Changes

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.  

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 elements of the story have now become part of 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. According to the book, the babel fish, is probably the oddest thing in the universe, and so bizzarely improbable that some have seen it as the clinching proof that God does not exist.  

Douglas Adams' creation has become a cult, and many of the elements of the story have now become part of the language. For example, the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything, is, according to the book, 42; this is now 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. According to the book, the babel fish, is probably the oddest thing in the universe, and so bizzarely improbable that some have seen it as the clinching proof that God does not exist.