story line works so well, everything fits together from seperate stories and there are puzzles to work out that engages you, you really dont want to put it down. To sum up it's a hilerious and fun book, you'll really miss it when you've finished and is something you would want to read again. Red Dwarf fan or not

Not what you'd expect from a Red Dwarf Creation but.., 06 Mar 2005
The book does not really follow the pattern of the other Red Dwarf books where it's split up into linked sub-stories, where each sub-story expands on a certain Red Dwarf episode.
It stands out on its own as a book and not just an expansion of a few Red Dwarf episodes (there's nothing wrong with this). There are a couple charaters brought in from the show (e.g. Kinotowowi from Emohawk) but nothing else directly.

The story itself is excellent, well thought out, unpredictable and does not have that feel good factor of the TV show. It is dark and has a sinister element to it.

It is definately worth getting as it gets a big tick in two boxes: for those who have a thirst for Red Dwarf and for those who want a good book with a strong story.

Genius, 26 Apr 2004
For the past eight years I have been a dedicated reader of Sci-Fi, beforethis I had a very short concentration span and very rarely got into a goodbook. The Red Dwarf series taught me that not all books are hard to followand that even I couldn't put a good book down once in a while. I was a bigfan of the TV series so the books were a natural progression and I wasn'tdissapointed, the two authors (Rob Grant and Doug Naylor) quite obviouslywork exceptionally well together and have produced the funniest series ofsci-fi books since Douglas Adams Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy. In factI could safely say that together they continue the genius that was DouglasAdams. The concepts and characters that make up Red Dwarf are fantastic,perfectly thought out and expertly developped. Things like Better ThanLife, Cat, Polymorph - in fact I am going to stop there because I could goon and name everything, but it is all brilliant stuff which immerses yourinquisitive minds into a world of comedy, claustrophobia, space and smeg!

Brilliant, 21 Jan 2008
A fantastic peice of science-fiction comedy that outshines Doug Naylor's "last Human" in every way. Very well written and has an intrigueing plot that, while it borrows its general situations from episodes from the series, does not spend its time rehashing the same plot twists and verbal interchanges. "last human" contained many conversations and jokes between characters that where merely carbon copies from the tv scripts, very lazy indeed. "Backwards", however, develops the basic ideas of several episodes and turns them into something new and wonderful. I have read this book at least five or six times since I first read it and i'm sure I will again. If you like Rob Grants humour then I would highly recommend his other book "incompetence". it is laugh out loud funny very very often. Great Book!

Grant , how could you be bitter enough to foist this on us??, 21 Jan 2008
You can tell which writers do what on Red Dwarf after reading this and The Last Human. Naylor is the plot and comedy genius ie the Skinner of the two and Grant is the Baddiel (ie the not so funny one). Grant is the sarcasm and dark, twisted side of the partnership as evidenced here with this sadly unnecessary addition to the series. He (Grant) has ignored the previous 3 books completely and opted to set this in a completely different reality to the other 3 books, as by the end there is no possible way it could lead into The Last Human. (its 'supposed' to be set between BTL and TLH) Er... why?? Without giving anything away I found this book funny but hard to digest as things go from bad to worse to worse for our intrepid heroes with absolutely no light at the end of the tunnel - not what we want from a serial that sees baddies and other problems overcome at the end of every episode. I have owned this book for a while and read it a number of times and still think this book is a travesty compared to the other 3 that had ingrediants of everything. It looks like being the last in the series too, which is sad because basically Grant has ruined the whole thing and STILL left it open-ended. If I were you I would get the other 3 and ignore this one. A telling thing is that Grant left the Red Dwarf fold completely after this and handed everything to Naylor and it shows - he seems to have nothing but contempt for the characters. Read it and you'll see what I mean: they act and speak differently and some of the adventures they get up to are simply ridiculous and totally out of character. A sad ending to a fine series. Now Doug, please come back and fix what Grant ruined!

