The meaning of the world is 42

[Hgrove]

This has been on my mind for a while; does it mean or refer to anything?  (I'll be 42 next birthday).

[stoo_pid]

It refers to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy where a race of hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings wanted to know the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything.  The answer was calculated to be "42".  The problem was that no-one knew what the question was (which is why the Earth was created...). 

There's stacks of H2G2 stuff on the net if you're interested but here's a good place to start
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker's_Guide_to_the_Galaxy

 

[Marvin84]

Stoo_pid is correct... and a very BIG fan of Douglas Adams I see......

[NoGood Boyo]

The first alleged question which gave the answer to the "meaning of life, the universe, and everything" as 42 was "What do you get if you multiply 5 by 9?'. If you get to the end of the books, you will find God's last message to his creation, written in 200 foot letters of flame on a planet whose name I don't remember. Stop here of you don't want to know it. Otherwise, it is: "We apologise for the inconvenience".

[bernardo]

NoGoodBoyo is slightly wrong; the question was actually "What do you get if you multiply six by nine? ".

[NoGood Boyo]

I sit corrected, bernardo. Thank you.

[NoGood Boyo]

Don't knock telephone sanitizers. They may be our ancestors. You will understand. Don't Panic. Only a Hoopy Frood knows where his Towel is.

[ezapf]

Great book! I think I will read it again.