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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy · Book 1

Audiobook available · 5 hr 51 min

Arthur Dent is trying to stop the council from flattening his house when Earth itself faces demolition for a space highway. His best friend turns out to be an alien, and Arthur leaves the planet with a towel and a guidebook whose cover advises him not to panic.

Science fiction Absurdism Dry wit Satire

From the publisher’s blurb

“It's an ordinary Thursday lunchtime for Arthur Dent until his house gets demolished.”

Read the full description at Pan Macmillan, publisher description

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What makes it funny?

The council insists Arthur had fair warning about his house: the notice was hidden in a locked filing cabinet in a disused lavatory. That exchange sets up a universe where an official can follow procedure and still be spectacularly unreasonable.

The comedy at work

Adams's narrator makes digressions part of the joke, explaining bypasses through points A and B before assigning another point to a council employee's preferred pub. Arthur's ordinary worries, including his desire for tea, give the cosmic disasters a stubbornly domestic scale.

Try this if…

Readers who enjoy dry narration and satire of officialdom have plenty to work with here. The opening takes detours to pursue a joke; the appeal includes the narrator's explanations as much as Arthur's predicament.

Good to know

Check which version you're buying: the novel shares its title with radio and screen adaptations. The Pan 42nd Anniversary paperback adds archival material and an introduction by Russell T Davies. The next novel is The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.