Sonderbooks Book Review of The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Reviewed May 12, 2005.
Pan Books, London, 1979. 159 pages.
Available at Sembach Library (F ADA).
Sonderbooks Stand-out 2005 (#2, Science Fiction)

I had to read this book before the movie came out. It seems to me that almost every man in my life has loved this series of books. My brothers, my husband, my son, and even the only male librarian I’ve worked for have all enjoyed them. I hate to see a movie without reading the “real” story in the book it was based on, so I made sure I finally read this book.

The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is humorous science fiction, doing what science fiction does best—saying things about life in our modern world by doing it in disguise. Of course, with humorous science fiction, it’s poking fun at that world.

Arthur Dent was having a bad Thursday. His house is about to be leveled in order to make way for a new bypass. What he doesn’t realize is that the earth is also about to be destroyed in order to make way for a new intergalactic bypass.

Fortunately, Arthur’s friend Ford Prefect is actually a visiting alien doing research for that invaluable guidebook, The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. In the nick of time, he brings Arthur with him to hitch hike a ride on the space ship responsible for the destroying earth. Unfortunately, the Vogons running that space ship don’t take kindly to hitch hikers.

Like a lot of science fiction that men enjoy (forgive me for being stereotypical here), this isn’t a book for engaging your emotions. It is a book for engaging your intellect and giving you a good laugh. The mathematical side of my personality thoroughly enjoyed it, even if I wasn’t crazy about the idea behind the ship with the “probability drive.” (Yet it did delightfully make an illogical plot device almost logical.) Definitely a lot of fun.

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Book Reviews by Sondra Eklund

*****The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy*

by Douglas Adams