The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Generally rated the sharpest of the sequels, with the B Ark as perhaps the most pointed satirical conceit in comic SF.
Book Entry · Science Fiction
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
by Douglas Adams · 1979 · The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, book 1
What is The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy about?
Arthur Dent's house is demolished for a bypass on the same Thursday the Earth is demolished for a hyperspace bypass — the paperwork was on display in Alpha Centauri for fifty years, no excuse for apathy. Rescued by his friend Ford Prefect (a researcher for the titular electronic guidebook, whose entry for Earth reads 'Mostly harmless'), Arthur falls in with two-headed ex-president Zaphod Beeblebrox, Trillian, and Marvin, a robot with a brain the size of a planet and clinical depression to match, in pursuit of the legendary planet Magrathea and the Question to which the Answer is 42. Adapted from the 1978 radio series; quotable to the point of public hazard.
Why it matters
The funniest book the genre has produced and one of the most beloved British novels of any kind — radio, TV, film, towel and the name of at least one asteroid attest to a cultural footprint few authors match.
Where does it sit in the series?
Adams's increasingly inaccurately named trilogy in five parts: Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, one towel, and a universe that is not merely stranger than imagined but actively taking the mickey.
In the Guide from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
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