Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy teaches much, and laughs often.

I had the pleasure recently of reading Douglas Adam’s hilarious, entertaining, and yet eerily realistic novel Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It was a very fun read and had me laughing out loud multiple times. But more so than laughing, the book had me contemplating much of real life.

Like any good fiction story, Adam’s draws inspiration from the real world and it’s problems in order to fill the universe which he has created. But I have to wonder, due to the satirical nature of the story, that this novel drew inspiration quite purposefully.

Adam’s was a true artist, and like many artists he had worked his way from “nothing” to “something”. Along the way having to deal with the various hoops and hurdles of the real world. This novel, to me, was Adam’s point blank in your face truth serum wrapped in comedic fiction.

He touched on concepts such as the ridiculousness of living a depressed life, the chosen ignorance of living as a cog in a bureaucratic machine, and the amazing “probability” that your life will inevitably find its way somehow or another. How deeply he meant to cover such topics will only ever been known to him. High school teachers will force their students to tear apart his works in search of greater meaning for years to come.

A scene that sticks out to me is that of the mice deciding upon a question to ask that will utilize “the answer”(42) in a way that will impress their audiences on the lecture circuit. The manner in which they quickly generate a question after nearly 10 million years of work going to waste is not only ironic, but somehow poignant to the real world.

Their question “How many roads must a man travel in his life” is vague, metaphorical, and in some ways good advice. 42 being an arbitrary answer, but none the less it points to the need for a person to continually try until something sticks. It’s no wonder Adam’s went for this “Question” when he wrote the mice into his story.

A big takeaway from the whole story is to not take life so seriously. There will always be something bigger than you at play. Things you don’t understand, and probably can’t understand, will always be playing their part in the universe. All the while the effect you have on the universe is far larger than you could possibly imagine. So lets do everyone a favor and just be the best we can be, and not take ourselves too seriously in the process.