Earth? Harmless. The Ever-Increasing Galaxy? A Journey To Be Had, Of Course!

Brandon Zuniga

Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy
By Douglas Adams

Imagine yourself, being threatened by a contractor who wants to tear down your house to make way for a new road. The only thing between your house and the bulldozer is you. Then, a friend of yours tells you to go to a bar with him for a drink because the world is about to end rendering his standoff between the bulldozer useless. You would think he’s crazy right? Well, that is how Arthur Dent’s day starts off in Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy.

Everything happens very fast; The skies start to open up, and voices descend, warning them of their impending doom. Luckily, Dent’s crazy friend who is actually an alien, Ford Prefect, saves Dent by numbing him with alcohol who then wakes up in a spaceship. This begins their adventures as hitchhikers going around the galaxy.

While I am only halfway through the book, Douglas Adams successfully grabs your attention, while also seeing how an ignorant Dent is handling all that is happening at once. This might dissuade you from reading, but throughout the novel, we are aided by the Hitchhiker’s Guide itself informing us of the unknown. The multi-million selling book is a classic to be read with its comedic style, interesting characters, and unique writing style. In fact, the first scene with the aliens coming down to earth hooked me as Adams displays the hypocrisy of the contractors.

In the very first chapter the contractors, ready to tear down Arthur’s house, inform Arthur that he was informed of the plans ahead of time: “Mr. Dent, the plans have been available in the local planning office for the last nine months”(8). However when the Aliens are prepping for the destruction of earth, they announce, “no point in acting surprise... demolition orders have been on display... in Alpha Centauri for fifty of your earth years”(35). The science fiction novel introduces us to the many species, planets, and more of the universe in a few chapters, leaving us perplexed, just like Dent.

This book is great for lovers of science fiction, fantasy, and comedy. The book is also a light read, at about 200 pages. The characters are something to pay attention to, from the mysterious Ford Prefect to the depressed robot, Marvin, you will find entertainment with each character introduced. So when you’re ready, pick up your hitchhiker’s guide, grab your Babel Fish-or don’t because, “Vogon poetry is of course the third worst in the universe” (64)-and get ready to go on a journey around the galaxy!