I'm probably biased, but I think this is an ace book. I can't believe I haven't read it since high school. "Red Dwarf" (along with Monty Python) was an integral part of my formative years, and was probably at least partly responsible for the distinctly British shape my sense of humour subsequently took. I still have a huge soft spot for the TV show, but in a lot of ways, the book is even better. Plots that are confined to half-hour episodes are here expanded upon, with more detail, more character insight, and more humour sprinkled throughout the narrative than the dialogue and visuals of the show alone could ever convey. One thing I can't believe I never noticed before: Lister is far and away the smartest character. Before, I just thought of him as a lazy, ignorant slob, who was the hero mainly by virtue of being nicer than everyone else. Yes, he is a lazy slob, but he's not stupid. He recognises when something is important, and he knows how to do the research and where to find the answers he needs. Rimmer, with his complex exam timetables, never seems to absorb 1% as much information as Lister does when he puts his mind to it. Rimmer is, of course, image-obsessed as a mask to hide his own self-loathing. The Cat is image-obsessed because of his own innate narcissism. Kryten lacks depth, but he's a mechanoid with few thoughts not about cleaning. Holly, the wonderfully eccentric computer, is good for a few one-liners. But Lister is the Everyman hero with a heart of gold, who never loses hope in the face of overwhelming odds that he will, one day, find his way home.