Entertaining, but..., 18 Oct 2004
I bought this book, along with Doug Naylor's effort "Last Human" a couple of months ago to bring to University with me. I have read the "Red Dwarf Omnibus" by Grant/Naylor multiple times, and absolutely adored it, so I thought these two books would be a great choice.
I am a little disappointed. Whilst both Last Human and this one, Backwards, have their moments of hilarity and inspired comedic setups, there just isn't the magic that was present when Grant and Naylor wrote together. In this case it is not true that: 'two halves make a whole,' as I was left slightly unimpressed by both author's books.
I have to say, however, that Backwards is far superior to Last Human. It is more in the well-known Red Dwarf spirit. I almost got the impression that in this book Rob Grant was more than willing to embrace his years as writer of Red Dwarf and use his experience to create a warm-hearted, eccentric yet entertaining read. Conversely, Last Human's author Doug Naylor seemed to wish to make a departure from the Red Dwarf style, which left me cold, I'm sad to say.
So, in conclusion, buy this book (Backwards) it's great, if not as great as the first two R.D. novels. In my opinion, it is better than Last Human.

a worthy addition to the first 2 Red Dwarf books, 27 Feb 2003
After the joint ventures of Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers and Better Than Life, Rob and Doug chose to write separate novels branching from the end of Better than life. Of the 2 books Backward is far superior. OF all the characters it's Rimmer's book. Grant's style of writing is very good not great but hey he's a TV writer.
The reason Backwards works is because of Rimmer: as a reader we get much more of the Rimmer/ace Rimmer problem leading top further deepening of the red dwarf crew. Of all the books this is the most positive, readers will say "positive what!!!" In backwards there is a lot of death and explosions and negative points but the development of Ace can't help but show the hope of Rimmer and feel pity.
The book is at time beautifully written: the two comparisons of Rimmer and ace Rimmer in the 100m sprint adds more life to the books. For these reasons alone it is the worthy 3rd Red Dwarf novel.

An action packed Sci-fi exposion of comedy.., 19 Jan 2002
I have been a huge Red Dwarf for many years, and just recently I blew the cobwebs off the bookshelf and decided to give BACKWARDS a read again. Before I start, let me just set the scene: This book DOES NOT start after the end of last human, but starts in the same place, after the end of BETTER THAN LIFE. The first half of the book is set in Backwards world, where Lister has served an 8 year jail sentace for a crime he doesn't know he's committed. Rob Grant must have spent a long time writing the backwards language, because I had to read the sentance a few times to understand what's being said!! (Nice one Rob!). Anyway, they finally find out what happened, and after a little delay work their way back to the forward universe, only to find that the small rouge one is missing...
The rest of the book follows the crew as they fight through one tragedy after another, injecting lines from the series into its fast moving comedy plotlines. The highlight of the book is the appearance of Ace Rimmer who strides in to save the day on more than one occassion.
The book is a constant rollercoster of comedy action, but lacks the complexities of Doug Naylor's Last human. But, all in all rounder well worth buying to read again
and again
and again
and again
and again
and again
and again
sorry.. I appear to be caught in some kind of spatial distortion that's spewing time into the universe...

Better than life, indeedy, 21 Nov 2005
Based on Better Than Life, this is the follow on 12 part series written for BBC Radio. Chris Barrie does a much better job than Grant Naylor has in previous readings, you can tell the latter is an author rather than an actor. Even if you choose the unabridged versions of Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers and Better Than Life, I strongly recommend the Chris Barrie versions after listening to this.

Audio book FINALLY up to scratch, 14 Nov 2004
Okay, okay. So it's not the entire thing. Admitted. But it's still great.
And let's face it, anything narrated by Chris Barrie would be great. But this is the VERY FIRST red dwarf book, argueably the best Red Dwarf book (if not simply the best BOOK full stop) and although the sound effects aren't cinema quality, they're funny and 'Rimmer' makes it even more so.
Great buy, great Audio book - smegging great!

Its still good, 19 Oct 1999
Well, it is most of the first RD book (Infinity welcomes careful drivers) as read by Chris Barrie with some sound effects... I only wish it was the full book!

