Hitchhiker's, volume 2.

The beginning of human life on earth and the end of the universe, aided by infinite improbability.

As with the others, it's the ideas and writing that make it so good:

Marvin makes a heavily armoured tank guess what weapon he has (nothing).

"The guide is definitive. Reality is frequently inaccurate".

"How are you? Fine if you like being me, which personally, I don't".

"Everything's cool and froody".

"Little expense had been spared to give the impression that no expense had been spared".

"The terrible light that had played on his features went off to play somewhere more healthy".

Like most car parks, it "smelt mostly of impatience".

"He paused just long enough to make them feel they ought to say something, then interrupted".

Spend a year dead for tax reasons.

Meat bred to want to be eaten.

"Life. Don't talk to me about life".

The ruler of the universe doesn't know it, and doesn't believe in anything anyway.

Dump hairdressers, telephone sanitizers, management consultants and advertising execs - then die from dirty phones.

Can't invent fire without knowing what people want from fire; can't invent wheel till decide on a colour.

"We were about to do nothing at all for a while, but it can wait".


Brief summary and favourite quotes from the other four of the five books, as follows:

Hitchhiker's Guide (vol 1): http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Life, the Universe and Everything (vol 3):
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish (vol 4): http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Mostly Harmless (vol 5): http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...