Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

 

Title:

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

 

Bibliographic Information:

Douglas Adams, 309 pages paperback book

Del Rey, Copyright 1979

ISBM: 9780345391803

 

Summary:

Author Dent is having a very bad day.  He first discovers that his house is going to be demolished and he doesn’t even have time to pack.  Stuck in his dressing gown he soon finds out the entire Earth is going to be destroyed and his friend is an alien.  Being the last human man in the Galaxy, he soon discovers the galaxy is a strange place to live.  He then gets involved with two headed President of the Galaxy, the last human girl, a depressed robot and a ship with a very strange faster the light drive.  He soon is looking for a legendary superrich planet.  Oh, there is the guide which is a computerized guide to the galaxy which is not always accurate.

 

Evaluation:

This is a very funny story written in third person.  The book is written describing the action in the story and then will move over to some humorous fact about the galaxy.  There are also entries from the guide which often adds another level to the humor.  The book is also well written and there is different versions based on radio play, the movie and the book.

 

Readers Annotation:

One day Author’s house is destroyed, then the Earth is destroyed, but other does have is towel

 

Booktalking ideas:

Talk about all of the uses of a towel and how it one of the most important thing a hitchhiker can have.

 

Author information:

Douglas Adams is a British author who has written many funny novels.  He was also a radio producer, writer and help create a number of video games.  website: http://www.douglasadams.com/

 

Genre:

Science Fiction Humor

 

Awards:

Number one on the Sunday Times best seller list (1979)

Author received the “Golden Pan” (From his publishers for reaching the 1,000,000th book sold) (1984)

Waterstone’s Books/Channel Four’s list of the ‘One Hundred Greatest Books of the Century’, at number 24. (1996)

BBC’s “Big Read”, an attempt to find the “Nation’s Best-loved book”, ranked it number four. (2003)

 

Reading Level:

Teens or older.

 

Challenging Issues:

There is violence, alcohol conception and destruction of the Earth.  There is also some very bad poetry.

 

Selection Reason:

Ok, this is one of the basic sci-fi comedies.  I have read it several times and read many times.