Resumo de The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy

With the arrival of the reasonably succesful movie, most readers should have at least a basic knowledge of the plot of Douglas Adams' 1979 cult classic, The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The spring movie has made people, if not intimately acquainted with, at least somewhat familiar with the main characters of the novel: protagonist and all-around reluctant participant, hapless Arthur Dent, his alien friend, the irresponsible Ford Prefect, the loose cannon/ President of the Galaxy, Zaphod Beeblebrox, and rational earthling, Tricia McMillan, otherwise known as Trillian. The movie, however, much to long-time Adams fan's chagrin, while covering points from all of the first three books in the Hitchiker series, changes and leaves out much of the actual story.
This first installment opens just like the movie, one morning in England, just an hour or so before the Earth is about to be destroyed at the hands of a vile and heartless Vogon develpment company. (Vogons, for the uninformed, are nasty creatures without a single redeeming quality, and characterized by a love of bad poetry) charged with developing a galactic freeway. Arthur Dent could not be less concerned with this fact however, as he is not only completely unaware of the imminent doom of his planet, but also very much preoccupied with the fact that, in a parallell gesture, his onw house is about to be razed to buld an interstate. Thanks to the help of his friend Ford Prefect, however, Arthur soon finds himself, still clad in only his dressing gown, stowed away on the Vogon construction ship, leaving the now ruined Earth in their wake. As Arthur strives vainly to regain his equilibrium, Ford reveals himself to be, not the out of work actor he originally had presented himself as, but rather, a roving freelance writer for The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a traveller's manual to negotiating the expanses of space, noted for its expanse of semi-reliable knowledge, reasonable price, and comforting cover, exhibitng the words "Don't Panic" prominently.
    Before Arthur is able to process this, however, he and Ford are brought in front of the Vogons and summarily thrown into interstellar space, where they are picked up by Zaphod Beeblbrox, Trillian and Marvin, the manically depressed android. The five adventurers and their ship, the Heart of Gold, a craft powered by an Improbability Drive which Zaphod just stole. Zaphod is piloting the ship towards an unknown location, on a mission he does not entirely understand, as he has tampered with his own brain and erased his entire memory of his quest. All he remembers is that he needs to find the missing planet Magarathea to find the answer, or rather the question, of life, the universe, and everything.  It is here that the book diverges from the movie, and begins a much more satsifying story, with less loose ends and ambiguity than found in the film.  Any unclear plot fragments are amply explained by Adams, and the entire book proves to be a very smart, funny adventure.  Arthur Dent is a bumbling, endearing hero, who never quite catches on, while Ford provides a smooth-talking, free-wheeling source of adventure for the both of them.
     This book is a hilarious, fast read. It is worth noting that much of what was funny in the Hitchiker movie was taken, almost verbatim from Adams' text. The writing is quick, clever, and satisfying. The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy is accesible enough for non-science-fiction fans, and is guaranteed to bring a smile to the face of its most cynical reader.

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