The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Douglas Adams

Science Fiction / Mystery / Humor

Join Douglas Adams’s hapless hero Arthur Dent as he travels the galaxy with his intrepid pal Ford Prefect, getting into horrible messes and generally wreaking hilarious havoc. Dent... show more ▼ is grabbed from Earth moments before a cosmic construction team obliterates the planet to build a freeway. You’ll never read funnier science fiction; Adams is a master of intelligent satire, barbed wit, and comedic dialogue. The Hitchhiker’s Guide is rich in comedic detail and thought-provoking situations and stands up to multiple reads. Required reading for science fiction fans, this book (and its follow-ups) is also sure to please fans of Monty Python, Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, and British sitcoms.

Read online

• 11 936

• Published: 1995

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Douglas Adams

Science Fiction / Mystery / Humor

What do a dead cat, a computer whiz-kid, an Electric Monk who believes the world is pink, quantum mechanics, a Chronologist over 200 years old, Samuel Taylor Coleridge (poet), and ... show more ▼pizza have in common? Apparently not much; until Dirk Gently, self-styled private investigator, sets out to prove the fundamental interconnectedness of all things by solving a mysterious murder, assisting a mysterious professor, unravelling a mysterious mystery, and eating a lot of pizza – not to mention saving the entire human race from extinction along the way (at no extra charge). To find out more, read this book (better still, buy it, then read it) – or contact Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. ‘A thumping good detective-ghost-horror-whodunnit-time travel-romantic-musical-comedy epic.’ The author

Read online

• 9 957

• Published: 1987

Life, the Universe and Everything

Douglas Adams

Science Fiction / Mystery / Humor

After adapting his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy scripts from the BBC radio series into two successful novels, author Douglas Adams reshaped a rejected "Doctor Who" script he'd ... show more ▼written into this third novel in the original trilogy. Reluctant space traveler Arthur Dent finds himself drawn into a race to save the universe from the people of Krikkit, who, upon discovering that they're not alone in the universe, set out to destroy it. In consequence of a number of stunning catastrophies, Arthur Dent is surprised to find himself living in a hideously miserable cave on prehistoric Earth. However, just as he thinks that things cannot possibly get any worse, they suddenly do. He discovers that the Galaxy is not only mind-bogglingly big and bewildering, but also that most of the things that happen in it are staggeringly unfair.

Read online

• 4 727

• Published: 1986

So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish

Douglas Adams

Science Fiction / Mystery / Humor

The quest continues in the fourth volume in the ever-popular Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series. Against all odds, at the eleventh hour, and in the unlikeliest place of all,... show more ▼ the intrepid Arthur Dent finds the girl of his dreams. After eight years and about 100,000 lightyears of intergalactic travel, he is looking a little down-at-the-heels himself, and she is heavily sedated because she thinks she is a hedgehog. She is also in the company of a brother that Arthur wouldn’t wish on a Vogon. But they are both in search of God’s Final Message to His Creation, and hey, this time they might actually find it.

Read online

• 4 662

• Published: 1995

The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

Douglas Adams

Science Fiction / Mystery / Humor

When a passenger check-in desk at London's Heathrow Airport disappears in a ball of orange flame, the explosion is deemed an act of God. But which god, wonders holistic detective D... show more ▼irk Gently? What god would be hanging around Heathrow trying to catch the 3:37 to Oslo? And what has this to do with Dirk's latest--and late--client, found only this morning with his head revolving atop the hit record "Hot Potato"? Amid the hostile attentions of a stray eagle and the trauma of a very dirty refrigerator, super-sleuth Gently will once again solve the mysteries of the universe.

Read online

• 4 539

• Published: 1988

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

Douglas Adams

Science Fiction / Mystery / Humor

“The story so far: In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move. Many races believe that it was crea... show more ▼ted by some sort of god, though the Jatravartid people of Viltvodle VI believe that the entire Universe was in fact sneezed out of the nose of a being called the Great Green Arkleseizure. The Jatravartids, who live in perpetual fear of the time they call The Coming of The Great White Handkerchief, are small blue creatures with more than fifty arms each, who are therefore unique in being the only race in history to have invented the aerosol deodorant before the wheel.” As this popularly acclaimed, internationally best-selling sequel to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy opens, the hapless Earthman Arthur Dent has just escaped certain death on the planet Magrathea. He now faces certain death from a Vogon spaceship, unless the ghost of ex-Galactic President Zaphod Beeblebrox’s grandfather can lend a spectral helping hand. As he must, because Zaphod must fulfill a mission he’s totally forgotten about—to search for the man who truly rules the universe. Naturally, there’s time for everyone to stop for a bite to eat at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe first… In general, these first two books— The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and this volume—are considered to be the definitive books in the Hitchhiker’s series. Part of the reason why this is so may be because these first two books follow to a significant degree the plotline of the BBC radio series that inspired them, although the events are somewhat rearranged and some additional incidents added. The subsequent books take the story in an entirely new direction, far past the timeline of the radio series.

