On This Day — October 12, 1979 The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is the first of five
On This Day — October 12, 1979 The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is the first of five books in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction “trilogy” by Douglas Adams. The novel is an adaptation of the first four parts of Adams’ radio series of the same name. The novel was first published in London on October 12,1979. It sold 250,000 copies in the first three months. The novels are described as “a trilogy in five parts”, having been described as a trilogy on the release of the third book, and then a “trilogy in four parts” on the release of the fourth book. The US edition of the fifth book was originally released with the legend “The fifth book in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhiker’s Trilogy” on the cover. Subsequent re-releases of the other novels bore the legend “The [first, second, third, fourth] book in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhiker’s Trilogy”. In addition, the blurb on the fifth book describes it as “the book that gives a whole new meaning to the word ‘trilogy’”.The various versions follow the same basic plot but they are in many places mutually contradictory, as Adams rewrote the story substantially for each new adaptation. Throughout all versions, the series follows the adventures of Arthur Dent, a hapless Englishman, following the destruction of the Earth by the Vogons, a race of unpleasant and bureaucratic aliens, to make way for an intergalactic bypass. During Dent’s adventures meets several other characters: Ford Prefect (who named himself after the Ford Prefect car to blend in with what was assumed to be the dominant life form, automobiles), an alien from a small planet somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse and a researcher for the electronic guidebook, who rescues Dent from Earth’s destruction; Zaphod Beeblebrox, Ford’s eccentric semi-cousin and the Galactic President; the depressed robot Marvin the Paranoid Android; and Trillian, formerly known as Tricia McMillan, a woman Arthur once met at a party in Islington and the only other human survivor of Earth’s destruction thanks to Beeblebrox’ intervention. My favorite characters besides Arthur are Trillian and Marvin. Just thinking about Marvin, a depressed paranoid robot makes me laugh! Before his death from a heart attack on 11 May 2001, Adams was considering writing a sixth novel in the Hitchhiker’s series. It was announced in September 2008 that Eoin Colfer, author of Artemis Fowl, had been commissioned to write the sixth installment entitled And Another Thing… with the support of Jane Belson, Adams’s widow. The book was published by Penguin Books in the UK and Hyperion in the US in October 2009.The books in the popular and very successful series are: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1979) The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (1980) Life, the Universe and Everything (1982) So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish (1984) Mostly Harmless (1992) And Another Thing (October 2009, the 30th anniversary of the first book)I highly encourage you that have not experienced this wonderful series of books to run right out on this 39th anniversary and begin your journey with Arthur and his friends. Oh, and don’t forget your towel! https://www.amazon.com/product-reviews/0671922319Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy -- source link