The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

, #1

Mass Market Paperback, 179 pages

English language

Published Aug. 13, 2009 by Pan Books.

ISBN:
978-0-330-50853-7
Copied ISBN!
OCLC Number:
651066232

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4 stars (65 reviews)

Thirty years of celebrating the comic genius of Douglas Adams ...

On 12 October 1979 the most remarkable book ever to come out of the great publishing corporations of Ursa Minor (and Earth) was made available to humanity - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

It's an ordinary Thursday lunchtime for Arthur Dent until his house gets demolished. The Earth follows shortly afterwards, to make way for a new hyperspace bypass, and his best friend has just announced that he's an alien. At thiS moment, they're hurtling through space with nothing but their towels and an innocuous-looking book inscribed with the big, friendly words: ö0N'T PANIC.

The weekend has only just begun --back cover

87 editions

Comedy classic

4 stars

One of the most quotable books of all time, and the beginning of one of the few series that can out-do Discworld in terms of lunacy. It's no surprise that Douglas Adams was a writer for Doctor Who and Monty Python's Flying Circus, as parts of this novel feel like either a Monty Python sketch in space, or one of Doctor Who's most openly silly episodes.

Strangely enough, the only parts of this book that haven't become an inescapable part of popular culture are its plot and characters. Sure, everyone knows about 42, and Marvin the Paranoid Android, but that's just a flashback and a side character - Arthur Dent, and the Magratheans who built Earth for hyperintelligent mice, are not as well remembered, even though they're somewhat bigger parts of the plot. The plot is very interesting - enough to make me want to read The Restaurant at …

This was a radio play first?!?

5 stars

I had no idea! I’ve read the Hitchhiker’s books before, and I knew it was performed for radio, but I always thought the book came first.

As for the radio version, the Primary Phase is a delight. The voice actors are all top notch, especially Stephen Moore as Marvin the Paranoid Android, and the writing was so ahead of its time for the 70s (and the 80s and 90s, for that matter). I would easily pay 30 Alterian dollars a day to listen to this again and again.

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