Sunday, January 1, 2012

The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy review

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Pan Books, 1979, 180 pages
Ever wake up and suddenly remember that today’s the day your house is getting demolished to make way for a bypass? How about finding out a few hours later your planet is also being demolished for the same reason? Well, this is what happens to Arthur Dent in Douglas Adams bestselling book The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Back in 1971, Adams came up with the concept of writing a “hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy” while lying drunk in a field in Austria. With this in mind, he went to sleep and forgot about it for six years. It was at this time The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy arose in its original form: a series on BBC Radio, the first episode of which was first broadcast on March 8 1978, with absolutely no publicity at all. After a few weeks, a couple of letters arrived, as well as an offer from Pan Books for Adams to write up the series in novel form. They later informed him that he’d passed ten deadlines and that they didn’t care it was only two thirds finished.
The plot follows Arthur Dent’s bad day getting worse, then catastrophic, then slightly better. One day, Arthur wakes up only to remember that today’s the day his house is set to be demolished to make way for a new bypass. A few hours later, his friend Ford Prefect informs him that his planet is doomed to the same fate. Luckily Ford just so happens to be a field editor for The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the highest selling book in the galaxy, and gets them both off the planet just seconds before it gets vaporised. Unfortunately, they end up on a Vogon spaceship, the very aliens responsible for destroying the planet in the first place. After being forcefully fired out of the airlock, the two are miraculously saved by Ford’s semi-cousin Zaphod Beeblebrox, who has stolen the most legendary ship in the universe, the Heart of Gold. And the day goes back to getting worse…
With some interesting cutaways to excerpts from The Guide (such as how to make the best Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters, the usefulness of towels, and of course Earth’s entire entry), as well as a strange yet fascinating cast of characters (Zaphod, the two-headed president of the universe who acts before he thinks…on the few occasions he actually does think; Eddie, the Heart of Gold’s onboard computer who’s annoyingly cheerful; and Marvin the Paranoid Android), The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy is a nice, enjoyable read for people of all ages (and not too long due to it only being two thirds finished).
All in all, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is a nice, light-hearted book for anyone who doesn’t take things too seriously (unlike some people who thought Adams actually had deeper meaning to his book despite the fact even he denied it himself). I highly recommend that you at least read the first two books in this series (oh, did I forget to mention this was in a series?)

My rating: 9/10

Any suggestions for next week, post then below.

2 comments:

  1. Your first review went pretty well. You've got a good format without giving away too much, and you end with your opinion. A classic format with a lot of life left in it.

    As for a suggestion, well...what I have is more of a challenge. I want you to take a look at a book that inspired the worst movie of this very short century and one of the worst of all time, Battlefield Earth.

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  2. I'll see if I can find a copy at a nearby library. Thanks for the suggestion.

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