Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
(Disclaimer: This entire series contains explicit words and inappropriate situations. While this article will contain no references to these unsavory things, it will discuss the apologetics necessary to resist the strong atheist message in the text.)
If there were a comedy section for this website, then this article would fit perfectly into that mold. As it stands, it must be categorized in its secondary genre: Science Fiction. There are not many comedy sci-fi books today, and that is largely because Douglas Adams did it so well that he essentially monopolized the concept. Over the course of thirteen radio episodes and five books, Adams has laid out almost all conceivable space-related humor, and done so with such a honed writing style that makes its succinctness untouchable. But before we can understand the fruits of his labors, we must go many years before the publication to learn of Douglas Adams' inspiration. Like many scholars of his generation, he decided to take an extended trip around Europe to experience as much culture as possible before settling down. During his travels, he relied on his copy of The Hitch Hikers Guide To Europe, until during a particularly low moment in his journey (He was incredibly drunk and sleeping in a grassy field) he looked up at the stars and wished there was a passing flying saucer he could flag down and a Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy that could aid him in this endeavor. Thus, the idea was planted, but did not come to fruition for many years. Now, it is common knowledge that a good joke is ruined by explanation, so I would normally refrain from any spoilers whatsoever, but as a result of minimal plot and a constant stream of ideas that are unrelated, I could only spoil one chapter at a time if I tried. Thus, I will give you a brief taste of the highlights, so that you may be encouraged to try the rest of the chapters yourself. The two main characters are Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect, with the former being a normal human and the latter an alien who also happens to be one of the editors for the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The reason the alien is on Earth is to write a chapter about Earth, but the big corporation shortened that entire chapter to the words “Mostly Harmless” in order to save space in a book that is already the size of a building and is only readable via a smaller digital version. After the opening chapter, Dent and Prefect hitch a ride on a Vogon ship in order to escape Earth. However, the Vogons are extremely evil, using horrible poetry to torture and ultimately rupture the brains of their victims, so the heroes are glad to be ejected into space, but are miraculously saved by another passing ship, this one belonging to the president of the universe. How do they explain this happenstance? An infinite improbability drive that the president is using to teleport across the universe. All of that takes place in merely the incipient chapters, before the true comedy begins. Dolphins turn out to be smarter than humans and escape Earth, sending the famous message, “So long and thanks for all the fish.” A robot named Marvin, who is depressed because of his insane degree of intelligence that makes him miserable, so miserable in fact that he can convince other robots to self-destruct by sharing his pessimism. The greater galactic world is filled with sentient doors that say, “It is my pleasure to open for you, and it is my satisfaction to close again with the knowledge of a job well done.” And all of these notions are only the tip of the iceberg: Belgium is the worst swear word in the entire universe, the species “Perfectly Normal Wild Beast” is the primary source of meat for a civilization the worships sandwiches and are led by, “Sandwich Shamans,” and another civilization tricks all phone sanitisers into a rocket to send them away, before the rest of their foolish peers all perish in a phone-born plague. There is also a philosopher who says white and black are states of mind before he gets trampled by an angry horde of zebras. But all of these knee-slappers are marred by the strong atheist themes mentioned in the disclaimer. With a deconstruction of God’s existence, an evil portrayal of reincarnation, and worst of all, a demeaning interpretation of Christ’s second coming. These aspects, combined with the numerous inappropriate elements of the novel, make it very difficult to recommend this series to anyone. That is why I provided numerous examples of its stronger points, while leaving many unsaid, so that you may assess the risk of exposure to these less desirable aspects and decide if the novel is worth it. The Chase verdict is that though it is morally diluted, it is still a well-honed experience (With terse dialogue contributing an enhancing air of sarcasm). If you are planning to write your own comedy novel, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a must-read for its wit and unique approach to comedic density, which is effective to emulate. The first book in the series is the least inappropriate (With most of the negative points being in later books), so at the very least, the first novel is an extremely easy recommendation.