Per Anhalter durch die Galaxis

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a 1979 science fiction comedy novel by English author Douglas Adams, adapted from the first four parts of his radio comedy series of the same name. It centres on the misadventures of Arthur Dent, the only man to survive the destruction of Earth, as he roams the cosmos and learns the truth behind his very existence. The novel's namesake is an in-universe electronic travel guide written in the form of an encyclopaedia, through which the story is framed. The book was first published in London through Pan Books on 12 October 1979. It sold 250,000 copies in the first three months and is often regarded as a classic of the science fiction genre. It is the first in the "trilogy of six" Hitchhiker's Guide book series, with the second novel, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, being published in 1980.