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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979)

by Douglas Adams

Other authors: See the other authors section.

Series: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations / Mentions
37,92871155 (4.2)2 / 1326
After Earth is demolished to make way for a new hyperspatial expressway, Arthur Dent begins to hitch-hike through space.
all members
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▾LibraryThing Recommendations
▾Member recommendations
  1. 402
    Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency / The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams (gandalf_grey)
  2. 233
    Good Omens by Neil Gaiman (mcenroeucsb)
    mcenroeucsb: Good Omens is uneven in writing quality, but the flippant interactions between some of the angels and demons very much reminds me of Douglas Adams.
  3. 2911
    The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (ut.tecum.loquerer, coliemta)
    coliemta: One's more literary and the other more science-fiction-y, but they're both bizarre, hilarious and similar in feel. Most people who like one will enjoy the other.
  4. 191
    The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett (mcenroeucsb)
    mcenroeucsb: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy : Science Fiction :: The Color of Magic : Fantasy
  5. 194
    The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut (girlunderglass, catfantastic)
    girlunderglass: before The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - more than 20 years before it - there was THIS book about space travel, time travel, and the "ultimate answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything". Adams certainly borrowed a lot from Vonnegut.
  6. 131
    Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas by John Scalzi (mcenroeucsb)
  7. 121
    Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers by Grant Naylor (Konran)
  8. 138
    The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett (Nikkles)
  9. 1813
    Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (souloftherose)
    souloftherose: Although Neverwhere and The Hitchhiker's Guide (THHG) are different genres (the first is urban fantasy, the second comic science-fiction) I felt there was a lot of similarity between the characters of Richard Mayhew (in Neverwhere) and Arthur Dent (in THHG). Both are a kind of everyman with whom the reader can identify and both embody a certain 'Britishness'. And they're both stonkingly good books by British authors.… (more)
  10. 51
    Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett (SandraArdnas)
  11. 20
    Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams (Anonymous user)
    Anonymous user: Douglas Adams's true masterpiece, albeit one of non-fiction. Far wittier and more profound than The Guide.
  12. 43
    John Dies at the End by David Wong (fundevogel)
  13. 99
    Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (wvlibrarydude)
    wvlibrarydude: Satire and humor that will split your gut. Read if you want to laugh at humanity.
  14. 11
    The Sheriff of Yrnameer by Michael Rubens (MyriadBooks)
  15. 00
    The Probability Broach by L. Neil Smith (fulner)
    fulner: Probability broach is the story of a 20th century PI who investigates a murder that stumbles him into a place that isn't quite what it appears to be. The broach is equivalent to a Stargate or a demonstrate traveling whale.
  16. 45
    Only You Can Save Mankind by Terry Pratchett (mybookshelf)
  17. 01
    Alles außer irdisch by Horst Evers (Camaho)
  18. 12
    Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente (Cora-R)
  19. 01
    There Goes the Galaxy by Jenn Thorson (Litrvixen)
  20. 34
    The Wish List by Eoin Colfer (missmaddie)
    missmaddie: Follow the unlikely hero through a tongue-in-cheek, sci-fi adventure

(see all 36 recommendations)

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▾Conversations (About links)

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▾Member reviews
English (668)  Italian (10)  French (5)  Portuguese (Brazil) (3)  Spanish (3)  Dutch (3)  German (2)  Finnish (2)  Danish (2)  Norwegian (1)  Swedish (1)  Catalan (1)  Slovak (1)  Hebrew (1)  Portuguese (1)  Polish (1)  All languages (705)
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Showing 1-5 of 668 (next | show all)
There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened. ( )
  enlasnubess | Oct 2, 2023 |
It feels like you are trying to do mental back flips while trying to read this. The story although slightly bizarre makes as much sense as any other explanation for the world. ( )
  geekmoose | Sep 26, 2023 |
I first started reading this when I was a kid, but I didn't understand the humor of it, so I put it down. I'm glad I picked it back up again because it is delightful! I will have to read the sequels eventually so I can know what happens next. It's a fun sci-fi story that doesn't take itself too seriously so far. ( )
  BarnesBookshelf | Sep 22, 2023 |
This will probably be my shortest review ever, because I just don't have a lot to say. I really wanted to like this book, to find it humorous and enjoyable like so many people I know. But I didn't. I could see where the humor was supposed to be, but most of the time I didn't find it particularly funny. Maybe a little clever, and I do remember laughing out loud once. I think part of this is that the humor was a bit too British for me, though I've enjoyed plenty of British comedy in the past, and part of it is because it just felt forced a lot of the time.

