'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' by Douglas Adams

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams (4.0)

I had forgotten how fun this book was. My second reading after many years was a true delight. It even made me want to see the movie again (though it was not nearly as entertaining as the book). While this may be ‘sci-fi lite’ for die-hards, it’s remains a whimsical, far-fetched, enjoyable story. The protagonist, Arthur Dent, is a British gent who wakes up one day to find his house is about to be demolished to put in a new highway. Ironically, what he soon realizes is that Earth is about to face the same circumstances. Luckily, his friend, Ford, whom he thought came from another town, is actually a traveller from space who is able to hitchhike a ride on the alien craft seconds before it obliterates the planet. Ford, as it turns out, was temporarily stranded on Earth while updating the ‘Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy’, a helpful guide to the places and peoples of rest of the galaxy. Arthur and Ford then embark on a journey driven mainly by survival. During their short travels they meet quite a few memorable characters – from the depressed robot, Marvin, to Slartibartfast, the famed builder of fjords. I could say that name over and over again! My favorite parts of the book are the numerous times Mr. Adams pokes fun at the hubris of humans (i.e. earth is a one-liner in the Guide; humans not the most intelligent species on the planet – we are below dolphins and mice), nothing is too sacred for him. If you haven’t read this book and like screwy British humor (think Monty Python) you ought to give it a try.

'The Space Trilogy' by C. S. Lewis

The Space Trilogy (Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra and That Hideous Strength), C.S. Lewis (3.0)

In catching up on my C.S. Lewis reading, I tackled his Sci-Fi trilogy, written in the 1940’s. While I enjoyed the first book, I have given the series a ‘3.0’ as the second and third books were very preachy and hard to take. The religious zeal of those books took away from the freshness of the first. I don’t want to give away too much – since I am recommending the first book, whose elements are more delightful as surprises. Suffice it to say that Lewis has written a novel about a journey – both fantastical and precarious – that involves non-humans as we know them and illuminates possible origins of the planets. He links the planets’ relationship to humans and to each other. The good and evil represented in the first book are interesting and feel more realistic than the cartoonish representations of the other two books. More than once I was reminded of H.G. Wells’ novels. As with his books, the imagination, given the state of technology at the time is impressive. Besides the issues with religion, my other criticism of the trilogy has to do with its English centric mentality. In the 40’s I would have thought a writer would be more global in his story telling.