Rating:👍
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is a book by Douglas Adams.
Honestly, what’s there to say. It’s short, goofy, delightful. Like The Matrix or Zoolander, you’ll find that you probably quote or know quotes from this book even if you’ve never read it or seen the movie.
It made me think about what appeals to children - they don’t need subtle character development or intricate scene painting, they just want random stuff to happen, silly names, slick insults and buffoonish aliens.
At the same time, this book wraps in deep philosophical questions of “life, the universe, and everything”. How do we know that we are the most intelligent beings on Earth? If there’s an answer to life, what’s even the question to life? Is there any difference, functionally, between a benign mistake and a catastrophic one? Whose fault is a printed mistake? What is more useful than a towel, really?
Marvin the depressed, existential robot is such a good character. Recent developments in AI do reframe the book in an interesting way, given the theme of supercomputers that can give us answers to things.
It was a pleasure to reread as an adult. I don’t think I’ll work my way through all the books, but the first one was a pleasant reminder that great Science Fiction doesn’t have to be so serious.