The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide

The original radio broadcast of this story was so popular in Britain that it caused a national sensation, yet Douglas Adams famously wrote the final chapters of the series in a state of deep, creative exhaustion, barely keeping his head above the rising tide of his own absurdity.

The story begins in the damp, grey light of an English morning, where Arthur Dent wakes up to find his house being demolished by bulldozers for a bypass. He has no idea that, within minutes, the entire planet Earth will be dismantled by a fleet of yellow Vogon ships for the exact same reason.

[short pause]

Arthur finds himself adrift in space, wearing only a dressing gown and clutching a towel. He is accompanied by Ford Prefect, a researcher for the titular guidebook, and a manic-depressive robot named Marvin, whose brain is the size of a planet but who is relegated to opening doors.

There is a scene I have not forgotten since I first read it, where Arthur finally confronts the true nature of his existence. He stands in a digital construct, the air smelling of ozone and ancient static, as a supercomputer delivers the ultimate answer to life, the universe, and everything: forty-two.

“Forty-two?” Arthur exclaims, his voice thin against the crushing weight of the machine’s indifference. “That’s it? That’s all there is to show for seven and a half million years of work?”