The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - A Trilogy of Five  (English, Paperback, Adams Douglas)

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction fantasy. This book is a part of the Hitchhiker’s Guide series of books and is about the Englishman Arthur Dent's adventurous travel across the Galaxy in the company of his friend Ford Perfect.

Summary Of The Book

The book starts when Ford Perfect tells Arthur that he is actually an alien from the distant star, Betelgeuse, and that he writes for the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. He further cautions Arthur that the Earth is about to be destroyed by a cosmic construction team for making way for a motorway bypass for the galaxy. Together, they try to escape death using a Vogon ship.

The Vogons are generally unfriendly and they dislike hitchhikers in particular. Ford's cousin Zaphod Beeblebrox saves them when they are thrown out into space by the Vogons.

Zaphod and his girlfriend, an earthling named Trillian whom Arthur seems to know already, are on a mission to find the planet Magrathea. They have a stolen spaceship called the Heart of Gold, which runs on an improbability drive to help them in this mission. The speciality of this drive is that when a button is pressed, the most improbable thing happens.

The book describes how the four land on Magrathea. They find the most intelligent computer, which is capable of finding answers to every question in the Universe. The book describes the adventurous exploration on the planet Magrathea, and the startling and life-threatening incidents that the four of them face.

The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy is full of thought provoking incidents narrated in comedic detail. This book was started as a BBC radio comedy in 1978. As a ‘trilogy’ of five books, the first book sold over 14 million copies. It was adapted as a TV series, a computer game, a feature film, and as a play.

About Douglas Adams

Douglas Adams was born on 11th March, 1952, in Cambridge, U.K. He was an English writer, dramatist, and a humorist. He created various contradictory versions of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy for radio, TV, comic books etc.

Apart from the different versions of The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy, the other books by the author include Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, The Long Dark Tea-Time Of The Soul, Mostly Harmless, Last Chance To See, and books from the Doctor Who series.

Douglas Adam was an atheist. He was also an environmental activist, a fan of technology, and a lover of computers. He and his wife lived in London with their daughter. Later they moved to California. He died on 11th May, 2001.