The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Douglas Adams

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Book 1

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I have, for just about forever, been on the lookout for matching covers of these books and finally they have been found! That's really the only reason I haven't started this series before now. It's a classic science fiction series that has always been, in my mind, something I need to read before I die. It's also been a nice experience to begin these while in London (it means I can go buy a towel at Marks & Spencers if nothing else, hehe), because it strikes me as a rather British book.

I have very little to say about this book so I'll keep this short. First off, the comedic timing is brilliant and I was often struck by how well blows were delivered by the humor. It's certainly a commentary, and not one that has faded with age. Secondly, it was good scifi. Now, it's not going to please the people out there who want their science fiction nearer the science end of the spectrum, but it was a good romp through the fiction bit for sure. And, thirdly, the book was very well written. It's not lyrical and beautiful, or short and sweet, but it's so clearly something brilliant that will weather the era's, as it has already been doing. Adams was a writer, pure and simple, and that comes through incredibly well.

The only complaint I have is a small one: I disliked the characters. Or, at least, I didn't feel any particular connection with any of the characters (except maybe Marvin...). A lot of that, I'm sure, has to do with the fact that this is only book one in a trilogy of five, so there's a lot of space yet to cover. (No pun intended.) I think it also has to do with the fact that even though Arthur is the most like the reader, he's not always the main character, or the one the text is most concerned with. In fact, there isn't just one character that the text spends more time convincing us to like, which, admittedly, isn't a bad thing, just not my taste all the time; I just wish I had a stronger connection and someone in particular to root for, because a lot of my taste in books depends on characters.

TL;DR A worthwhile classic you won't regret reading.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has been a radio show, TV show, stage play, comic book and film, and is and a work of utter comic genius from Douglas Adams.

One Thursday lunchtime the Earth gets unexpectedly demolished to make way for a new hyperspace bypass. It's the final straw for Arthur Dent, who has already had his house bulldozed that morning. But for Arthur, that is only the beginning...

In the seconds before global obliteration, Arthur is plucked from the planet by his friend Ford Prefect - and together the pair venture out across the galaxy on the craziest, strangest road trip of all time.

Douglas Noël Adams was an English author, comic radio dramatist, and musician. He is best known as the author of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. Hitchhiker's began on radio, and developed into a "trilogy" of five books (which sold more than fifteen million copies during his lifetime) as well as a television series, a comic book series, a computer game, and a feature film that was completed after Adams' death. The series has also been adapted for live theatre using various scripts; the earliest such productions used material newly written by Adams. He was known to some fans as Bop Ad (after his illegible signature), or by his initials "DNA".
In addition to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams wrote or co-wrote three stories of the science fiction television series Doctor Who and served as Script Editor during the seventeenth season. His other written works include the Dirk Gently novels, and he co-wrote two Liff books and Last Chance to See, itself based on a radio series. Adams also originated the idea for the computer game Starship Titanic, which was produced by a company that Adams co-founded, and adapted into a novel by Terry Jones. A posthumous collection of essays and other material, including an incomplete novel, was published as The Salmon of Doubt in 2002.
His fans and friends also knew Adams as an environmental activist and a lover of fast cars, cameras, the Macintosh computer, and other "techno gizmos".

Toward the end of his life he was a sought-after lecturer on topics including technology and the environment.