The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (The Hitchhikers Guide to...) by Douglas Adams

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Description

At last in paperback in one complete volume, here are the five classic novels from Douglas Adams’s beloved Hitchiker series. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Seconds before the Earth is demolished for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is saved by Ford Prefect, a researcher for the... read more

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Summary

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Cast of Characters

Arthur Dent: Main character, lives alone in a small house in West Country.
Mr. L. Prosser: A descendant from Genghis Khan who works for the local council.
Ford Prefect: A writer for the Guide who got stranded on Earth fifteen years earlier. He is from a small planet near Betelgeuse. He is also good friends with Arthur.
Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz: Commander of the ship on which Arthur and Ford hitch a ride, hates hitchhikers.
Zaphod Beeblebrox: Two-headed president of the Inmperial Galactic Government, really just a figurehead, friends with Ford and dating Trillian.
Trillian (aka Tricia McMillan): Was picked up from Earth by Zaphod and is dating him, only other surviving member of Earth.
Marvin (aka The Paranoid Android): A manically depressed robot who works on the Spaceship Heart of Gold.
Sirius Cybernetics Shipboard Computer: The annoyingly cheerful computer on the Spaceship Heart of Gold.
Slartibartfast: A Magrathean worker and maker of planets. He won an award for Norway.
Lunkwill: A programmer for Deep Thought
Fook: A programmer for Deep Thought
Deep Thought: The second greatest supercomputer ever made
Majikthise: A philosopher from the Cruxwan University
Vroomfondel: Another philosopher from the Cruxwan University
Loonquawl: A new Deep Thought technician.
Phouchg: Another new Deep Thought technician.

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Memorable Quotes

“DON'T PANIC!”
“Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.”
“Nothing travels faster than the speed of light with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special laws.”
“Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.”
“It is an important and popular fact that things are not always what they seem. 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--while 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”

First Sentence

Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun.

Introduction: A Guide to the Guide/vi

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy/1

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe/145

Life, the Universe and Everything/311

So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish/471

Young Zaphod Plays It Safe/613

Mostly Harmless/627

Glossary

The Thumb: Short squat black rod, smooth and matte with a couple of flat switches and dials at one end. The Thumb is used by Hitchhikers throughout the Galaxy to flag down passing starships. Half the electronic engineers in the galaxy are constantly trying to find fresh ways of jamming the signals generated by the Thumb, while the other half are constantly trying to find fresh ways of jamming the jamming signals
Towel: Just about the most massively useful thing any interstellar Hitchhiker can carry. For one thing it has great practical value - you can wrap it around you for warmth on the cold moons of Jaglan Beta, sunbathe on it on the marble beaches of Santraginus Five, huddle beneath it for protection from the Arcturan Megagnats as you sleep beneath the stars of Kakrafoon, use it to sail a miniraft down the slpow heavy river Moth, wet it for use in hand to hand combat, wrap it round your head to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal, and even dry yourself off with it if it still seems clean enough.
Babel Fish: A living fish which, when placed in your ear, will live there and translate any form of language for you.
GPP: Genuine People Personalities.
Deep Thought: The second-largest computer ever made. It was the size of a small city. Its main console was installed in a specially designed executive office, mounted on an enormous executive desk of finest ultramahagony topped with rich ultrared leather. The dark carpeting was discreetly sumptuous, exotic potted plants and tastefully engraved prints of the principal computer programmers and their families were deployed liberally about the room, and stately windows looked out upon a tree-lined public square.
42: The Answer to the Great Question Of Life, The Universe, And Everything. The problem is that nobody really knows what the question is.
Infinite Improbability Drive: The Infinite Improbability Drive simultaneously places a starship at every conceivable point in the universe, thereby eliminating all that tedious mucking about in hyperspace. It uses vast amounts of improbability, and many silly things happen in its wake.
Heart Of Gold: The Heart Of Gold is equipped with the new Infinite Improbability Drive. The core of this drive is made of solid gold, thus the name. It is one hundred and fifty meters long, shaped like a sleek running shoe, and perfectly white.
Sub-Etha Sens-O-Matic: A small black device, the Sub-Etha Sens-O-Matic alerts Hitch Hikers to passing spacecraft.
Share and Enjoy: "Share and Enjoy" is, of course, the company motto of the hugely successful Sirius Cybernetics Corporation Complaints division, which now covers the major land masses of three medium sized planets and is the only part of the Corporation to have shown a consistent profit in recent years.