Douglas Adams Books & Tweet the Galaxy

Douglas Adams' Hitch-Hiker Books are a Trilogy in Six Parts

Oct 22, 2009

Douglas Adams was a famous author best-known for his Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy books. The series' sixth book was published posthumously in October 2009.

Humorous science fiction writer Douglas Adams created a rich world based on the wanderings of a displaced Earthling, Arthur Dent. On a quest to prevent his home from being demolished, Arthur Dent soon discovers that this is the least of his worries; his best friend Ford Prefect is actually an alien, and the soulless bureaucratic Vogons are coming along to demolish Planet Earth.

In Douglas Adam's books, Ford and Arthur hitch-hike onto the Vogon ship, and start a witty but poignant adventure that is billed as a trilogy in six parts. Arthur survives in part by consulting an electronic book, The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, that purports to have entries for everything and anything, and whose title sports the moniker "Don't Panic."

The sixth book in the series, And Another Thing, was published on October 12, 2009, the 30th anniversary of the original book. It was written by Eoin Colfer, based on notes left by Adams. The UK edition is from Penguin, the US edition from Hyperion.

The Hitch-Hiker series still has a strong fan following. In the novels, it is eventually revealed that the Earth was a supercomputer designed to calculate the meaning of life. An earlier computer had discovered that the answer to "life, the universe and everything" was "42." The Earth was there to calculate the question that went with this answer.

Thus, fans will often make reference to "42" and may even ask "42" if asked a particularly difficult questions such as, "Why are you unhappy?"

According to Douglas Adams' books, towels are an important piece of equipment for intergalactic hitch-hikers. May 25, the anniversary of a date two weeks after Adams' death, is now "Towel Day," a celebration of Hitch-Hiker fandom. D. Clyde Williamson called for the celebration on a now-defunct forum, and Towel Day is now an annual event.

A recipe for the Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster, a drink described in the book, was first published in the official fan club newsletter, ZZ9 Plural Zed Alpha. While the recipe has been released into the public domain, it is not reproduced here due to its enormous alcoholic content &emdash; it is essentially an 18-ounce shot of hard liquor mixed with Gatorade.

For the new book, fans were asked to Tweet messages (via the Tweet the Galaxy website) which will be transmitted into space, "seriously."

The Hitch-Hiker Books by Douglas Adams

Douglas Adams was born in Cambridge, England on March 11, 1952 and died on May 11, 2001 in Santa Monica, California. He was married to Jane Belson and they had one daughter, Polly, born when Adams was 42 years old. Other Douglas Adams books include his Dirk Gently intergalactic detective agent books, various essays, screenplays and co-authored works.

Those who have never been drawn to science fiction might still consider the Hitch-Hiker series by Douglas Adams. Their content is philosophical more than scientific, and the characters are well-rounded and quirky. Douglas Adam's imaginative world (or galaxy) is humorous and at times thought-provoking. For the best effect, the books should be read in order, in succession.

(This writer would also like to note that this article is her 42nd work for Suite101.)

Michael Hughes' portrait of Douglas Adams is released under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike licence 2.0).

The copyright of the article Douglas Adams Books & Tweet the Galaxy in Alien/Space Fiction is owned by Linda Gentile. Permission to republish Douglas Adams Books & Tweet the Galaxy in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.