The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is an outrageously funny and insightful book, at least so far. The first major event to happen in the book is the total destruction of the planet earth. Only Arthur Dent survives because of his highly improbable friendship with Ford Prefect who is an alien disguised as a human. Even after being rescued from the destruction of earth, Arthur is is constantly being thrown into incredibly uncomfortable life and death situations.
Somehow, author Douglas Adams is able to turn all of these awful events into a hysterical narrative. For example, when Arthur and Ford get caught hiding in a Vogon cargo bay, their punishment is death by poetry reading. Apparently their poetry is so bad it will cause anybody who is not a Vogon to die almost instantly. This is just one example of the weird, silly, and over the top style of writing you should expect when picking up this book.