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Cover of Mostly Harmless
Douglas Adams's 5 books · after the fourth book

Mostly Harmless

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Arthur tries for a quiet life, but the Guide gets a new edition

Pages218 pagesWhere to buyAmazonIn your readingnot read yet
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Do you need to read it?

Yes. It's in the Main story, the list of only what moves the plot forward to the end of the saga.

Where it falls in the order

  • Main story5 of 5
  • Everything5 of 6
Spoilers for this title

Quick recap

Arthur loses Fenchurch during a hyperspace jump and drifts around the galaxy selling samples of his own body, until he becomes the sandwich maker on the planet Lamuella. Ford finds out the Guide has been bought by a company run by the Vogons, steals the new Guide Mark II and sends it to Arthur for safekeeping. Trillian shows up and leaves Arthur with their teenage daughter, Random. Random takes the Guide and runs off to Earth. Tricia McMillan is there too, the Trillian of another Earth, who never left with Zaphod. The Grebulons destroy Earth in every version, and the Vogons' plan for the new Guide is complete.

No spoilersOpens once you mark the title as seen.
2 what changed on screen

What changed on screen

  1. Behind the scenesWritten in a bad year

    Adams said he didn't like the book's tone and blamed personal problems: he'd had a thoroughly miserable year. The interview appears in The Salmon of Doubt.

    source ↗
  2. Behind the scenesA different ending on radio

    The 2005 radio version, the Quintessential Phase, directed by Dirk Maggs, got a brand-new, much more upbeat ending.

    source ↗
No spoilersThe easter eggs give away parts of the title. They open once you mark it as seen.

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