Better than the tv series, 04 Nov 2000
Spanning about six episodes (which I can recognise) of the TV series, this book is simply a must, You can keep the voice of the ORIGINAL talkie toaster in your head as you read it and not the new thing they got for series 4. The jokes are funnier its better structered, just better genrally...

Very "listenable", 11 Jan 1999
I enjoyed this tape, listening to it after "lights out": I thought Chris Barrie's reproduction of the voices and accents of his co-stars from the TV series was very skilled: it was hard to believe that he was doing it all himself. It is not as zany as the tv series but I found it charmingly imaginative.

Another hit from the Red dwarf team., 29 Sep 2000
This book was written when Red Dwarf was at its peak at the end of the eighties/early nineties. On a par with 'Backwrads', another great, it is again about the crew going into a fantasy world, this time a computer game which takes them into their wildest dreams, hence the title 'Better than life'. Each of the dreams are witty and inventive, Rimmer's being the funniest - he has kids and becomes a drunken tramp. The prose is undemanding and fun, the charectors well drawn (the authors know them in and out by now) and the dialogue witty. One or two parts had me laughing out loud, and its definitly worth a look. A comedy with thought, an intriguing idea, and one other writers would kill to be able to do this well.

Not just for Red Dwarf fans, 05 Nov 2008
Unusually I've never been a particular fan of RD.
The show always seemed to fall into formula latterly, basically they'd leave the ship, discover something engage in some slapstick and head home.

However the books are a different matter - these are the classic two writer books and are much superior to the later Backwards/ Last Human books.

So basically the plot is that a motley crew of a revived human, a hologram of a dead man, a super-evolved cat and a sanitation droid (robot) try to pick their way through an decrepit universe. The comedy is mainly of the Odd Couple type with Rimmer and Lister at each others throats.
The books are highly inventive and very readable, not actually laugh out loud funny for me, but excellent sci-fi comedy.

This is a two book set and well worth buying if you're either a sci-fi or a comedy fan.

Dwarfing Heaven, 21 Dec 2006
If you have ever seen, and enjoyed, the surreal and cult classic Red Dwarf, this book is a must. The insane situations that the Lister, Rimmer, Cat, Holly (and later Kryten) get up to are quite simply hilarious on teh screen and the first book follows more or less the storyline of the first 3-4series. its promotes and expands on some of the storylines that could never had been suitable televised in the late 80s & ealry 90s like Rimmers capitalist empire and listers original story. i simply could not put the omnibus down and have read it time after time.
for fans of: red dwarf (obviously), hitch-hikers guide, other rob grant books (imcompetance and colony... both worth a look) and life in general.


Red dwarf - an oldie but a goodie, 03 Mar 2006
straight from the writers of the hit SCI-FI show Red Dwarf. This book, written by Rob Grant and Doug naylor (Grant Naylor),has to be the perfect additon to any dwarfers' collection.
the majourity of the 1st book 'Infinity welcomes careful drivers' ties up many of the loose ends the early seires' (1-4/5) failed to cover/broadcast such as what ever happend to all those other Cats? where as the 2nd book 'Better than life' continues the journey of Lister and co In the literacy world as well as tieing up someof the issues in the Later series'(5/6 -8/7) and provideing connections to the other books 'Backwards and 'Last human'.
this is a Fantastic book a must for any Dwarf Fan, like myself,and all the Grant Naylor books are 'un-put-downable...' !! Read it, Read it now! you will not be dissapointed. :D

Really really good!, 13 Dec 2005
I love this book so much it is unbelievable. It is often laugh out loud funny and the gang complement each other so well! I have to say my favourite character is Lister followed closely by Rimmer they are both so brilliant. I would recommend this book for anyone, even if they are not science fiction fans as it has little to do with reality! It would be an ideal christmas present for anybody that can read! I cannot wait to start on the other books.

