The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (novel)

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Cover of the original UK paperback edition of the novel, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Hipgnosis and Ian Wright. The back cover featured the slogan "DON'T PANIC" in the same colour-video-screen style.[1]
AuthorDouglas Adams
LanguageEnglish
SeriesThe Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
GenreComic science fiction
PublisherPan Books
Publication date
  • 12 October 1979 (UK)
  • October 1980 (US)
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint (hardcover and paperback)
ISBN0-330-25864-8
LC ClassPR6051.D3352
Followed byThe Restaurant at the End of the Universe 

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is the first book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction "trilogy of five books" by Douglas Adams, with a sixth book written by Eoin Colfer. The novel is an adaptation of the first four parts of Adams's radio series of the same name, centering on the adventures of the only man to survive the destruction of Earth; while roaming outer space, he comes to learn the truth behind Earth's existence. The novel was first published in London on 12 October 1979.[2] It sold 250,000 copies in the first three months.[3]

The namesake of the novel is The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a fictional guide book for hitchhikers (inspired by the Hitch-hiker's Guide to Europe) written in the form of an encyclopaedia.

  1. ^ Neil Gaiman (1988). DON'T PANIC: The official Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy companion. Titan Books. p. 50. ISBN 1-85286-013-8. OCLC 24722438.
  2. ^ Webb, Nick (6 October 2003). Wish You Were Here: The Official Biography of Douglas Adams. Chatham, Kent: Headline. p. 157. ISBN 0-7553-1155-8.
  3. ^ "1000 novels everyone must read: Science Fiction & Fantasy (part one)". The Guardian. 22 January 2009. Retrieved 31 March 2011.