Literature

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Douglas Adams · 2000

Lindy Score

5,660·Classic

26 yrs

Age

3

Endorsers

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Why it endured

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.

What they're saying

3 people recommend this book

Naval RavikantEntrepreneur & philosopher

Matt Ridley, Neal Stephenson, Taleb, Borges, Ted Chiang, Anthony DeMello, Osho, J Krishnamurti, Harari, Asimov, Bradbury, Greg Egan, Feynman, Schrödinger, Bohr, Chris Alexander, the Durants, Darwin, Adam Smith, David Deutsch, Karl Popper, Douglas Hofstader, Douglas Adams

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Elon MuskCEO of Tesla & SpaceX

I read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and basically what Douglas Adams was saying is: we don't really know what the right questions are to ask. The question is not "What's the meaning of life?" [...] In that book, which is really sort of an existential philosophy book disguised as as humor, they come to the conclusion that the real problem is trying to formulate the question. And to really have the right question you need a much bigger computer than earth. I think one way of characterizing this would be: The universe is the answer. What are the questions? The more we can expand the scope and scale of consciousness the better we can understand what questions to ask about the answer that is the universe. The more we expand consciousness to become a multi-planet species and ultimately a multi-stellar species, the more we have a chance of figuring out what the hell is going on.

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Peter ThielCo-founder of PayPal & Palantir

The geek classic The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy even explains the founding of our planet as a reaction against salesmen.

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