The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy

Individual Titles:

  1. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979)
  2. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (1980)
  3. Life, the Universe, and Everything (1982)
  4. So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish (1984)
  5. Mostly Harmless (1992)

by Douglas Adams

New York: Harmony Books

Reviewed by: Laura Plummer
November 1996

I've actually chosen a series for my book review. It is a trilogy consisting of five books. (Don't ask, it was a typo by the publisher that has remained.) However I am not going to talk individually about each book. It really isn't necessary. I'm recommending the set because you really can't read just one. The fifth one was published fairly recently and does appear to actually end the series. I chose these books partially because I love them, partially because they have many examples of AI in them, and partially because they fit well with my project theme: "What went wrong in AI?"

Throughout the five books you will find many examples of AI. And everyone of them is horrible. They are AI's nightmares. They are AI taken to the extreme and gone very bad. My favorites are the machines/computers that are programmed with human personalities. Unfortunately they were given one personality to the extreme. The best example of this is Marvin, the depressed android. Marvin is always depressed and lets you know it. All he discusses is how utterly depressed he is, and how nothing on his body works right except his mind. His mind, according to him, is so intelligent that nothing can keep up with him and thus he is constantly bored. You can imagine what a lovely companion he is would make. Even the book talks about what a disaster these robots are, and how the inventors of them should be lined up against the wall and shot. (It turns out that they were.)(p. 85, book 1)

Throughout the books you meet doors who are happy to open for you and tell you so repeatedly. You meet elevators that tell you that it is their pleasure to take you up or down, and even give you a list of the joyous possibilities of going the opposite direction you have chosen. (Some of the elevators are afraid of heights and only like going down.) You'll see machines commit suicide out of depression and overload. Basically you get AI in all of its "glory." You get the AI the Dartmouth conference organizers predicted. You'll begin to wonder why we want computers to simulate humans. Humans make too many mistakes and are just a little too weird. Make computers like us and it gets even weirder. If you thought true AI was the answer to everything or would be a great benefit to mankind, read these books. In any case, you will laugh an awful lot while reading.

Now, I suppose I should mention that these books are not strictly about AI. I'm not sure I could explain exactly what these books are about except to say that they consist of the adventures through time and space of a couple of hitchhikers. That, however, does not really do them justice because it doesn't talk about meeting the ruler of the universe. It doesn't mention finding out the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything. And it certainly doesn't mention finding out God's final message to mankind. But I guess those are just added benefits to the books. Give them a try. I think you might enjoy them. If your still not sure check out this website. It has some interesting links to some good pages about the books and author.

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Last updated: November 19, 1996