The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Hitchhiker's Guide Series, Book 1

I love this book--it's filled with hilarious passages of intelligent humor that you just want to read over and over again. There are maybe 4 sentences that are not really appropriate but meant to be funny and can easily go over the head of someone younger. The swearing isn't bad; the only really bad one that wouldn't be appropriate is the s-word and that is only used once or twice. The drinking is not influencial even though Arthur and Ford must drink 3 pints each before escaping from Earth because it will make their trip easier, and there are some humorous references to a drink that is not real.

What's neat about this book is that Douglas Adams never intended for it to be a book, and he says in a forward for the Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, he hated writing the book. There's a lot of humorous redundancy in it, as well as life lessons and other things to contemplate hidden between the hilarious lines. I've read this probably 42 times. :P

This is a hilarious book that anyone who likes Monty Python or Terry Pratchett or British humor in general will love. If you don't like this book, then you're probably a stodgy person with no sense of humor. (Maybe that's a bit harsh, but it's what I think. :P)

Warning! This story is filled with British Humor, but there are mice, dolphins, and other sorts of great things in this story. Besides that, narrowly escaping the death and destruction of the earth to make room for an intergalactic highway, englishman Arthur Dent and his alien friend Ford Prefect, from a small moon near Betelgeuse, go on a wild adventure across time and space. They are read Vogon poetry which is considered a terrible torture, and they are almost sucked out of an air lock into the universe. They then sneak on board of a vast ship in outer space. Then after many near death experiences they end up narrowly escaping near the end of each chapter. Throughout the novel they join forces with, Zaphod Beeblebrox, the ex-president of the galaxy, Trillian the only other surviving earthling, and a depressed robot named Marvin to search for the answer to the question of the meaning of life. This answer may have been hidden on the recently demolished earth. I would reccomend this book for young teens and people who can enjoy British humor. This novel may also fit well with Science-Fiction lovers. This novel is a fairly easy read, but if you have strict feelings for religion then this novel may offend you in some ways. There was also a movie that was re-made in 2005 which was a fairly good representation of most of the novel.