The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Happy birthday to my sister, Linda.  So I will base my review on what my sister might think of this book – a famous sci-fi, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It’s not only sci-fi, but has some comedy, and a bit of Eugene Ionesco (Theatre of the Absurd) for sure.   The characters visit the planet of Magrathea, which seems like a fun place with Earth gone.  The first character we are introduced to is Arthur Dent, an Earthling from England who fights to ensure his house doesn’t become a thoroughfare for others to get to Point B from Point A faster.  From there a number of other characters come and go in this revolving door, such as Ford Prefect, an alien from a small planet somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse who is a researcher for the eponymous guidebook; Zaphod Beeblebrox, Ford's semi-cousin and the Galactic President; the depressed robot Marvin, the Paranoid Android; and Trillian, formerly known as Tricia McMillan, a woman Arthur once met at a party in Islington and the only other human survivor of Earth's destruction. Confused yet?  Don’t be.

Back at planet Magrathea, we are introduced to Slartibartfast, a planetary coastline designer.  He tells the story of a race of hyper-intelligent beings who built a computer named Deep Thought to calculate the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything. The computer, often mistaken for a planet (because of its size and use of biological components), was destroyed to make way for a hyperspatial express route, could this be the route that our early protagonist Arthur Dent tried to fight?  This really gets over the top when we are introduced to the mice – yes, the mice who made it from earth to Magrathea.  Who could think a book as eccentric as this could be a bestseller?  What was happening in the late 1970s when this was written?  Hmmm now I know why it was a best seller.  Be awake, Red Bull might keep you super focused for this one, and would be fitting!  Not my favorite for sure – give me Dirk Gently by the same author, Douglas Adams.  And now I learned he had various versions of this book, yikes!