The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Douglas Adams

4.23

1,838,990 ratings by Goodreads

9781590072578: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

ISBN 10: 159007257X ISBN 13: 9781590072578

Publisher: New Millenium Audio, 2002

Chronicles the off-beat and occasionally extraterrestrial journeys, notions, and acquaintances of galactic traveler Arthur Dent. Read by the author.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:

Join Douglas Adams's hapless hero Arthur Dent as he travels the galaxy with his intrepid pal Ford Prefect, getting into horrible messes and generally wreaking hilarious havoc. Dent is grabbed from Earth moments before a cosmic construction team obliterates the planet to build a freeway. You'll never read funnier science fiction; Adams is a master of intelligent satire, barbed wit, and comedic dialogue. The Hitchhiker's Guide is rich in comedic detail and thought-provoking situations and stands up to multiple reads. Required reading for science fiction fans, this book (and its follow-ups) is also sure to please fans of Monty Python, Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, and British sitcoms.

From the Inside Flap:

How shall we begin?
This is the story of a book called" The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy--not an Earth book, never published on Earth and, until the terrible catastrophe occurred, never seen or even heard of by any Earthman. Nevertheless, a wholly remarkable book.
or
This is the story of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a number-one best seller in England, a weekly radio series with millions of fanatic listeners, and soon to be a television spectacle on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
or
This is the story of Arthur Dent, who, secnds before Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, is plucked off the planet by his friend, Ford Prefect, who has been posing as an out-of-work actor for the last fifteen years but is really a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Together they begin a journey through the galaxy aided by quotes from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, with the words don't panic written on the front. ("A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have.")
In their travels they meet:
-Zaphod Beeblebrox--the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch President of the Galaxy
-Trillian--Zaphod's girl friend, formerly Tricia McMillan, whom Arthur once tried to pick up at a cocktail party
-Marvin--a paranoid android, a brilliant but chronically depressed robot
-Veet Voojagig--former graduate student obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he bought over the years
To find the answers to these burning questions: Why are we born? Why do we die? And why do we spend so much time in between wearing digital watches?read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. But remember . . . don't panic, and don't forget to bring a towel.

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