Books like The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, according to Reddit

The read-alike list

Ranked by co-mention strength — how often each book shares a thread with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, normalized so ubiquitous books don't dominate.

#1

Ender's Game

Orson Scott Card

A six-year-old is drafted into a war academy that trains him to command a fleet, and he doesn't find out what he actually did until it's over.

182 shared threads · praised

#2

All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries)

Martha Wells

A security robot hacks its own governor module, gains free will, and spends its days streaming soap operas instead of killing anyone.

228 shared threads · mixed

#3

The Martian

Andy Weir

A botanist gets left for dead on Mars and has to grow food on a planet that wants him gone, one duct-taped fix at a time.

168 shared threads · mixed

#4

Snow Crash

Neal Stephenson

A pizza-delivery samurai and a skateboard courier chase a mind-hacking virus through a franchised, corporate America.

161 shared threads · mixed

#5

Hyperion

Dan Simmons

Seven pilgrims journey toward a monster that grants one wish and kills everyone else, and each tells the story of why they came.

239 shared threads · mixed

#6

Foundation

Isaac Asimov

A mathematician predicts the fall of a galactic empire and hides the fix inside an encyclopedia nobody will read for a thousand years.

142 shared threads · panned

#7

Neuromancer

William Gibson

A burned-out hacker banned from cyberspace takes one last job to breach the AI that might already own a piece of him.

153 shared threads · praised

#8

Dune

Frank Herbert

A duke's son survives his family's betrayal on a desert planet and becomes the prophet who leads its people to war.

211 shared threads · mixed

#9

Slaughterhouse-Five

Kurt Vonnegut

An American POW survives the firebombing of Dresden, comes unstuck in time, and starts reliving his life out of order.

74 shared threads · mixed

#10

Fahrenheit 451

Ray Bradbury

A fireman whose job is burning books starts wondering what's actually in the ones he's paid to destroy.

67 shared threads · praised

#11

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

Becky Chambers

A ragtag crew takes a multi-year tunneling job to punch a wormhole through space and mostly just has to get along with each other for the ride.

127 shared threads · praised

#12

The Left Hand of Darkness

Ursula K. Le Guin

An envoy is sent alone to a planet where everyone is genderless most of the month, and he has to unlearn who he assumes is in charge.

137 shared threads · praised

The overlap, in numbers

Where each pairing actually shows up. Click through for the full Reddit verdict on each book.

1. #1 Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card — 182 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
2. #2 All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries) by Martha Wells — 228 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
3. #3 The Martian by Andy Weir — 168 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
4. #4 Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson — 161 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
5. #5 Hyperion by Dan Simmons — 239 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
6. #6 Foundation by Isaac Asimov — 142 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
7. #7 Neuromancer by William Gibson — 153 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
8. #8 Dune by Frank Herbert — 211 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
9. #9 Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut — 74 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
10. #10 Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury — 67 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
11. #11 The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers — 127 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
12. #12 The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin — 137 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF