NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Extremely funny . . . inspired lunacy . . . [and] over much too soon. The Washington Post Book World Now celebrating the pivotal 42nd anniversary of The Hitchhiker s Guide to the Galaxy! Nominated as one of America s best-loved novels by PBS s The Great American Read It s an ordinary Thursday morning for Arthur Dent . . . until his house gets demolished. The Earth follows shortly after to make way for a new hyperspace express route, and Arthur s best friend has just announced that he s an alien. After that, things get much, much worse. With just a towel, a small yellow fish, and a book, Arthur has to navigate through a very hostile universe in the company of a gang of unreliable aliens. Luckily the fish is quite good at languages. And the book is The Hitchhiker s Guide to the Galaxy . . . which helpfully has the words DON T PANIC inscribed in large, friendly letters on its cover. Douglas Adams s mega-selling pop-culture classic sends logic into orbit, plays havoc with both time and physics, offers up pithy commentary on such things as ballpoint pens, potted plants, and digital watches . . . and, most important, reveals the ultimate answer to life, the universe, and everything. Now, if you could only figure out the question. . . .