Have you ever wondered what is beyond? No, not beyond life. Beyond the stars as we know them, to go where no human has gone before? In this Science Fiction/Comedy novel, Douglas Adams takes you where no man has ever gone, the outer rims of the Milky Way.

Arthur Dent, an average British citizen wakes up one morning to a demolition crew ready to level his house to the ground to make way for a “Bypass” which is a foreshadowing for what is to come.

This situation is the least of his problems. Little does he know that a very business-like species of aliens, The Vogons plan to destroy the earth to make space for a Hyperspatial Express Route. Thankfully, one of the protagonists’ friends, Ford Prefect is not actually an out of work actor from Guildford as he claimed to be, “but from a Small planet somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse”.

Ford, being a writer for the “HHGttG” who was assigned to do a research piece on the earth, detected a disturbance with his Sub-Etha Sens-O-Matic and thus prepared for the “End of the World”.

He then decided to save his best friend, Arthur, and they gathered the required items as suggested in the ‘HGttG.”

-Towel
-Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy

(The guide can map the way to surviving the challenges of the Universe for less than 30 Altarian dollars a day)

As the earth is 2 seconds away from imploding, Ford sticks out his thumb and is picked up by a Vogon space ship. From there their adventure begins.

Ford then falls upon his old friend, Zaphod, who happens to be the president of the galaxy. Zaphod, being simple minded, recently had stolen the Heart of Gold spaceship on her maiden voyage and thus became an inter-galactic criminal. The ship enables the passengers to use the IMPROBABILITY DRIVE function which “allows the ship to simultaneously pass through every conceivable and non-conceivable point in every conceivable and non-conceivable universe.”

Author, Douglas Adams creates a fantasy world, so ridiculous yet so believable.

-He brings the wonders of the universe to the reader.

- With his hilarious and precise descriptions the reader feels as if they are there, living the experience with Ford and Arthur.

Some of Douglas’ descriptions are so detailed that it’s almost overboard…

“…Ford with a lightning movement clapped his hand to Arthur’s ear, and he had the sudden sickening sensation of the fish slithering deep into his aural tract. Gasping with horror as he scrabbled at his ear for a second or so, but then slowly turned goggle-eyed with wonder. He was experiencing the aural equivalent of looking at a picture of two black silhouetted faces and suddenly seeing it as a picture of a white candlestick Or of looking at a lot of coloured dots on a piece of paper which suddenly resolve themselves into a figure six and mean that your optician is going to charge you a lot of money for a new pair of glasses...”

He described ONE event in this tediously long, but amazingly descriptive paragraph. The book can seem a bit long at times, but the witty remarks and just overall “fun-ness” of the story makes up for it all.

The book has become a Sci-Fi classic, mixing British humour and String Theory. This is a well-suited book for Sci-fi and comedy lovers alike, Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy is perfectly balanced with geeky and funny. I would recommend this to people who enjoy Doctor Who type Sci-Fi. If you liked the book, you will love the rest of the series and the Movie. Check them out, it’s worth it.