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Comment by Vegenoid | Hacker News Reader

"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams. It's hilarious, absurd, and surprisingly thought-provoking. There are many philosophical questions and lessons that are not really presented as such (though they aren't hidden, either).

I read it when I was young, it really shaped my sense of humor and got me thinking about some of life and the universe's big questions.

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Me too. I still cherish the black hardcover I got on my first trip to the US for $20 (must've been around 2006). This one: "The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide: Five Complete Novels and One Story".

So much this. I too read the book when I was very young, and enjoyed it for its awesome mix sci-fi, absurdity, dry humour and absolute classic one-liners.

What I love about it now is how it presents a view of life in the universe as entirely random, but mostly harmless and fun, and that interplanetary exploration is something you would do as a hitchhiker on an adventure, rather than a conqueror chasing resources.

That vision really lifts me when contemplating the future and our place in it when we reach for the stars.

HHGG is strange. I absolutely loved it when I read it for the first time (in my thirties).

Then at some point I decided to re-read the whole thing and it was decidedly underwhelming. A let down even.

Has anyone else experienced that?

Yeah that was going to be my answer too. They're some of the few books I've actually remembered stuff from.

The absurdity and slant on looking at things helps keep life in perspective (wasn't trying reference the Vortex there).

I remember occasionally when really get absorbed in it, that strangely the absolute absurdity almost starts seeming plausible.

And, I start seeing the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation all over the place now....

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