Along the lines of "Hitchhikers' Guide", 08 Nov 2005
The Red Dwarf omnibus is along the lines of the Hitchhikers' Guide the Galaxy. I don't know if Brits wrote both, but the humor certainly seems British. I was hopeful when I began reading it and was not disappointed. After a few years I went back to it. I actually thought it was another book that I'd not liked quite as much, but happily my memory was faulty. Lister manages to get into the strangest situations in his journeys through space and time. With the Cat, Rimmer and Holly (oops, forgot the happily cleaning robot Kryten) life will never be the same. If you like British humor, this book will make you laugh.

Last hurrah, 02 Jan 2009
OK, It's Red Dwarf, so I was always going to buy it, but that's where they get you. I loved Infinity Welcomes, I loved BTL (hard to pick a fave between them) and, unlike other reviewers I have read, I loved Backwards, and felt that it was truly a worthwile successor to the other two fantastic books and the TV series. Last human in NOT awful, however, it's messy, piecemeal and unfunny, which is ok for SF, SF is often not funny and still immensely rivetting, but this one left me in a state of complete non-gripped-ness. I was completely,smegging, un-gripp-ed. It also struck me that there weren't gong to be any more RD books, which is sad.

Colony is not bad BTW, it's less emotionally charged then even the Red Dwarf books, (though I honestly found that the other 3 RD books were quite an emotional rollercoaster, because you really get to care about the characters - well, Rimmsy and Listy anyway...)Last Human left me sad because it was the last book, but only because it was so non-brilliant.

Shameless lazy cash-in, 03 Jan 2008
Having read "Backwards" and "incompetence" by rob grant, it is clear to see where the writing talent lay in the grant/naylor writing partnership. I almost felt personally insulted by how lazy and unoriginal this book was. Where Rob Grant, in Backwards, took a few situations from the episodes and strung an original, interesting and hilarious story together with entirely new and very funny jokes, "the last human" by doug naylor is essentially carbon copies of scripts and jokes merely placed within slightly different situations with characters that shouldn't even be there to rehash these same jokes and some poorly written prose in between to badly weld them together. this is a lazy book by a man who isn't, in fact, very funny or good at writing. Read "Backwards" instead and don't waste your time.

Red Dwarf. Smegging Great, 30 Nov 2005
This book is an amayzing find for any reader, fan of Red Dwarf or not your going to like it. It has a unique blend of action and comedy that works briliantly well, the story line is clever very unpredictable and witty, You can never tell whats going to happen. And to add it has a laugh out loud joke over every page which arn't even needed to stay in intrest. The Story line works so well, everything fits together from seperate stories and there are puzzles to work out that engages you, you really dont want to put it down. To sum up it's a hilerious and fun book, you'll really miss it when you've finished and is something you would want to read again. Red Dwarf fan or not

Not what you'd expect from a Red Dwarf Creation but.., 06 Mar 2005
The book does not really follow the pattern of the other Red Dwarf books where it's split up into linked sub-stories, where each sub-story expands on a certain Red Dwarf episode.
It stands out on its own as a book and not just an expansion of a few Red Dwarf episodes (there's nothing wrong with this). There are a couple charaters brought in from the show (e.g. Kinotowowi from Emohawk) but nothing else directly.

The story itself is excellent, well thought out, unpredictable and does not have that feel good factor of the TV show. It is dark and has a sinister element to it.

It is definately worth getting as it gets a big tick in two boxes: for those who have a thirst for Red Dwarf and for those who want a good book with a strong story.

Genius, 26 Apr 2004
For the past eight years I have been a dedicated reader of Sci-Fi, beforethis I had a very short concentration span and very rarely got into a goodbook. The Red Dwarf series taught me that not all books are hard to followand that even I couldn't put a good book down once in a while. I was a bigfan of the TV series so the books were a natural progression and I wasn'tdissapointed, the two authors (Rob Grant and Doug Naylor) quite obviouslywork exceptionally well together and have produced the funniest series ofsci-fi books since Douglas Adams Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy. In factI could safely say that together they continue the genius that was DouglasAdams. The concepts and characters that make up Red Dwarf are fantastic,perfectly thought out and expertly developped. Things like Better ThanLife, Cat, Polymorph - in fact I am going to stop there because I could goon and name everything, but it is all brilliant stuff which immerses yourinquisitive minds into a world of comedy, claustrophobia, space and smeg!

