
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
British novelist, 1952–2001.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a 1979 novel by Douglas Adams.
On 6 of the 19 lists it was eligible for.
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At a glance
- Author
- Douglas Adams
- First published
- 1979
- Length
- 224 pages (UK paperback)
- Genre
- Science fiction, Satire, Adventure
- Series
- Book 1 of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Is The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy worth reading?
6 of the 19 best-of lists it could have made include it, among them The Big Read top 100 (BBC) and Readers' top 100 novels (The Guardian).
| List | Place | Original |
|---|---|---|
| 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime (Amazon.co.uk, 2014) | Listed | See the list |
| 100 novels everyone should read (The Telegraph, 2009) | No. 97 | See the list |
| Readers' top 100 novels (The Guardian, 2026) | No. 46 | See the list |
| The Big Jubilee Read (BBC Arts and The Reading Agency, 2022) | Listed | See the list |
| The Big Read top 100 (BBC, 2003) | No. 4 | See the list |
| The Great American Read (PBS, 2018) | Listed | See the list |
Best edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The edition we link to is the Pan paperback (2020), 224 pages.
- Publisher
- Pan (paperback, 2020)
- Pages
- 224
- ISBN
- 9781529034523
How critics, prizes and readers rate The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Readers rate it most highly: it earned 76% of the points available on readers' and booksellers' lists, against 8% on critics' lists and 0% on prize lists.
Share of the available points it earned on each kind of list it was eligible for. How the scores work
Books like The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
If you liked The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, try Nineteen Eighty-Four, The Road or Never Let Me Go.



