Last Summer, I ran a book club at the Austin Public Library. Every week, I had to read a new book to discuss, and I read a wide variety of stories, from fantasy to sci-fi. Even after an entire summer of reading, my favorite book had to be the first one; the all-time sci-fi comedy classic The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy by Douglas Adams.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is about humanity’s cosmic insignificance, politics and elections’ absurdity, and the dichotomy between meaning and meaninglessness. But mostly, it’s a humorous series of events that gleefully mocks and lovingly pays tribute to the genre of science fiction. In doing so, it became a sci-fi classic in its own right that any fan of the genre needs to check out.
Douglas Adams’ classic has made top sci-fi books of all time lists, including notable mentions in Esquire, Men’s Health and The Greatest Books. It does this by showing readers how science fiction isn’t always a heavy-handed rumination on the human condition or self-serious schlock; sometimes, the universe is brimming with absurdity, parody, and ridiculous characters.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy begins humble and spirals out of control into events of absurd cosmic significance. It follows Arthur Dent, a completely average and mediocre man, and his friend Ford Prefect, an alien from a small planet in the vicinity of Betelgeuse. Through increasingly absurd events, Arthur and Ford are catapulted into a galaxy-spanning adventure. Despite feeling like a light romp, Hitchhiker’s Guide involves heavy themes and incidents of cosmic significance, reduced to a mere joke.
Adams uses humorously long-winded anecdotes and clever wordplay to enhance the story’s already absurd contents. In doing so, he not only elevates the story into hilarity but creates a unique style of comedy that could only ever work in the written form. Although this book has been adapted for television, it feels uniquely suited to the written form. People have a lot of opinions about whether they should consider audiobooks to be reading. Still, the audio version of the story I listened to, narrated by Stephen Fry, was utterly hilarious and did the story justice. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy deserves to be experienced in its original medium if only for Adams’ unique and mesmerizing writing style.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy is a 9/10. This story should be required reading for any aspiring science fiction writer and is also an excellent time for sci-fi fans. If you need a read to cheer you up and make you laugh, and you enjoy a good space opera or two, Hitchhiker’s Guide does the job like little else.