The Science of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"

MICHAEL HANLON is one of Britain's most successful science writers. He has been Science Editor at The Daily Mail for more than four years; prior to this he was at The Daily Express, The Independent and The Irish News. He contributes regularly to magazines such as The Spectator and New Statesman, and appears on TV and radio as a science pundit. He has written two popular science books to date: The Worlds of Galileo (Constable, 2001) and The Real Mars (Constable, 2004). He has helped London's Science Museum put together an exhibition celebrating The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. For more information see http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/hitchhikers

Acknowledgements Introduction Where are the Aliens? Deep Thought The Existence of God The Restaurant at the End of the Universe The Big Bang Burger Bar The Infinite Improbability Drive and Other Unlikely Ways to Get Around Teleportation The Babel Fish Time Travel Meat with a Clean Conscience The Total Perspective Vortex and Artificial Universes Parallel Worlds The Whale that Came from Nowhere Forty-two - Life, the Universe, and Everything