The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1979

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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Genre: Science fiction; comedy
Originally Published: 1979
Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 930: young adult/adult
Structure/Length: Novel divided into 35 chapters with an introduction; approx. 193 pages; approx. 5 hours and 51 minutes on audiobook
Protagonist/Central Conflict: The Hitchhiker‘s Guide to the Galaxy is a comedic science fiction novel that follows the misadventures of Arthur Dent, an unwitting Earthman who is rescued by a researcher named Ford Prefect just before the Earth‘s destruction. The central conflict revolves around Arthur‘s sudden and bewildering journey through space, guided by the electronic book The Hitchhiker‘s Guide, as he encounters a series of bizarre characters and humorous situations. The novel explores themes of absurdity, the meaning of life, and the vastness of the universe, all with Douglas Adams’s trademark wit and satire.
Potential Sensitivity Issues: Themes of absurdity, humor, and science fiction concepts; profanity; references to depression and death by suicide

Douglas Adams, Author

Bio: Born 1952, deceased 2001; British author and humorist known for his contributions to science fiction and comedy; Adams’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series has become a cult classic in the realm of humorous science fiction.
Other Works: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (1980); Life, the Universe and Everything (1982); So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish (1984)