Changes

The main thesis of the book is that Arthur Dent, an "ordinary bloke" wakes up one morning to find that his house is about to be demolished to make way for a bypass. His friend, Arthur Dent (who mysteriously turns out to be not from Guildford, as Arthur had been led to believe, but from Betelgeuse - pronounced ''beetle-juice''), takes him to the pub and informs him that it is not just his house, but the whole Earth which is about to be destroyed. Before Arthur has time to take this in, he finds that the Earth has been destroyed by a fleet of Vogon spacecraft to make way for a new hyperspace bypass, and that he and Ford Prefect are on board the Vogon spaceship, having "thumbed" a lift.

The main thesis of the book is that Arthur Dent, an "ordinary bloke" wakes up one morning to find that his house is about to be demolished to make way for a bypass. His friend, Arthur Dent (who mysteriously turns out to be not from Guildford, as Arthur had been led to believe, but from Betelgeuse - pronounced ''beetle-juice''), takes him to the pub and informs him that it is not just his house, but the whole Earth which is about to be destroyed. Before Arthur has time to take this in, he finds that the Earth has been destroyed by a fleet of Vogon spacecraft to make way for a new hyperspace bypass, and that he and Ford Prefect are on board the Vogon spaceship, having "thumbed" a lift.

The name of the book derives from the fact that Ford is a researcher on ''The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to The Galaxy'', an electronic book which allows hitchikers to travel the galaxy, armed only with their towel, and 30 Atarian dollars a day. The book has two main featuers - firstly that it has suppnated the Encyclopedia Galactica as the repository of all known wisdom, and secondly, that it has the words "Don't Panic" in big letters on the cover. Escaping from the Vogons, Ford and Arthur meet up with Trillian, Zaphod Beeblebrox and Marvin the paranoid android, for a series of adventures, mainly, but not entirely involving the spaceship ''Heart of Gold'', and Eddie, the ship's computer.  

The name of the book derives from the fact that Ford is a researcher on ''The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to The Galaxy'', an electronic book which allows hitchhikers to travel the galaxy, armed only with their towel, and 30 Atarian dollars a day. The book has two main features - firstly that it has supplanted the Encyclopedia Galactica as the repository of all known wisdom, and secondly, that it has the words "Don't Panic" in big letters on the cover. Escaping from the Vogons, Ford and Arthur meet up with Trillian, Zaphod Beeblebrox and Marvin the paranoid android, for a series of adventures, mainly, but not entirely, involving the spaceship ''Heart of Gold'', and Eddie, the ship's computer.  

Douglas Adams'creation has become a cult, and many of the element of the story have fallen into the language. For example, the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything, is, according to the book, 42; this is now a ubiquitous, often found in computer programmes and hackerspeak.

Douglas Adams'creation has become a cult, and many of the element of the story have fallen into the language. For example, the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything, is, according to the book, 42; this is now a ubiquitous, often found in computer programmes and hackerspeak. Other element such as the babel fish, which when placed in the ear, allows aperson to understand any language, has spawned a translation website.