Brilliant, 21 Jan 2008
A fantastic peice of science-fiction comedy that outshines Doug Naylor's "last Human" in every way. Very well written and has an intrigueing plot that, while it borrows its general situations from episodes from the series, does not spend its time rehashing the same plot twists and verbal interchanges. "last human" contained many conversations and jokes between characters that where merely carbon copies from the tv scripts, very lazy indeed. "Backwards", however, develops the basic ideas of several episodes and turns them into something new and wonderful. I have read this book at least five or six times since I first read it and i'm sure I will again. If you like Rob Grants humour then I would highly recommend his other book "incompetence". it is laugh out loud funny very very often. Great Book!

Grant , how could you be bitter enough to foist this on us??, 21 Jan 2008
You can tell which writers do what on Red Dwarf after reading this and The Last Human. Naylor is the plot and comedy genius ie the Skinner of the two and Grant is the Baddiel (ie the not so funny one). Grant is the sarcasm and dark, twisted side of the partnership as evidenced here with this sadly unnecessary addition to the series. He (Grant) has ignored the previous 3 books completely and opted to set this in a completely different reality to the other 3 books, as by the end there is no possible way it could lead into The Last Human. (its 'supposed' to be set between BTL and TLH) Er... why?? Without giving anything away I found this book funny but hard to digest as things go from bad to worse to worse for our intrepid heroes with absolutely no light at the end of the tunnel - not what we want from a serial that sees baddies and other problems overcome at the end of every episode. I have owned this book for a while and read it a number of times and still think this book is a travesty compared to the other 3 that had ingrediants of everything. It looks like being the last in the series too, which is sad because basically Grant has ruined the whole thing and STILL left it open-ended. If I were you I would get the other 3 and ignore this one. A telling thing is that Grant left the Red Dwarf fold completely after this and handed everything to Naylor and it shows - he seems to have nothing but contempt for the characters. Read it and you'll see what I mean: they act and speak differently and some of the adventures they get up to are simply ridiculous and totally out of character. A sad ending to a fine series. Now Doug, please come back and fix what Grant ruined!

Entertaining, but..., 18 Oct 2004
I bought this book, along with Doug Naylor's effort "Last Human" a couple of months ago to bring to University with me. I have read the "Red Dwarf Omnibus" by Grant/Naylor multiple times, and absolutely adored it, so I thought these two books would be a great choice.
I am a little disappointed. Whilst both Last Human and this one, Backwards, have their moments of hilarity and inspired comedic setups, there just isn't the magic that was present when Grant and Naylor wrote together. In this case it is not true that: 'two halves make a whole,' as I was left slightly unimpressed by both author's books.
I have to say, however, that Backwards is far superior to Last Human. It is more in the well-known Red Dwarf spirit. I almost got the impression that in this book Rob Grant was more than willing to embrace his years as writer of Red Dwarf and use his experience to create a warm-hearted, eccentric yet entertaining read. Conversely, Last Human's author Doug Naylor seemed to wish to make a departure from the Red Dwarf style, which left me cold, I'm sad to say.
So, in conclusion, buy this book (Backwards) it's great, if not as great as the first two R.D. novels. In my opinion, it is better than Last Human.

a worthy addition to the first 2 Red Dwarf books, 27 Feb 2003
After the joint ventures of Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers and Better Than Life, Rob and Doug chose to write separate novels branching from the end of Better than life. Of the 2 books Backward is far superior. OF all the characters it's Rimmer's book. Grant's style of writing is very good not great but hey he's a TV writer.
The reason Backwards works is because of Rimmer: as a reader we get much more of the Rimmer/ace Rimmer problem leading top further deepening of the red dwarf crew. Of all the books this is the most positive, readers will say "positive what!!!" In backwards there is a lot of death and explosions and negative points but the development of Ace can't help but show the hope of Rimmer and feel pity.
The book is at time beautifully written: the two comparisons of Rimmer and ace Rimmer in the 100m sprint adds more life to the books. For these reasons alone it is the worthy 3rd Red Dwarf novel.

