Like all good science fiction, much of the cult classic Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series drew on scientific fact. Douglas Adams was a science and technology enthusiast and his books were inspired by--and sometimes, prefigured--many of the great scientific debates of our time. The Science of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a lighthearted, accessible and informative tour of the real cutting-edge research behind this much-loved classic, including space tourism, parallel universes, instant translation devices, sentient computers, and more.
Michael Hanlon is the Science Editor at The Daily Mail and the author of The Worlds of Galileo and The Real Mars. He lives in the United Kingdom.