The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
On what looks like an ordinary Thursday, Arthur Dent is lying down in front of a bulldozer that is about to demolish his house when his friend Ford Prefect, who is not actually from Guildford after all but from a small planet somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse, hurries him to the pub for a few pints. Moments later the Earth itself is demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass, and Arthur finds himself a hitchhiker across the galaxy carrying a battered electronic travel guide whose front cover reads, in large friendly letters, Don't Panic. Douglas Adams's 1979 novel, adapted from his BBC radio serial, launched a five-book trilogy of casually brilliant absurdism that has since become the gold standard for comic science fiction.
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On a Thursday morning Arthur Dent lies in front of a bulldozer to save his house, then learns from his friend Ford Prefect that Earth is about to be destroyed for a hyperspace bypass. Ford pulls him onto a Vogon ship with only a towel, a copy of The Hitchhiker's Guide, and a babel fish.
Douglas Adams wrote five Hitchhiker's Guide novels: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Life, the Universe and Everything, So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, and Mostly Harmless. Eoin Colfer added a sixth, And Another Thing, in 2009.
Yes. A 2005 film adaptation starring Martin Freeman was released. Earlier BBC radio and TV adaptations also exist. The 1981 BBC TV series is widely considered a cult favorite.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was written by Douglas Adams, published in 2005 by Del Rey Books.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is 216 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy takes most readers 3 to 5 hours to finish.
Yes. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is book 1 in the Hitchhiker's Guide series by Douglas Adams.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.