If You Haven't Read The Hitchhiker's Guide... - by @Red_Harvey

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by Ooorah

Dedicated to Red_Harvey

by Ooorah

"If You Haven't Read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, You Should."

Intro

"What is the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything?"

"42."

Over four decades ago, this philosophical question, among others, was posed in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Maybe you saw the 2005 movie version (starring The Hobbit's Martin Freeman and The New Girl's Zoey Deschanel), but there's a five-book series to contend with.

Many critics have compared the literary impact of Hitchhiker to Lewis Carrol's seminal Alice in Wonderland books, also citing the import of number symbolism in both series (Nediger par. 3). Others have noted the change Adams brought to the science fiction genre. According to The Guardian, "science fiction was serious stuff when I was a child, [and] Douglas Adams showed it could be funny" (par. 10). Adams's work not only displays humor, but he also manages to inject musings on economics, religion, philosophy, and much more.

Hitchhikers Guide

So, what's this book all about and why should you read it? Besides the fact that it's a great book, you should read it to round out your range of science fiction novels. Not to mention (but I will mention) the critics who believe Hitchhiker's qualifies as a series to read before you die (UWire par. 3). There's a reason Adams's work generates a generally positive reception: the story is unique and starts out with a surprise. Boom, the Earth is destroyed!

Sounds depressing, but that's only the start of the satire-esque voyage taken by one Arthur Dent. By all accounts, Dent is a normal, borderline boring kinda guy. Yet, he embarks on a space mission where almost nothing goes his way, despite receiving help from Marvin the Paranoid Android (sounds helpful, right?), a supercomputer by the name of Deep Thought, and the beautiful and charming Trillian.

Originally, the series was planned as a trilogy, but later was amended to "a five-part trilogy". Once you pick up The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, you won't want to stop until you finish book five, with the cover sporting this: "The fifth book in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhiker's Trilogy". Amazingly, there's a part six, published in 2009 by .

Cultural Impact

Like other seminal works, Hitchhiker has left an indelible cultural mark. There have been numerous radio, studio, television, and film adaptations.

Douglas Adams

Adams was born in 1952 in Cambridge. He started writing out radio plays, and eventually branched out to novels. In 1978, a radio play and novelization of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was released. He contributed to other book series and television scripts, including a few episodes of Doctor Who (Goodreads Bio par. 2).

In his personal life, Adams was known as an atheist and environmental conservationist. Fans knew him by a few monikers (as per Goodreads): Bop Ad ("based off his illegible signature") and DNA (his initials).

When he was 22, Neil Gaiman recalls meeting Adams, and swears it "changed his life" (Nediger par. 12). Other famous friendships include MontyPython's Terry Jones. The two used to "sink drinks" nearly forty years ago before the first Hitchhiker's was published (The Times par. 2).

Adams died in 2001 at age 49.

Works Cited

"Why you need to read the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -." UWIRE Text, 6 Sept. 2016, p. 1. Academic OneFile, proxy.myunion.edu/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=vol_m761j&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA462734889&sid=ebsco&asid=0fd7b93578a3ad6e78eb351c925dc921. Accessed 3 May 2017.