The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Douglas Adam’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, published in 1979, has made me laugh more times than any other book. Being the first out of a five book series, The Hitchhiker’s Guide has opened up a whole new world involving space, time, and aliens. But this is not what makes this book so great. The authors humorous writing style had me wanting more and more after the ending of the novel.
I admire how Douglas wrote the aliens in the novel. The view of Earth to me was hilarious. “Orbiting at a distance of roughly ninety-two million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue-green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.” The quote sums up the feelings towards Earth from the galaxy. This book was based in the year 2000 and it is pretty safe to say the galaxy was far more advanced in the book.

I wouldn’t say this book really had a certain plot or story. The main protagonist, Arthur Dent, was living a normal life near London before the demolition of his home and planet. Narrowly escaping with the help of his alien friend Ford Prefect, he was brought to an alien ship and basically set off on an adventure of chance through the galaxy. Arthur Dent was confused and clueless throughout the novel just following along. Ford Prefect was stranded on planet Earth for 15 years and saw that his way out was through the destruction of Earth. His job is to write a wiki-like book called The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. He tries to get information on all types of planets, species…etc. Zaphod Beeblebox, the other “main” character, can be called a rebel. He stole a new ship, found a mystery planet, and does what he pleases. Zaphod is a mystery himself, he picked up Arthur and Ford by the chance of “two the power of one hundred thousand to one.” We don’t really see a big introduction to Zaphod other than he stole his ship and is the galactic president. Arthur and Ford are pulled into an almost meaningless hunt for the hidden planet Magrathea. But the charm to this book is not in its plot or story, the book is about just exploring or “hitchhiking” through the galaxy with Douglas Adam’s humor, and that is what makes this a great book.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is a hilarious book filled with interesting details and adventures through the enormous galaxy. Douglas Adam’s brings imagination to the genre with original ideas involving space travel. The novel brings space to live in a hilarious way. All of his ideas put together an amazing book.