The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy begins with contractors arriving at Arthur Dent's house, in order to demolish it to make way for a bypass. His friend, Ford Prefect, arrives while Arthur is lying in front of the bulldozers to stop them from demolishing it. He tries to explain to Arthur that he is actually from a planet somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse and that the Earth is about to be demolished. The Vogons intend to destroy Earth to make way for a hyperspace bypass.

The two escape by hitching a lift on one of the Vogons' ships. When the pair are discovered, they are tortured with a rendition of Vogon poetry, the third worst in the known Universe, and then thrown into space. They are, very improbably, picked up by the Heart of Gold, a ship powered by an infinite improbability drive, and has been stolen by Zaphod Beeblebrox. Zaphod, accompanied by Trillian and the clinically depressed robot Marvin, are searching for the legendary planet of Magrathea.

Arthur, after being separated from the rest of the group, is taken to the interior of Magrathea by Slartibartfast, a native of the planet. As the others, except Marvin, are kidnapped, Slartibartfast explains to Arthur that the Earth is actually a supercomputer commissioned and paid for by a race of hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings. These creatures had earlier built a supercomputer named Deep Thought, to calculate the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything. This computer, after seven and a half million years of calculating, had announced that the Answer is in fact 42. Being unsatisfied with the Answer, they set about finding the Question. Deep Thought designed a computer to calculate the Question.

However, ten million years later, and just five minutes before the completion of the program, the Earth; which was the computer, is demolished by the Vogons. The manifestations of two of these pan-dimensional beings, Frankie and Benjy Mouse realize that Arthur, as the last Earthling, has the Question imprinted into his brain and offer to buy his brain from him. Arthur disagrees, and a fight ensues. The galactic police arrived on the planet to arrest Zaphod but abruptly die when their life support systems fail. Marvin had explained his view of the universe to the mother ship's computer and it committed suicide, taking their life support systems with it. Then the group decides to go to the Restaurant at the End of the Universe for lunch.

Now you may be wondering "Why are you featuring a book from this tiny back-water planet when The Guide's official entry for this planet is just two words long; Mostly Harmless?". What makes this book remarkable is the fact that, though on the planet Earth this book is considered fiction, this book is an accurate account of events that happened off-world and prominently features The Guide which you are looking at this very moment. Records show that Earth was destroyed to make way for a hyperspace bypass. There was indeed a ship called the Heart of Gold and the President of the Galaxy did indeed steal the ship. Magrathea did create the Earth as a computer to determine the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything. The Guide entries mentioned in the book are actually word-for-word the exact entries from the actual Guide. Though other details of the story can neither be confirmed or denied. There has been a great deal of speculation as to just how the author, Douglas Adams, managed to get so many details right.