"The Science Of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy"
© Macmillan

Mania Grade: A
Author: Michael Hanlon
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Pages: 195
Price: $24.95 Hardcover, $14.95 Paperback

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The Science Of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy

Michael Hanlon has been the science editor for The Daily Mail (London) for more than four years. The fact that Hanlon is a Brit probably gives him a sharper insight into the work of Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy. Hanlon's book is very readable and well researched, handing down tidbits from Adams and putting Adams' work into the context of the popular science when The Guide was written.

Hanlon looks at the current research on parallel universes and alternate realties, which were major themes of the original novels by Adams. These ideas were considered way out on the fringe when Adams first wrote about them. However, now quantum theory, according to some researchers, may prove that parallel universes could exist.

The author also believes that even though Adams' science was often funny and extremely witty, it always had a deep philosophical core. Hanlon devotes an entire chapter to the question of God's existence and the current smattering of pop answers and scientific/philosophical concepts that find their way into newspapers and talk shows around the world. Hanlon concludes that Adams didn't have the answer and neither do we, but that Adams had an infinitely wittier way of putting it.

If you like The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy, then you'll probably like Hanlon's explanation on the science behind it. One interesting conclusion that can be drawn from this book is that Douglas Adams was a lot like another great icon of science fiction, Gene Roddenberry. Both had an uncanny ability to not necessarily see the future, but to intuitively sense it.