The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy 

by Douglas Adams

With the BBC’s release of an eight episode series of Douglas Adams’s 1987 novel “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency“, a book I have yet to read, but need to do so on the quick given the hilariously thought-provoking premise, it reminded me how much I have always enjoyed Adams’s “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” I don’t have much to say about this wonderfully, zany novel that won’t be better said by the quotes. So let’s get right to it.

“He felt that his whole life was some kind of dream and he sometimes wondered whose it was and whether they were enjoying it.”

“For a moment, nothing happened. Then, after a second or so, nothing continued to happen.”

“For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much—the wheel, New York, wars and so on—whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man—for precisely the same reasons.”

“The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don’t.”

“You know,” said Arthur, “it’s at times like this, when I’m trapped in a Vogon airlock with a man from Betelgeuse, and about to die of asphyxiation in deep space that I really wish I’d listened to what my mother told me when I was young.”
“Why, what did she tell you?”
“I don’t know, I didn’t listen.”

“The bird that would soar above the plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings.”

“We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!”

“Ford!” he said, “there’s an infinite number of monkeys outside who want to talk to us about this script for Hamlet they’ve worked out.”

“Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.”

“So this is it,” said Arthur, “We are going to die.”
“Yes,” said Ford, “except… no! Wait a minute!” He suddenly lunged across the chamber at something behind Arthur’s line of vision. “What’s this switch?” he cried.
“What? Where?” cried Arthur, twisting round.
“No, I was only fooling,” said Ford, “we are going to die after all.”

Sticky Books are those that you just can’t get out of your head. They stick with you long after you have put the book down and have moved on to something else. These are some of my Sticky Books. I don’t enjoy reviewing books myself. I find I am either full of far too much praise for the book because I know how difficult it can be to write a book, or I am far too negative about a book because, well, I guess I was just in a bad mood. So instead of reviews, I have pulled some of my favorite quotes from each Sticky Book.

Find more writing and publishing tips at Nothing Any Good.