A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Just Don't Panic

Thank God I have WiFi so I can update this blog post about sci-fi!

Was that too forced? Yeah, I thought so, too. But it is true, if it is corny. Speaking of sci-fi and humor, it’s time to review a book! This week: Douglas Adams’ A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy!

I realize that it has been around for a long time, what with being published in 1979 and all, but I only got around to reading it a month or so ago. And now that I have read it, I don’t know what took me so long to start reading it! It made me laugh out loud, and the plot and characters were interesting and compelling enough to keep me hooked. To get the humor, I would have to say you have to like slightly sarcastic, very silly, and at times dry British wit. As I mention later, if you like Doctor Who or Monty Python (or if you have good taste, you like them both), you would like this 5 book series.

I found I was pleasantly surprised by how the book moved along and didn't know much about it beforehand, so I would recommend just closing out of this web page, getting your hands on the nearest copy of this book and digging in. It’s not that long of a read, anyway! I really don’t want to ruin anything for you. Or you could just let me spoil the unadulterated joy of reading something unique and completely new fiction. It’s your choice.

Have you read it yet? Or do you need your interest piqued a bit more?

Ugh. FINE. I’LL LET YOU INTO SOME OF MY INSIGHTS. But don’t say I didn't warn you. Er, recommend to you. You know what  I mean.

Arthur Dent, a middle-aged British man is dragged on an interstellar adventure by his eccentric friend, Ford Prefect. They meet up with Zaphod Beeblebrox and Trisha Macmillian(the only other Earthling) and travel through a series of hilarious hi-jinks that lead to the ultimate question: What is the meaning of life?

If the names above don’t put you off (and you haven’t even read the names of other planets, races and alien characters), then strap in for a hilarious and ever twisting ride, because there isn't really any other way to describe it. It’s like Monty Python and Doctor Who in book form with a character resembling any other character played by Martin Freeman, who usually plays a slightly annoyed guy who gets dragged into adventures over and over in different genres, and for that reason is cast as Arthur Dent in the movie.

To be fair, he plays that role REALLY well. 

I could try to separate the plot and the humor, but they just go hand in hand so well together! For starters, the whole thing starts off with Arthur’s house being torn down to make way for a new highway. Then the Earth is destroyed to make way for an inter-galactic highway system; oh, the irony. That’s exactly the kind of thing Douglas Adams does in his book: he mercilessly pokes fun at anything and everything. It’s honestly some of the most brilliant stuff out there! A depressed robot? People being tortured by having to listen to some awful poetry? The answer to the meaning of life being 42? Totally brilliant! I mean, who thinks of this stuff? He is truly inspired.

I think my favorite part was when they have the Answer to the meaning of life, but now they have to find the Question to the Answer, and as it turns out, the Earth was the final computer to calculate the Question, and it was just moments away from discovering the Question before it was destroyed to make a hyperspace bypass. Amazing.

Don’t even get me started on the infinite improbability drive! Just bloody brilliant.

I have been reduced to fragments and incomplete clauses, that’s just how great this book is. I can’t even- I just can’t describe it to you. You’ll just have to take my word for it and read this hilarious and intriguing book, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, in bookstores since 1979.

Edit: I've just seen the movie, and maybe it was just me, but I wasn't very impressed. I think it’s just one of those things that your imagination can get perfectly, but there isn't yet a way to get that onto the screen just right.