An action packed Sci-fi exposion of comedy.., 19 Jan 2002
I have been a huge Red Dwarf for many years, and just recently I blew the cobwebs off the bookshelf and decided to give BACKWARDS a read again. Before I start, let me just set the scene: This book DOES NOT start after the end of last human, but starts in the same place, after the end of BETTER THAN LIFE. The first half of the book is set in Backwards world, where Lister has served an 8 year jail sentace for a crime he doesn't know he's committed. Rob Grant must have spent a long time writing the backwards language, because I had to read the sentance a few times to understand what's being said!! (Nice one Rob!). Anyway, they finally find out what happened, and after a little delay work their way back to the forward universe, only to find that the small rouge one is missing...
The rest of the book follows the crew as they fight through one tragedy after another, injecting lines from the series into its fast moving comedy plotlines. The highlight of the book is the appearance of Ace Rimmer who strides in to save the day on more than one occassion.
The book is a constant rollercoster of comedy action, but lacks the complexities of Doug Naylor's Last human. But, all in all rounder well worth buying to read again
and again
and again
and again
and again
and again
and again
sorry.. I appear to be caught in some kind of spatial distortion that's spewing time into the universe...

Better than life, indeedy, 21 Nov 2005
Based on Better Than Life, this is the follow on 12 part series written for BBC Radio. Chris Barrie does a much better job than Grant Naylor has in previous readings, you can tell the latter is an author rather than an actor. Even if you choose the unabridged versions of Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers and Better Than Life, I strongly recommend the Chris Barrie versions after listening to this.

Audio book FINALLY up to scratch, 14 Nov 2004
Okay, okay. So it's not the entire thing. Admitted. But it's still great.
And let's face it, anything narrated by Chris Barrie would be great. But this is the VERY FIRST red dwarf book, argueably the best Red Dwarf book (if not simply the best BOOK full stop) and although the sound effects aren't cinema quality, they're funny and 'Rimmer' makes it even more so.
Great buy, great Audio book - smegging great!

Its still good, 19 Oct 1999
Well, it is most of the first RD book (Infinity welcomes careful drivers) as read by Chris Barrie with some sound effects... I only wish it was the full book!

Better than the tv series, 04 Nov 2000
Spanning about six episodes (which I can recognise) of the TV series, this book is simply a must, You can keep the voice of the ORIGINAL talkie toaster in your head as you read it and not the new thing they got for series 4. The jokes are funnier its better structered, just better genrally...

Very "listenable", 11 Jan 1999
I enjoyed this tape, listening to it after "lights out": I thought Chris Barrie's reproduction of the voices and accents of his co-stars from the TV series was very skilled: it was hard to believe that he was doing it all himself. It is not as zany as the tv series but I found it charmingly imaginative.

Another hit from the Red dwarf team., 29 Sep 2000
This book was written when Red Dwarf was at its peak at the end of the eighties/early nineties. On a par with 'Backwrads', another great, it is again about the crew going into a fantasy world, this time a computer game which takes them into their wildest dreams, hence the title 'Better than life'. Each of the dreams are witty and inventive, Rimmer's being the funniest - he has kids and becomes a drunken tramp. The prose is undemanding and fun, the charectors well drawn (the authors know them in and out by now) and the dialogue witty. One or two parts had me laughing out loud, and its definitly worth a look. A comedy with thought, an intriguing idea, and one other writers would kill to be able to do this well.

Better than life, indeedy, 21 Nov 2005
Based on Better Than Life, this is the follow on 12 part series written for BBC Radio. Chris Barrie does a much better job than Grant Naylor has in previous readings, you can tell the latter is an author rather than an actor. Even if you choose the unabridged versions of Infinity Welcomes Careful D