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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams has 6 books and is best read in publication order, starting with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979). Douglas Adams wrote the series; it was continued by Eoin Colfer.
- Books
- 6 books
- First published
- 1979
- Status
- deceased
- Last checked
Start here: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979) — then read straight through in publication order.
Reading order
The order the books were released — the default way to read the series.
- Book 1:
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Book 2:
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Restaurant at the End of the Universe - Book 3:
Life, the Universe and Everything
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Life, the Universe and Everything - Book 4:
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
Alternative text for cover: Cover of So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish - Book 5:
Mostly Harmless
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Mostly Harmless - Book 6:
And Another Thing...
Alternative text for cover: Cover of And Another Thing...
About The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Moments before Earth is demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass, mild-mannered Englishman Arthur Dent is rescued by his friend Ford Prefect, who turns out to be an alien researcher for a wildly unreliable electronic travel guide called The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. What began as a BBC radio comedy in 1978 became, with the first novel in 1979, one of science fiction's defining comic voices: absurdist, digressive, and quietly devastating about the universe's total indifference to human concerns, all delivered in Douglas Adams's precision-engineered deadpan. The five novels Adams wrote follow Arthur, Ford, the two-headed ex-President of the Galaxy Zaphod Beeblebrox, the depressed robot Marvin, and Trillian across an increasingly bleak, increasingly funny cosmos, with the tone darkening notably by Mostly Harmless (1992) -- famously, Adams himself considered ending the series there on the grimmest possible note. Adams died suddenly in 2001 with a sixth book long rumored but never started; in 2009 Eoin Colfer, the Artemis Fowl author and a lifelong Adams fan, wrote And Another Thing... with the blessing of Adams's estate and widow, continuing the series from the precise cliffhanger Mostly Harmless left behind.
Frequently asked questions
Who writes the The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series?
Douglas Adams wrote the series; it was continued by Eoin Colfer.
How many books are in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series?
Five novels by Douglas Adams (1979-1992), plus a sixth, And Another Thing... (2009), written by Eoin Colfer after Adams's death.
Who wrote And Another Thing...?
Eoin Colfer, the Artemis Fowl author, wrote it in 2009 with the blessing of Douglas Adams's estate and widow, continuing directly from where Mostly Harmless (1992) left off. Adams died in 2001 without writing any of it himself.
What order should I read the Hitchhiker's Guide books in?
Publication order: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Life, the Universe and Everything, So Long and Thanks for All the Fish, Mostly Harmless, and (if continuing past Adams's own ending) And Another Thing....
Is the series finished?
Douglas Adams's own five novels are complete and were left as a deliberately dark ending at Mostly Harmless. Eoin Colfer's 2009 continuation, And Another Thing..., is a one-off; no further continuation has been written or announced.
When did Douglas Adams die?
11 May 2001, at age 49.
If you like The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Reading order last verified .