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  • Published: 16 October 1995
  • ISBN: 9780434003488
  • Imprint: William Heinemann
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 784
  • RRP: $59.99

The Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy

A Trilogy in Five Parts




All five books in the legendary Hitch Hiker science fiction series available together in hardback, reprinted to tie-in with the 2005 blockbuster movie, starring Martin Freeman, comedian Bill Bailey, Zooey Deschanel of 'New Girl', Oscar winner John Malkovich and comedy's favourite host, Stephen Fry.

First a legendary radio series, then a bestselling book, now a blockbuser movie, the immensely successful Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy needs no introduction. Reissued to coincide with the film's release, this hardback omnibus edition include all five parts of the trilogy, incorporating for the first time, Mostly Harmless, along with a guide to the guide and essential notes on how to leave the planet.

This single hardback edition is indispensable for any would-be galactic traveller and for old and new fans of Douglas Adams, Doctor Who and bestselling science fiction books.

  • Published: 16 October 1995
  • ISBN: 9780434003488
  • Imprint: William Heinemann
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 784
  • RRP: $59.99

About the author

Douglas Adams

Douglas Noel Adams was born on 11 March 1952 in Cambridge. His parents divorced when he was five, and Douglas and his younger sister Susan were brought up by their mother in Essex. From 1959 to 1970 Douglas attended Brentwood School, and he first thought seriously about writing when a teacher named Frank Halford gave him ten out of ten for a composition. He was the only boy ever to have been awarded full marks.
Leaving school in December 1970, Douglas won a scholarship to study English at Cambridge. His main reason for going there was to join Footlights, although his first attempt to do so was a failure. He succeeded in joining in his second term, but found the group which ran the society a bit stand-offish. He also felt constrained by the limits of pantomimes and mid-term revues, so instead he set up his own revue group, Adams-Smith-Adams, with two friends. It was very successful.

Douglas left Cambridge in the summer of 1974 and took occasional office jobs before joining forces with Monty Python team member Graham Chapman. They collaborated on a number of projects; unfortunately, very few of them were ever broadcast. A while later he was invited to Cambridge to direct the 1976 Footlights revue, but even this turned out to be a disappointment. At the end of the year, broke and feeling like a failure, Douglas moved back home with his mother.
In 1977 his luck changed. Through his former flatmate John Lloyd, Douglas met BBC Radio 4 producer Simon Brett. He felt that Douglas' style of humour should have its own show, rather than being crammed into existing formats. Having been inspired by a copy of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Europe, Douglas came up with a draft for The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. After several delays the first six-episode series was broadcast, with a second rapidly following. The worldwide phenomenon they spawned includes five novels, a book of scripts, two LPs, a television series, a computer game and two stage plays.
In addition to Hitchhiker, Douglas' work included two Dirk Gently detective novels and two humorous place-name 'dictionaries', The Meaning of Liff and The Deeper Meaning of Liff (both co-written with John Lloyd) as well as Last Chance to See, an account of a global search for rare and endangered species which he co-wrote with Mark Carwardine.

In 1999 Douglas moved to Santa Barbara with his wife and daughter to work on a proposed Hitchhiker film. Always a keen advocate of new technology, his last series for Radio 4 was The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Future, a look at the advances mankind was likely to make in future years.He died suddenly of a heart attack, aged 49, in May 2001. A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy feature film was produced in 2005, whilst both Stephen Mangan and Samuel Barnett have portrayed Dirk Gently on television in recent years.

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Praise for The Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy

It is funny and funny in every way

Daily Telegraph

Indispensable reading for mental hitchhikers who want to thumb a lift out of the ruts of orthodox thought

Daily Mail

One of the world’s sanest, smartest, kindest, funniest voices

Independent on Sunday

It's science fiction and it's extremely funny...inspired lunacy that leaves hardly a science fiction cliche alive.

Washington Post

The feckless protagonist, Arthur Dent, is reminiscent of Vonnegut heroes, and his travels afford a wild satire of present institutions.

Chicago Tribune

Very simply, the book is one of the funniest SF spoofs ever written, with hyperbolic ideas folding in on themselves.

School Library Journal

A sci-fi book, packed full of adventure and humour

The Guardian

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The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy turns 40

DON’T PANIC! The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the first book in a trilogy of five, celebrates its 40th anniversary on 12 October 2019.