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Review: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams – Paranoid Android Joke, Paranoid Android Joke

Adams knows how to blend satire with Sci-fi, and this is done seamlessly in the critically acclaimed, Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy. Not only had this book introduced me to the over the top, subtly-be-damned, satire shown on a grand scale.

My favorite Dr. Who episode is like something out of The Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy, the main characters arrive in a future New York where thousands of people (Hundreds of thousands?) are stuck in an underground traffic jam that many of them have been stuck in for 40 or more years. It even uses a bit of Sci-fi to explain this ridiculous situation, which of course is semi-bunk. Then there are cat people and giant crabs which live in the fast lane. That’s the kind of stuff I love (The name is Gridlock, I suggest that you watch it.)

Parts of it don’t really make sense, but it is showing how situations which are ridiculous now could become even more insane in the future. And Adams revels in this feeling, in the book the Earth is destroyed (This happens early in the book so it is not really a spoiler) by a fleet of aliens known as the Vogons, but the only reason they do it is because they want to make an interstellar highway through the area.

When the people of Earth beg the Vogons to not destroy their planet, the aliens complain that it was decided at the nearest planetary hall, and if they wanted to combat the construction they should have lodged a complaint, and the place to do so was only a couple solar systems away.

The book is full of this type of humor, but that’s not all it relies on, it also utilizes plenty of interesting sci-fi concepts while relying mostly on character-based humor. And it manages to boast one of the best cast of characters that I know. There’s a clueless human named Arthur, an egomaniacal alien driven by his overwhelming need to have fun, and a personal favorite, Marvin the Paranoid Andriod, the most depressed machine in existence.

The book is fantastic and if you want to start a new series then I suggest you start with  The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the galaxy and then move on to its wonderful sequels.

I’d rate it Great to Brilliant.

(For those of you who haven’t read my previous posts this is my system for rating books, Awful - Bad - Good - Great - Brilliant.) 

 Thank you for reading and have a nice day! 
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