The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams is a classic sci-fi novel. Adams is the snarky uncle sitting at the dinner table with his stodgy sci-fi brethren that includes Asimov, Heinlein, Dick, and Herbert. They're all discussing philosophy and great questions of humanity, and Adams is making puns and inserting snide comments as he wolfs down pecan pie.

I have actually written on this very blog about how brilliant I find this book to be. I stand by this assessment. There is a laugh a minute. Every page finds some underexplained scientific or futuristic concept. The characters are paper dolls who have no inner thoughts, but perform admirably in the face of frequent impeding death. Every object is described in simple but evocative prose. You find yourself not so secretly wishing you could read the fictional Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

I understand that many hard-core sci-fi fans think Adams is belittling and bringing down the genre. To them I say, at least there is a woman in this novel. A woman who speaks.  Admittedly, this is a pretty low bar (I could go for TWO women, for example), but Asimov and Heinlein have never considered this as a writing convention, so yay! for Adams. In terms of the lightheartedness casting a shade on the genre, I suggest that some levity is necessary in the often dire future dystopian worlds sci-fi focuses on.

I do not believe this is life-altering literature. I do believe it's a romp in the park.