Week 14

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy appears to be a cult classic in the science fiction literature world, so I decided to read it this week. I enjoyed it just as much as I hoped I would. It was somewhat silly but in a good way in just the right amount. Its use of concise, blunt, and satirical humor was perfect for me along with the creativity that went behind the devices of the setting Adams created. One perfect example of this was the Babel fish. It easily could have been a small machine inserted in the ear or installed in the brain. But instead, Adams decided his language translator device was going to be a living a organism. On top of this, the existence of the fish sparked discussion about god. The existence of such a convenient creature could not have come by chance, which proved that god was real. But by merely proving god’s existence, they had just disproved god’s existence since proof denies faith and god is nothing without faith. Then a man argues that he had proved himself with the Babel fish’s existence and by gods own logic, he doesn’t exist. When proposed with this, all god does is “I hadn’t thought of that” and disappears in a poof, which was just hilarious to me. What I loved most about the book was that it didn’t take itself too seriously, so it was enjoyable but it still touched on heavy topics and had the creativity and novelty that science fiction needs.