Book review: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Title: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Author: Douglas Adams

Source: My school’s LRC

Length: 216 pages

Characters (I don’t usually do this but it will make the summary shorter):

Arthur Dent

A normal Englishman who likes tea.

Ford Prefect

A reporter for the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. He tends to get Arthur in a lot of trouble but he always knows where his towel is.

Zaphod Beeblebrox

The president of the universe (or galaxy or something like that). He stole the Heart of Gold for a reason he can’t remember because he needed to erase it from his brain or the scans that check his brain to see if he is suitable to become president would pick up his plan (which involved him becoming president) and basically his plan would fail. He has two heads and three arms.

Trillian

Zaphod’s girlfriend. Arthur tried to pick her up at a party but she left the party with Zaphod.

Summary: Ordinary human Arthur Dent is saved by his friend Ford Prefect from th

e earth being blown up by Vogons and also from being run over by a bulldozer (play the game on the BBC and die a few times and you’ll understand what I mean). Ford is actually an alien from a planet near Betelgeuse who planned to stay on Earth for a week but got stuck and stayed there for 10 years.

Anyway, they hitchhike onto a nearby Vogon ship and are brutally tortured by being read Vogon poetry, the third worse poetry in existence. After this they find themselves upon the Heart of Gold (a spaceship) where they meet Ford’s semi-half-cousin Zaphod and Trillian.

Then they search for the legendary planet of Magrathea (I’ve probably spelt it wrong.

Complain if you dare) which has something to do with Zaphod great plan.

Review:

Being famous science-fiction that makes no sense whatsoever, I like this book. A lot. The events are quite scattered, the characters are quite shallow but the humour in the minor details the Adams put in hilarious. Some of it is common sense; some of it is true and most of it I really want to be true. This book has started many cult things like towels, tea and 42. It has inspired the Babel Fish translator and when you type the secret of life, the universe and everything into Google, Google calculator says 42. This book is probably overrated but I

loved it.

Rating: 5

Note to Nina: Sorry for stalling and my lack of reviews, I'll read more this holiday, I promise!