by Douglas Adams
Seconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor. Together this dynamic pair begin a journey through space aided by quotes from The Hitchhiker's Guide ("A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have") and a galaxy-full of fellow travelers: Zaphod Beeblebrox—the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch president of the galaxy; Trillian, Zaphod's girlfriend (formally Tricia McMillan), whom Arthur tried to pick up at a cocktail party once upon a time zone; Marvin, a paranoid, brilliant, and chronically depressed robot; Veet Voojagig, a former graduate student who is obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he bought over the years. Where are these pens? Why are we born? Why do w…
Marvin the Paranoid Android is one of literature's great characters and I will not be taking questions. Adams writes with a lightness that conceals real depth. This book has made me laugh out loud on public transit more than once and I have no regrets.
The funniest science fiction novel ever written and also, somehow, the saddest. Adams uses comedy to sneak genuine philosophical anxiety past your defenses. The answer being 42 is funny until you realize the point is that we don't know what the question is. Read it. Then read it again.
Chris Van Allsburg
