Life, the universe and everything - Douglas Adams

In Life, the Universe and Everything, the third title in Douglas Adams' blockbusting sci-fi comedy series, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Arthur Dent finds himself enlisted to prevent a galactic war.

This edition includes exclusive bonus material from the Douglas Adams archives, and an introduction by Simon Brett, producer of the original radio broadcast.

Following a number of stunning catastrophes, which have involved him being alternately blown up and insulted in ever stranger regions of the Galaxy, Arthur Dent is surprised to find himself living in a cave on prehistoric Earth. However, just as he thinks that things cannot get possibly worse, they suddenly do. An eddy in the space-time continuum lands him, Ford Prefect, and their flying sofa in the middle of the cricket ground at Lord's, just two days before the world is due to be destroyed by the Vogons.

Escaping the end of the world for a second time, Arthur, Ford, and their old friend Slartibartfast embark (reluctantly) on a mission to save the whole galaxy from fanatical robots. Not bad for a man in his dressing gown . . .

Follow Arthur Dent's galactic (mis)adventures in the rest of the trilogy with five parts: So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, and Mostly Harmless.

Douglas Adams created all the various and contradictory manifestations of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: radio, novels, TV, computer game, stage adaptations, comic book and bath towel. He lectured and broadcast around the world and was a patron of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund and Save the Rhino International. Douglas Adams was born in Cambridge, UK and lived with his wife and daughter in Islington, London, before moving to Santa Barbara, California, where he died suddenly in 2001.

One of the greatest achievements in comedy. A work of staggering genius
David Walliams

Dazzlingly inventive
Caitlin Moran

Fizzing with ideas . . . Brilliant
Charlie Brooker

I haven't known many geniuses in my life. Some brilliantly smart people, but only a tiny handful would I class as geniuses. I would class Douglas, because he saw things differently, and he was capable of communicating the way he saw things, and once he explained things the way he saw them, it was almost impossible to see them the way you used to see them
Neil Gaiman

It changed my whole life. It's literally out of this world
Tom Baker

Really entertaining and fun
Michael Palin

Hitchhiker's is packed with that unique energy, all barmy and bristling and bold. This book can be witty, iconoclastic, godless, savage, sweet, surreal, but above all, it dares to be silly. Fiercely, beautifully silly
Russell T. Davies, writer and producer of Doctor Who

He had almost a Wodehousian style and some of his phrases and jokes entered our language. He changed the way people spoke
Stephen Fry

There has never been another writer remotely like Douglas Adams. He discovered a completely new genre - scientific wit - and having discovered it he raised it to dizzying heights
Tony Robinson

Quite good I suppose, if you like brilliantly entertaining books written with a touch of imaginative genius
Griff Rhys Jones

Very occasionally a book comes along that changes the way you laugh and what you laugh about
Richard Dawkins

One of the world's sanest, smartest, kindest, funniest voices
Independent on Sunday

Sheer delight
The Times

Magical . . . read this book
Sunday Express