There was barely a plot, until maybe the last third or so, but not nearly soon enough to hook me. And from early in the book, I got the distinct impression that Douglas Adams does not hold much regard at all for humankind. It left me feeling a bit sad, really. I listened to the audiobook read by Stephen Fry and at times would just zone out when descriptions of insignificant things went on at length. As strange as it might sound after I gave it 2 stars, I might (might) read it again in the future, but this time read the actual book, and going into it knowing what kind of book it is, maybe I'll be able to appreciate it more. But in the end, it's probably just not the type of book for me. ( )
  Kristi_D | Sep 22, 2023 |
7/10 ( )
  Law_Books600 | Sep 19, 2023 |
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Showing 1-5 of 668 (next | show all)
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▾Published reviews
Humorous science fiction novels have notoriously limited audiences; they tend to be full of ''in'' jokes understandable only to those who read everything from Jules Verne to Harlan Ellison. The ''Hitchhiker's Guide'' is a delightful exception, being written for anyone who can understand the thrill that might come to a crew of interstellar explorers who discover a mysterious planet, dead for five million years, and then hear on their ''sub etha'' radio a ghostly voice, hollow, reedy, insubstantial: ''Greetings to you. ... This is a recorded announcement, as I'm afraid we're all out at the moment. ...''
added by Shortride | editThe New York Times Book Review, Gerald Jonas (Jan 25, 1981)
 
▾Other authors

» Add other authors (30 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Adams, Douglas—primary authorall editionsconfirmed
Burton, JonathanIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Cross, PeterCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Davies, Russell TForewordsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Fry, StephenNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Gaiman, Neil—secondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Irineu da Costa, CarlosTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Jones, TerryIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Markkula, PekkaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Molnár, IstvánTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Schwarz, BenjaminTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Serra, LauraTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Stamp, RobbieAfterwordsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Thole, KarelIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Tidholm, ThomasTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Wright, IanCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
潤, 風見Translatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
▾Series and work relationships

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▾Common Knowledge
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Canonical title
Original title
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Alternative titles
Original publication date
1979-10-12
People/Characters
Arthur Dent
Ford Prefect
Zaphod Beeblebrox
Marvin, the Paranoid Android
Tricia "Trillian" McMillan
Important places
Earth
Magrathea
England, UK
ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha
Betelgeuse
Important events
Related movies
The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy (1981 | IMDb)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1984 | VG | IMDb)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005 | IMDb)
Awards and honors
Ditmar Award (International Fiction, 1980)
Waterstones Books of the Century (1997, No 24)
BBC's Big Read (Best loved novel, 2003, No 04)
The Modern Library's 100 Best Novels: The Reader's List (51)
Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century (72)
Epigraph
Don't Panic
Dedication
for Jonny Brock and Clare Gorst
and all other Arlingtonians
for tea, sympathy, and a sofa
First words
Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun.
The house stood on a slight rise just on the edge of the village.          (Chapter 1)
Quotations
Don't Panic
If there's anything more important than my ego around here, I want it caught and shot now.
The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't.
For thousands of years, the mighty ships tore across the empty wastes of space and finally dived screaming on to the first planet they came across—which happened to be the Earth—where due to a terrible miscalculation of scale the entire battle fleet was accidentally swallowed by a small dog.
Life! Don't talk to me about life.
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
This novel "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" is the first novel of a series of novels, and the series has the same title.

The original version of this story is the first series (first broadcast 1978) of the radio programme written by Adams (the radio programme which also has the title "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"). For this 1979 novel by Adams, only the first four episodes of those six episodes were adapted.

Please do not combine it with the graphic novel adaptation.
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
English
Canonical DDC/MDS
823.914
Canonical LCC
PR6051.D3352
▾References
▾Book descriptions
After Earth is demolished to make way for a new hyperspatial expressway, Arthur Dent begins to hitch-hike through space.
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▾LibraryThing members' description
Book description
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!
Haiku summary
Arthur's drab lifestyle
The answer is forty two
What is the question?

(hreilly)
Wet, McKenna muttered
A curse up to God;
The clouds laughed.
Shall we hitchhike space?

Let's, for to stay here on Earth

Is mostly harmless.

(benscripps)

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WorldCat

Genres

Melvil Decimal System (DDC)

823.914Literature › English & Old English literatures › English fiction › Modern Period › 1901-1999 › 1945-1999

LC Classification

PR6051.D3352Language and Literature › English › English Literature › 1961-2000

Rating

Average: (4.2)
0.5 12
1 130
1.5 31
2 438
2.5 109
3 1699
3.5 351
4 3847
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