The Guardian and the 1000 novels

I really enjoyed the lists of novels that the Guardian feels everyone must read. I think it is great that they are promoting reading and providing a place to start in any genre you like.

I am including here the list for science fiction and fantasy. They start off with a classic so the list seems very promising.
LIST OF NOVELS

Douglas Adams: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979)

Originating as a BBC radio series in 1978, Douglas Adams's inspired melding of hippy-trail guidebook and sci-fi comedy turned its novelisations into a publishing phenomenon. Douglas wrote five parts from 1979 onwards (the first sold 250,000 in three months), introducing the world to Marvin the Paranoid Android, the computer Deep Thought, space guitarist Hotblack Desiato (named after Adams's local estate agent) and the Guide itself, a remarkably prescient forerunner to the internet.
Andrew Pulver