This is part two of a five-part review spanning “The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide,” by Douglas Adams.

I must again start this blog by addressing the humor found on nearly every page of The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, book two of the Hitchhikers Series. The great thing about the comedy in this book is that it doesn’t get old or corny. Everything is fresh and unique, and I find always myself smiling when I read about how a Vogon’s brain is an evolved liver or how the most advanced computer in the world had extreme difficulty making a cup of tea. My favorite instance of humor in this book is when Arthur becomes stranded with Ford on prehistoric earth, and Arthur attempts to play Scrabble with the cavemen to pass the time. The native men first try to eat some of the pieces, bury them, or toss them about. Later, they spell out Forty-Two, which, according to the second most advanced computer in the world, is the Answer to the Meaning of Life. Just imagine what this scene would look like: a modern man is desperately trying to make the cavemen play a sophisticated game, when the cavemen don’t even speak or write English.

The wit continues when Ford gets annoyed and throws the letter “Q” into a bush. It hits a young rabbit, who dashes away in terror and didn’t stop until it was eaten by a fox. The fox chokes on a bone and dies on the bank of a stream, which washes its body away. Later, a girl with who Ford struck up a relationship passes away after drinking water polluted by the body of a dead fox. Adams goes on to explain that that history is never altered, and that it just fits together like a jigsaw puzzle. He also comes to the conclusion that one should never throw the letter “Q” into a privet bush.

This brings up the fact that Adams has a more reflective side, too. Much of the series discusses the universe and why it is the way it is. This is obviously subject matter that requires reflection and explanation, and the author gives plenty of it. In the very beginning of The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Adams writes this:

“There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.

There is another which states that this has already happened.”

This excerpt makes you stop and think. Do you agree with this theory? I personally don’t, because I don’t think it is possible for matter to just disappear like that, but I still find it very intriguing. Another important idea discussed in The Restaurant at the End of the Universe is the Ultimate Question and the Ultimate Answer of Life, the Universe and Everything. An ancient computer, the second most advanced in the world, states that the answer to Life is forty-two. Obviously this had no meaning to the people, who immediately begin to complain. The computer goes on to explain that its really the question that is important. Throughout the story, the reader is fed little tidbits of information regarding this Ultimate Question. This is just one of the reasons why I find myself wanting to read on.