The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

The intergalactic adventures of Arthur Dent begin in the first volume of the 'trilogy of five', Douglas Adams' comedy sci-fi classic The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

On 12 October 1979 the most remarkable book ever to come out of the great publishing corporations of Ursa Minor (and Earth) was made available to humanity - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

It's an ordinary Thursday lunchtime for Arthur Dent until his house gets demolished. The Earth follows shortly afterwards to make way for a new hyperspace express route, and his best friend has just announced that he's an alien. At this moment, they're hurtling through space with nothing but their towels and an innocuous-looking book inscribed, in large friendly letters, with the words: DON'T PANIC.

The weekend has only just begun . . .

One of the greatest achievements in comedy. A work of staggering genius -- David Walliams
Dazzlingly inventive -- Caitlin Moran
Fizzing with ideas . . . Brilliant -- Charlie Brooker
I haven’t known many geniuses in my life. Some brilliantly smart people, but only a tiny handful would I class as geniuses. I would class Douglas, because he saw things differently, and he was capable of communicating the way he saw things, and once he explained things the way he saw them, it was almost impossible to see them the way you used to see them -- Neil Gaiman
The first book that wasn’t by Roald Dahl that really made me laugh. Arthur Dent is this humdrum person in search of a cup of tea and ends up going on mind-blowing adventures. He is so ordinary and the circumstances are so extraordinary that it was the funniest thing I’d ever read -- Robert Webb
It changed my whole life. It's literally out of this world -- Tom Baker
Really entertaining and fun -- Michael Palin
Hitchhiker’s is packed with that unique energy, all barmy and bristling and bold. This book can be witty, iconoclastic, godless, savage, sweet, surreal, but above all, it dares to be silly. Fiercely, beautifully silly -- Russell T. Davies, writer and producer of Doctor Who
He had almost a Wodehousian style and some of his phrases and jokes entered our language. He changed the way people spoke -- Stephen Fry
There has never been another writer remotely like Douglas Adams. He discovered a completely new genre – scientific wit – and having discovered it he raised it to dizzying heights -- Tony Robinson
Quite good I suppose, if you like brilliantly entertaining books written with a touch of imaginative genius -- Griff Rhys Jones
Very occasionally a book comes along that changes the way you laugh and what you laugh about -- Richard Dawkins
One of the world’s sanest, smartest, kindest, funniest voices Independent on Sunday
Sheer delight The Times
Magical . . . read this book Sunday Express
Really entertaining and fun -- John Cleese
Much funnier than anything John Cleese has written -- Terry Jones
Who is John Cleese? -- Eric Idle
I know for a fact that John Cleese hasn’t read it -- Graham Chapman

Douglas Adams created all the various and contradictory manifestations of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: radio, novels, TV, computer game, stage adaptations, comic book and bath towel. He lectured and broadcast around the world and was a patron of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund and Save the Rhino International. Douglas Adams was born in Cambridge, UK and lived with his wife and daughter in Islington, London, before moving to Santa Barbara, California, where he died suddenly in 2001.

In addition to Hitchhiker, He is also the author of the Dirk Gently novels: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul and the unfinished The Salmon of Doubt.

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