The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
(Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy #1)
by Douglas Adams

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.

This is No. 301 on the 1001 books you must read before you die list.

Okay, I was pretty much underwhelmed by this. This is another book on the 1001 books you must read before you die list that I didn't feel deserved much praise although others think very highly of this book. Maybe I need to read the rest of the series by Adams but based on this one, I think I'll pass. Well, the book did have some pretty interesting tongue-in-cheek humor and it satirized pretty much everything from politics to bad poetry to pulp science fiction. But overall, I didn't really get the fascination with this book about Earth being destroyed and one earthling, Arthur Dent, being saved by his extra-terrestrial friend, Ford Perfect with the two of them being thrown through the universe as hitchhikers on a couple of intergalactic space ships. Ford's job was to gather information for a new edition of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe which is an electronic travel book giving information on everything in the universe. We do learn how and where planets are made and also find out that man is only the third most intelligent being on Earth after dolphins and a surprising other life form...

Anyway, I doubt if I will be reading others in this series. It was just a little too far out there for my taste.

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Read this as part of the 1001 list challenge for 2019

Wishlist tag going to kaila-ann in SC. Enjoy!

It arrived safe and sound - thanks for sharing with me!

Spring cleaning - now available.