Staff Pick
Intelligent, philosophical, witty, charming, and laugh-out-loud funny. Douglas Adams's conversational style of writing makes this strange journey an absolute joy to read. This is my favorite book of all time, and "Don't Panic" is tattooed on my arm in large, friendly letters as a permanent reminder of this most important lesson from the most important book in the galaxy — The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy! This is a book everyone should read, and is in fact on our list of 25 Books to Read Before You Die (and most deservedly so). Arthur Dent's reluctant trip across space and time continues to be essential reading for all — not just sci-fi fans — 42 years after its publication. Recommended By Joseph P., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
SOON TO BE A HULU SERIES
Now celebrating the pivotal 42nd anniversary of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy!
Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read
It’s an ordinary Thursday morning for Arthur Dent . . . until his house gets demolished. The Earth follows shortly after to make way for a new hyperspace express route, and Arthur’s best friend has just announced that he’s an alien.
After that, things get much, much worse.
With just a towel, a small yellow fish, and a book, Arthur has to navigate through a very hostile universe in the company of a gang of unreliable aliens. Luckily the fish is quite good at languages. And the book is The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy . . . which helpfully has the words DON’T PANIC inscribed in large, friendly letters on its cover.
Douglas Adams’s mega-selling pop-culture classic sends logic into orbit, plays havoc with both time and physics, offers up pithy commentary on such things as ballpoint pens, potted plants, and digital watches . . . and, most important, reveals the ultimate answer to life, the universe, and everything.
Now, if you could only figure out the question. . . .
Review
“Lively, sharply satirical, brilliantly written . . . ranks with the best set pieces in Mark Twain.”—The Atlantic
“Irresistible!”—The Boston Globe
“With droll wit, a keen eye for detail and heavy doses of insight . . . Adams makes us laugh until we cry.”—The San Diego Union-Tribune
“One of the greatest achievements in comedy. A work of staggering genius.”—David Walliams
About the Author
Douglas Adams was born in 1952 and created all the various and contradictory manifestations of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: radio, novels, TV, computer games, stage adaptations, comic book, and bath towel. He was born in Cambridge and lived with his wife and daughter in Islington, London, before moving to Santa Barbara, California, where he died suddenly in 2001.