30 Day Sci-Fi Challenge -- Day 3

Favorite Sci-Fi Book/Story - The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

I don't remember when I first read this book, but whenever it was I know that I fell in love right away. Douglas Adams' dry sense of humor is perfectly British, and so inline with my own that I couldn't put it down. Since then I've read all the books in the series(Originally a trilogy is has 5 books...6 if you count an extra one that I personally don't since I don't think it was written by Adams). The first two are my absolute favorites though. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, and Restaurant at the End of the Universe are that perfect kind of comedic sci-fi. They are hilarious, but also are pointed in their mocking of everything from imperialism, to education, to the many uses of towels.

For those not familiar with this series, it begins with an ordinary man named Arthur Dent. Mr. Dent finds out that his friend, Ford Prefect, is really an alien, and that the Earth is about the be destroyed by another alien race called the Vogons in order to make a hyperspace bypass. Ford as it turns out has been on Earth because he writes for The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, which is more universally used than the Encyclopedia Galactica(Take that Hari Seldon!). Ford saves Arthur's life by bringing him along as a stowaway onto the Vogon ship.This begins a crazy journey to the stars while these two meet all kinds of people. They discover the Answer to Life the Universe and Everything, the Question to Life the Universe and Everything, and find out what the most powerful computer in the history of the universe was. There is so much more, but I don't want to give anything away. Plus, many of their encounters are best described in the book, and not in a sentence or two in a quick blurb.

I found out with in these books that the Answer to Life the Universe and Everything is 42, but without knowing the question that answer is meaningless. While a funny joke, there is a specific point to this. Everyone is always searching for answers to metaphysical questions, but how often do we know what the actual questions are? Do we understand those questions? Answers are meaningless without a clear understanding of the Questions.

The other books are, Life, The Universe and Everything, So Long and Thanks for All The Fish(referring to the Dolphins' last message to the people of the Earth before exiting our dimension), and Mostly Harmless(referring to the description of Earth in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy).

The British Miniseries is pure joy, and covers both of the first two books.  Check it out!