A Review of 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' 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 to the Galaxy ("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 in between wearing digital watches?  For all the answers stick your thumb to the stars.  And don't forget to bring your towel!"

My only real experience I've had with this book is when I saw the movie and when friends of mine who have read it wanted to tell me all about how awesome it was.  Now I'm only left with only One Question: Why didn't I pick this up sooner?

No, the answer isn't forty-two.

This was a very lucky rummage sale find.  They were selling larger books for $1 and smaller ones, such as this one, for $0.50, so I'm very happy to have found this one and 'The Salmon of Doubt,' as well as an illustrated version of 'The DaVinci Code' for about $3.00 or something like that.

Any way, this is a review!  There were several neat things about this book.  I loved the names; they were quite fitting for each of the characters.  I don't know about the meaning of each name, specifically, but there was something about them that added a certain quirkiness to each character.

What makes up pretty much all of this book is humor.  And what's really neat is that it's in the face of things that should be terribly devastating: almost getting blown up by an automatic deferral system on a dormant planet, the earth exploding, the death of a whale flying through the atmosphere... it was hilarious!  No matter what time of day I decided to read this, I always ended up bursting out laughing about something.  I think part of it was that the book is written in almost a serious voice but everything that's happening is so ridiculous that you can't help but laugh!  This is definitely my kind of humor.

If you're in the market for a really funny yet simultaneously serious (kind of) book, 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' may be the book for you!

I give 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy':

Thanks for reading!

--Jude

P.S. This is apparently the 500th post I've made.  It's been a wonderful ride :)  Cheers to five hundred more!