The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Douglas Adams
Pocket Books, 1981
ISBN 0-671-46149-4

This `Monty Python in Space' spoof of SF genre traditions has been
popular among hackers ever since the original British radio show.
Read it if only to learn about Vogons (see {bogon}) and the
significance of the number 42 (see {random numbers}) -- and why the
winningest chess program of 1990 was called `Deep Thought'.