The question, of course, I’ve heard: Is The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy a science fiction classic or is it too new. My take is that it’s been over 30 years since it was published, so that is long enough back to make it a classic. It was published only ten years after Dune, so I feel confident that it is old enough to be a classic. So, let’s see what’s so special about Galactic Hitchhiking.

Arthur Dent has only been awake for a few minutes and it’s already going to be the worst day of his life. His house is scheduled to be demolished this very morning, his best friend (who’s named after a car) has just mentioned that he’s from another planet and the Earth is surrounded by alien spaceships who’ve announced that the Earth is scheduled to be destroyed. So it can be understood that he’s a little cranky. This is the first chapter of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and the beginning of one of the funniest stories you will ever read.

The characters are amazing. We have the perpetually befuddled Arthur, the quick to accept everything Ford, the attractive and brainy Trillian, the dippy, hippy Zaphod and, of course, the perpetually morose Marvin the Robot*. The plot revolves around Ford and Arthur hitchhiking on a couple spaceships until they end up with Zaphod and Trillian around a legendary planet that no one believes exists. This planet, it turns out, was responsible for Earth and finding the question** to The Life, The Universe and Everything.


*As I read my kids the original Winnie the Pooh stories, I get more and more convinced that Marvin was based on Eeyore.

**The answer of course is 42.

Adams excels at throwing our motley crew of characters into the most absurd situations without making the story itself absurd. He knows just how far he can push a situation to get the maximum laughter without causing it to fall into farce. The humor flies along chapter after chapter and situation after situation. The number of situations and lines that have become classic are numerous. I loathe to go to much into the story since I doubt I could do it justice. Let’s just say that you’ll be laughing on every page and be in tears by the time the book ends. The story continues in the next four books of the trilogy with the laughs getting less frequent, but the absurdity continuing. Highly recommended.