Looking Back - Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Science Fiction

1995 Turtleback Books (first published in 1979)

Finished on July 11, 2001

Rating: 3.5/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Seconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor.

Together this dynamic pair begin a journey through space aided by quotes from The Hitchhiker's Guide ("A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have") and a galaxy-full of fellow travelers: Zaphod Beeblebrox--the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch president of the galaxy; Trillian, Zaphod's girlfriend (formally Tricia McMillan), whom Arthur tried to pick up at a cocktail party once upon a time zone; Marvin, a paranoid, brilliant, and chronically depressed robot; Veet Voojagig, a former graduate student who is obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he bought over the years.

Where are these pens? Why are we born? Why do we die? Why do we spend so much time between wearing digital watches? For all the answers stick your thumb to the stars. And don't forget to bring a towel!

My Original Thoughts (2001):

Enjoyable, but not a favorite. I enjoyed the novelty of the story more in the first half than in the second. A quick read with lots of catch-phrases that are probably well-known. "42." "The mice will see you now." "Resistance is useless." I might read more by Adams someday.

My Current Thoughts:

I haven't read anything else by Adams since reading this book. I'm not really a big fan of sci-fi.