The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a novel written by Douglas Adams. Released in 1979, it is the first book in Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series and tells of Arthur Dent fleeing the destruction of Earth by the Vogons.
Characters[]
- Arthur Dent
- Ford Prefect
- Zaphod Beeblebrox
- Trillian
- Marvin
rest to be added
Publisher's summary[]
Seconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor.
Together this dynamic pair begin a journey through space aided by quotes from The Hitchhiker's Guide ("A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have") and a galaxy-full of fellow travelers: Zaphod Beeblebrox--the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch president of the galaxy; Trillian, Zaphod's girlfriend (formally Tricia McMillan), whom Arthur tried to pick up at a cocktail party once upon a time zone; Marvin, a paranoid, brilliant, and chronically depressed robot; Veet Voojagig, a former graduate student who is obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he bought over the years.
Where are these pens? Why are we born? Why do we die? Why do we spend so much time between wearing digital watches? For all the answers stick your thumb to the stars. And don't forget to bring a towel!
Full summary[]
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy begins with contractors arriving at Arthur Dent's house, in order to demolish it to make way for a bypass. His friend, Ford Prefect, arrives while Arthur is lying in front of the bulldozers, to stop them from demolishing it. He tries to explain to Arthur that he is actually from a planet somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse and that the Earth is about to be demolished. The Vogons, an alien race, intend to destroy Earth to make way for a hyperspace bypass.
The two escape by hitching a lift on one of the Vogons' ships; this is, however, against Vogon regulations and when the pair are discovered, they are tortured with a rendition of Vogon poetry, the third worst in the known Universe, and then thrown into space. They are, very improbably, picked up by the Heart of Gold, a ship powered by an infinite improbability drive, and has been stolen by Ford's semi-cousin and President of the Galaxy, Zaphod Beeblebrox. Zaphod, accompanied by Trillian and the clinically depressed robot Marvin, are searching for the legendary planet of Magrathea.
There, Arthur, after being separated from the rest of the group, is taken to the interior of Magrathea by Slartibartfast, a native of the planet. As the others, except Marvin, are kidnapped, Slartibartfast explains to Arthur that the Earth is actually a supercomputer commissioned and paid for by a race of hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings. These creatures had earlier built a supercomputer named Deep Thought, to calculate the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything. This computer, after seven and a half million years of calculating, had announced that the Answer is in fact 42. Being unsatisfied with the Answer, they set about finding the Question. Deep Thought designed a computer, the Earth, to calculate the Question. However, ten million years later, and just five minutes before the completion of the program, the Earth is demolished by the Vogons. The manifestations of two of these beings, Frankie and Benjy Mouse, had arrived on Magrathea on the Heart of Gold, disguised as Trillian's pet mice.
The mice realise that Arthur, as a last-generation non-organic by-product of the computer, has the Question imprinted into his brain and offer to buy his brain from him. Arthur disagrees, and a fight ensues. The mice are about to cut Arthur's head open, when klaxons all over the planet create a diversion, in which they escape. The galactic police had arrived on the planet to arrest Zaphod.
The group is attacked by 2 members of the police, Shooty and Bang Bang, who abruptly die when their life support systems fail: Marvin had explained his view of the universe to the mother ship's computer and it committed suicide, taking their life support systems with it. Then the group decides to go to the Restaurant at the End of the Universe for lunch.
See also[]
| Title | Author | Release date | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Colour of Magic | Terry Pratchett | 1983 | A postmodernist novel with similar themes and comedic tone |
| Sky Pirates! or the Eyes of the Schirron | Dave Stone | 1995 | A postmodernist novel detailing a voyage to various odd planets |
| The Sirens of Titan | Kurt Vonnegut | 1959 | A postmodernist science fiction novel with similar themes |
| The Cat Who Walks Through Walls | Robert A. Heinlein | 1985 | A science fiction novel with similar themes |
| Dimension of Miracles | Robert Sheckley | 1968 | A science fiction novel with similar themes |
| How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe | Charles Yu | 2010 | A science fiction novel with similar themes |
| Chilling Effect | Valerie Valdes | 2019 | A science fiction novel with similar themes |
| Super Extra Grande | Yoss | 2014 | A Cuban science fiction novel with similar themes and a somewhat similar plot |
| Space Unicorn Blues | T.J. Berry | 2018 | A science fiction novel with similar themes and a somewhat similar plot |
| Gate Crashers | Patrick S. Tomlinson | 2018 | A science fiction novel with similar themes and a somewhat similar plot |
| Space Opera | Catherynne M. Valente | 2018 | A science fiction novel with similar themes |
| The Humans | Matt Haig | 2013 | A science fiction novel with similar themes |
| Redshirts | John Scalzi | 2012 | A science fiction novel with similar themes |
| Bill, the Galactic Hero | Harry Harrison | 1965 | A science fiction novel with similar themes |