The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy

By Michael Hanlon, Michael Hanlon

Ever wonder what the Universe might actually look like? Why the number 42 is so significant? Whether time travel really would put a stop to history as we know it? If you are so clearly a fan of Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhikker’s Guide to the Galaxy, now a major motion picture.

Much of the book is sheer whimsy: talking mattress, the Vogons, triple-breasted whores, and that Ol’ Janx Spirit. But like all good science fiction, it contains more than a grain of scientific fact. Adams was a science and technology enthusiast and his books were inspired by – prefigured even – many of the great scientific debates of our times.

The Science of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is a light-hearted, accessible and informative tour of the real cutting-edge research behind the cornerstones of a cherished sci-fi classic – from the Big Bang to the end of the Universe via probability, supercomputing, time travel, instant translation, alien life, and more.

First published 2005