Read online

• 4 073

• Published: 1995

Mostly Harmless

Douglas Adams

Science Fiction / Mystery / Humor

The fifth and final volume in the humorous SF series that began with THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY is somewhat darker than its predecessors. The Earthman Arthur Dent spends ... show more ▼years selling genetic material in exchange for travel to various parallel universes in search of somewhere vaguely resembling his home planet. When he finally settles (actually, crash lands) on a backwater planet, his pleasant new career as tribal sandwich-maker is interrupted by the arrival of his daughter, Random–the result of those many, many sales of his DNA. Meanwhile, Arthur's friend Ford Prefect discovers that the happy-go-lucky executives of his employer, the publishers of THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, have been replaced by a frighteningly grim and worryingly familiar new management team. His plot to disturb their business plan puts him once again into Arthur's path...with devastating results.

Read online

• 3 474

• Published: 1992

The Meaning of Liff

Douglas Adams

Science Fiction / Mystery / Humor

Read online

• 443

• Published: 1983

Last Chance to See

Douglas Adams

Science Fiction / Mystery / Humor

After years of reflecting on the absurdities of life on other planets, Douglas Adams teams up with zoologist Mark Carwardine on an expedition to find out what's happening to life o... show more ▼n this one.

Read online

• 69

• Published: 1991

Shada

Douglas Adams

Science Fiction / Mystery / Humor

From the unique mind of Douglas Adams, the legendary "lost" Doctor Who story has been completed at last by Gareth Roberts and narrated by Lalla Ward. The Doctor's old friend and ... show more ▼fellow Time Lord Professor Chronotis has retired to Cambridge University - where nobody will notice if he lives for centuries. But now he needs help from the Doctor, Romana and K-9. When he left Gallifrey he took with him a few little souvenirs - most of them are harmless. But one of them is extremely dangerous. The Worshipful and Ancient Law of Gallifrey isn't a book for Time Tots. It is one of the Artifacts, dating from the dark days of Rassilon. It must not be allowed to fall into the wrong hands. The sinister Skagra most definitely has the wrong hands. He wants the book. He wants to discover the truth behind Shada. And he wants the Doctor's mind... Based on the scripts for the original television series by the legendary Douglas Adams, *Shada* retells an adventure that never made it to the screen.

Read online

• 66

• Published: 2003

Mostly Harmless tuhgttg-5

Douglas Adams

Science Fiction / Mystery / Humor

The fifth and final volume in the humorous SF series that began with THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY is somewhat darker than its predecessors. The Earthman Arthur Dent spends ... show more ▼years selling genetic material in exchange for travel to various parallel universes in search of somewhere vaguely resembling his home planet. When he finally settles (actually, crash lands) on a backwater planet, his pleasant new career as tribal sandwich-maker is interrupted by the arrival of his daughter, Random–the result of those many, many sales of his DNA. Meanwhile, Arthur's friend Ford Prefect discovers that the happy-go-lucky executives of his employer, the publishers of THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, have been replaced by a frighteningly grim and worryingly familiar new management team. His plot to disturb their business plan puts him once again into Arthur's path...with devastating results.

Read online

• 66

• Published: 1992

The Meaning of Liff

Douglas Adams

Science Fiction / Mystery / Humor

Read online

• 63

• Published: 1995

The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Douglas Adams

Science Fiction / Mystery / Humor

Read online

• 61

• Published: 2010

Life, the Universe and Everything

Douglas Adams

Science Fiction / Mystery / Humor

After adapting his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy scripts from the BBC radio series into two successful novels, author Douglas Adams reshaped a rejected "Doctor Who" script he'd ... show more ▼written into this third novel in the original trilogy. Reluctant space traveler Arthur Dent finds himself drawn into a race to save the universe from the people of Krikkit, who, upon discovering that they're not alone in the universe, set out to destroy it. In consequence of a number of stunning catastrophies, Arthur Dent is surprised to find himself living in a hideously miserable cave on prehistoric Earth. However, just as he thinks that things cannot possibly get any worse, they suddenly do. He discovers that the Galaxy is not only mind-bogglingly big and bewildering, but also that most of the things that happen in it are staggeringly unfair.

Read online

• 59

• Published: 1986

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Further Radio Scripts

Douglas Adams

Science Fiction / Mystery / Humor

The Tertiary, Quandary and Quintessential Phases. The remaining books in Douglas Adams' 'Hitchhiker's' masterpiece as finally dramatised for radio, where it all began. Twenty-five ... show more ▼years after the original radio series of 'Hitchhiker's' exploded into the public consciousness, the further exploits of its bewildered hero Arthur Dent have been adapted for radio by Dirk Maggs, in part using drafts written by Adams before his death. These scripts brilliantly bring to life the last three books in Adams' perennially popular "Hitchhiker" series: 'Life, The Universe And Everything'; 'So Long And Thanks For All The Fish' and 'Mostly Harmless'. Notes from Dirk Maggs highlight Adams' original material and explain how the cast, special effects and music were directed. The scripts also include a foreword by Simon Jones, who played Arthur Dent in both the original and recent radio series, as well as in 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' television series. These scripts exemplify the...

Read online

• 56

• Published: 1994