Cover of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Douglas Adams, 1979

British novelist, 1952–2001.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a 1979 novel by Douglas Adams.

Essential
  • Readers' Favourite

In science fiction

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).

ListPlaceOriginal
100 Books to Read in a Lifetime (Amazon.co.uk, 2014)ListedSee the list
100 novels everyone should read (The Telegraph, 2009)No. 97See the list
Readers' top 100 novels (The Guardian, 2026)No. 46See the list
The Big Jubilee Read (BBC Arts and The Reading Agency, 2022)ListedSee the list
The Big Read top 100 (BBC, 2003)No. 4See the list
The Great American Read (PBS, 2018)ListedSee 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.

Critics
8%
Prizes
0%
Readers and booksellers
76%

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.

Lists used on this page