Author: Douglas Adams The first in a series of six books - which consist of The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Life, the Universe and Everything, So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, Mostly Harmless and And Another Thing... - The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is a science-fiction comedy which was adapted from the original BBC 4 radio broadcast of the same name. Though the series itself has had its ups and down, and Douglas Adams investment has waned somewhat over the years, you just cant fault the very first entry in the saga. The novel itself follows the exploits of one of the last surviving human beings, Arthur Dent, whom after being rescued from the annihilation of Earth is caught up in a plot to discover the legendary planet of Magrathea. Alongside Ford Prefect (his close friend and savior), a paranoid android named Marvin, the president of the galaxy Zaphod Beeblebrox and Trillian, the only other surviving human, Arthur is quickly embroiled in a scheme to discover the ultimate question (to which the answer has already been calculated to be 42). Hilarious, beautifully written and absolutely brimming with charm and imagination, theres nothing quite like The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Though there have been plenty of imitators over the years the most successfully of which being Eoin Colfer, who wrote the final entry in the series eight years after Adams death no one has quite managed to encapsulate the same sense of oxymoronic, otherworldly mundanity to which Adamss humour is so effortless channelled. It really is one of a kind.
