Product Description

One Thursday lunchtime the Earth gets unexpectedly demolished to make way for a new hyperspace bypass. For Arthur Dent, who has only just had his house demolished that morning, this seems already to be more than he can cope with. Sadly, however, the weekend has only just begun, and the Galaxy is a very strange and startling place.

VOLUME ONE IN THE TRILOGY OF FIVE

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #361090 in Books
• Published on: 2002-03-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

About the Author
The late Douglas Adams was the best-selling author of The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy; The Restaurant at the End of the Universe; Life, the Universe and Everything; So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish; and Mostly Harmless. He also wrote Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul. In addition, he co-wrote The Deeper Meaning of Liff with John Lloyd and the travel and wildlife book Last Chance to See with Mark Carwardine. He has sold over 15 million books in the UK, US and Australia and is a bestseller in German, Swedish and many other languages.

Excerpted from The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Copyright © 2002. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
" 'Hey,' he said, 'what you do that for?'
Trillian was tapping her fingers on a screenful of figures.
'I've just thought of something stupid,' she said.
'Yeah? Worth interrupting a news bulletin about me for?'
'You hear enough about yourself as it is.'
'I'm very insecure. We know that.'
'Can we drop your ego for a moment? This is important.'
'If there's anything more important than my ego around, I want it caught and shot now.' Zaphod glared at her again, then laughed.
'Listen,' she said, 'we picked up those couple of guys...'
'What couple of guys?'
'The couple of guys we picked up.'
'Oh yeah,' said Zaphod, 'those couple of guys.'
'We picked them up in sector ZZ 9 Plural Z Alpha.'
'Yeah?' said Zaphod, and blinked.
Trillian said quietly, 'Does this mean anything to you?'
'Mmmm,' said Zaphod, ' ZZ 9 Plural Z Alpha. ZZ 9 Plural Z Alpha?'
'Well?' said Trillian.
'Er... What does Z mean?' said Zaphod.
'Which one?'
'Any one.'

One of the major difficulties Trillian experienced in her relationship with Zaphod was learning to distinguish between him pretending to be stupid just to get people off their guard, pretending to be stupid because he couldn't be bothered to think and wanted someone else to do it for him, pretending to be outrageously stupid to hide the fact that he didn't actually understand what was going on, and really being genuinely stupid. He was renowned for being amazingly clever and quite clearly so-but not all the time, which obviously worried him, hence the act. He preferred people to be puzzled rather than contemptuous. This above all appeared to Trillian to be genuinely stupid, but she could no longer be bothered to argue about it."

Customer Reviews

Please Be Careful
The Hitch-Hiker's guide to the Galaxy is a fantastic mix of comedy and sci-fi. Yes some of it might seem a bit dated by today's standards, but it's still terrifically funny to see a stereotypical Englishman stranded following the destruction of Earth in only his dressing gown desperately searching for a Cup of Tea.

A few words of advice though. Please be careful that you're actually buying the product you think you are. Many of the versions of the books have the reviews cross-linked, so that a review of the 5 in 1 version shows on the product page for the stand alone original novel.

Deeply funny and moving
I agree with all of the other reviews, when they say HHG2G is the greatest series of books ever written. Quite simply, it is. HHG2G works on multiple levels, it is the height of literary genius. Not only is HHG2G hilarious in the most surreal, original and off the wall way, it is deeply moving. The book, and Arthur Dent in particular, is about all of us. We are all on our own quest for the meaning of life, and Douglas Adams helps us all with this quest by giving us a different insight into life. The moment where they find the meaning of life particularly brings a lump to my throat, as well as making me laugh out loud - that's why this is such a beautiful series of books.

The only bad joke in all of this is the universe took such a wonderful man at the age of 49.

Thank you Mr Adams!
This book was a great read for me at the age of 9. I heard the radio version first on a Saturday night with not much to do. My brother,sister and I loved Marvin and straight away I knew I was going to enjoy the other 4 books. After reading it for the first time I was all ready in to long books like "the Lord of the Rings" and "Duncton Wood" but this book blew the top off of my head. It's funny, most of it's contents is true (In some way or other) and Douglas's characters, I'd like to meet them pretty pronto. I'm in an IT lesson in the Brooke Weston City Technology College and beside me is a copy of that great book. And flicking through it now the imagination and creativity of Douglas Adams pours out in seconds. At the moment I'm reading "the Meaning of Liff" and "the Deeper Meaning of Liff" and I know that I've a great read in store tonight. Oh I can't,I'm watching "friends"