So, Slartibartfast plays an ancient tape recording for him that explains things. Of course, Arthur Dent is a bit surprised to learn this. Slartibartfast tells Arthur he is one of the Magrathean planet manufacturers who helped design the Earth long ago, as a project for some hyper-intelligent, pan-dimensional beings who happen to look like little white mice in our dimension. In that episode, Earthman Arthur Dent visits the planet Magrathea, where he meets Slartibartfast. The answer was first revealed on March 29, 1978, when the fourth episode of Adams’ radio creation The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was broadcast on BBC Radio 4. In case you missed it, here’s a brief overview… Read a synopsis about this iconic novel here, and check out the trailer for the 2005 adaptation below.In 2001, the brilliant British writer Douglas Adams left us Earthlings behind.īefore he left, however, he kindly informed us of the answer to the Ultimate Question - more specifically, the answer to “the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.”

I love the whooshing sound they make as they go by.” Eventually, when he was accepted to move forward with the novel, his publisher had to crack down. When Adams' sights turned to publishing, he was turned down several times. Hitchhiker's began as a radio show, airing on BBC in six parts. And (no spoilers), it's a little less grand than you might guess. However, it is within this world of intelligent dolphins, Vogons, and Zaphod Beeblebrox that the meaning of life and everything is nestled. With apt cynicism of modern society and brilliant humor, Adams creates a world that, for all intents and purposes, can be characterized only by randomness. In the story, hapless ordinary man Arthur Dent finds himself at the center of an absurd universe.

Thus, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was conceived. What is the answer to life, the universe, and everything? Douglas Adams, while stargazing on a field in Innsbruck, Austria, had a bit of a cosmic revelation – perhaps, if he couldn't answer that plaguing, eternal question, he could have a bit of fun with it. It follows the humorous adventures of Earth's last surviving man, after Earth was demolished by aliens to make way for an intergalactic freeway. Photo credit: Penguin Random House.Ĭreated by Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is comic science fiction that started as a British radio program in 1978, and went on to become a series of novels and comic books.

In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, what's the name of the main human character?Īnd the answer: Arthur Dent.

Douglas adams answer to life