The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is the first book in a series of several very stimulating and humorous books. The author, Douglas Noel Adams (1952-2001), does a very good job of making light of many human
cultures, religions, and societies, by giving you a look at alien cultures, religions, and societies. It makes you think on a higher level by adding an element of humor to very serious and important situations.
The first book will take you on a great journey through the galaxy with Arthur Dent (a human), Ford Prefect (a hoopty frood), Trillian (another human), Marvin (a manically depressed robot), and Zaphod Beeblebrox (The
President of the Universe). On this voyage you will meet all kinds of strange alien worlds and creatures, that kind-of, but completely don't, remind you of human worlds and creatures. This book is very good, and will
leave you wanting so badly to not have to sleep, just so you can read one more chapter.
There are five official books in the Hitchhiker series. They include:
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Life, the Universe, and Everything
So Long and Thanks For All the Fish
Mostly Harmless
There is also a short story called Young Zaphod Plays it Safe.
The Hitchhiker Series is often mislabeled as a trilogy because when only three books were written, it was in fact, a trilogy. However, after the publication of the fourth book, the series was no longer a trilogy, but
because people like the word trilogy so much, the name stuck.
If you're looking for a nice collection book, look for "The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide". It contains all the books in the series. Be warned though, there are several versions of "The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide". One
is a thick blue book, the other is a thinner black book. The blue book is made poorly with grainy paper stock, and lousy print. The black book, however, is much higher quality with a bookmark ribbon, and gold-edged pages.
I bought my copy at Borders, on sale for only 15 Altarian dollars (well okay, they were Earth dollars. US currency to be exact).
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe takes off where The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy leaves off, and continues the quest to find the question to the answer of life, the universe, and everything. It's just as
funny, with plenty of clever jokes.
Life, the Universe, and Everything, the third book in the series is another great book. Although not as humorous as the previous two, it offers plenty of insight, and strange descriptions of seemingly mundane
occurrences.
So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish is the forth book. It is very funny, with many interesting parodies of life. It's very much from the perspective of Arthur Dent, and his new girlfriend Fenchurch.
Young Zaphod Plays it Safe is a short, but very humorous story about Zaphod Beeblebrox's life prior to the Hitchhiker series.
Mostly Harmless, more or less, picks up where So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish left off. It is a very funny book, chocked full of the play-on-words that I've come to expect from Adams. This book covers multiple
dimensions and different timelines. It's a bit hard to follow at times, but not too difficult. The ending was most unexpected. (Not the fact that the book ended, but how it ended!)
Links
douglasadams.com - The site dedicated to the author himself, Douglas Adams.
bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide - Hitchhiker's guide Earth Edition
hitchhikersworld.com - A fan page.
imdb.com/title/tt0371724 - The IMDB movie page.
douglasadams.com/creations/infocomjava.html - Infocom text adventure, Java re-make.
beebfun.com/hhg.htm - Hitchhiker's desktop theme
floor42.com - Floor 42. Although the site is abandoned, the messages boards are still active.
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