Life, the Universe and Everything (Hitchhiker's Trilogy (Paperback))
This is the third, but not final, book in the Hitchhiker's Trilogy by Douglas Adams. Perhaps the most temporally confusing of the first three books, Life, the Universe and Everything finds our heroes spread out throughout space and time. The book joins Arthur Dent on ancient Earth five years after the end of The Restaurant at the End of the Universe and follows him and his comrades to varied planets at varied times, sometimes separated by as many as a few billion years.
This is another brilliant work by Adams. One of my favorite parts is an encounter between Dent and a creature named Arajag whose various reincarnated forms Arthur has reputedly murdered over and over.
"What have you got against me, Dent?" snarled the creature, advancing on him in a painful waddle.
"Nothing," insisted Arthur, "honestly, nothing."
"Seems a strange way to relate to somebody you've got nothing against, killing them all the time. Very curious piece of social interaction, I would call that. I'd also call it a lie!"
This series of books is one that can be enjoyed by sci-fi lovers and non-sci-fi lovers alike. Layered with a remarkable sci-fi storyline and a hilarious social commentary, this is a story anyone can love.