Mostly Harmless
The front cover of the first US hardcover edition of Mostly Harmless.
|
|
| Author | Douglas Adams |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Peter Cross, US hardcover |
| Country | United Kingdom, United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy |
| Genre |
Science Fiction humour |
| Publisher | William Heinemann, UK; Harmony Books, US |
|
Publication date
|
1992 |
| Media type | Paperback, hardcover |
| Pages | 229, UK paperback; 240, US paperback |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 29469448 |
| Preceded by | So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish |
| Followed by | And Another Thing... |
Science Fiction
Mostly Harmless is a 1992 novel by Douglas Adams and the fifth book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. It is described on the cover of the first editions as "The fifth book in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhikers Trilogy". It was the last Hitchhiker's book written by Adams and his final book released in his lifetime.
The title derives from a joke early in the series, when Arthur Dent discovers that the entry for Earth in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy consists, in its entirety, of the word "Harmless". His friend Ford Prefect, a contributor to the Guide, assures him that the next edition will contain the article on Earth that Ford has spent the last 15 years researching—somewhat cut due to space restrictions, but still an improvement. The revised article, he eventually admits, will simply read "Mostly harmless". It later turns out that Ford had written a long essay on how to have fun on Earth, but the editors in the guide's main office building edited everything out. Later in the series, Ford is surprised to discover that all of his contribution had been edited back into the Guide, prompting his reunion with Arthur on the alternative Earth in So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish.
Arthur Dent plans to sightsee across the Galaxy with his girlfriend Fenchurch, but she disappears during a hyperspace jump, a result of being from an unstable sector of the Galaxy. Depressed, Arthur continues to travel the galaxy using his biological donations to DNA banks to fund his travels, and knowing that he cannot die until he visits Stavromula Beta, as told to him by the insane Agrajag who had been repeatedly killed in various ways by Arthur before being reincarnated. During one trip, he ends up stranded on the homely planet Lamuella, and decides to stay to become a sandwich maker for the local population.
...
Wikipedia