There exists no better commentary on the absurdities of human existence than the series “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” by Douglas Adams. Although all the books contain images, storylines, and characters who exemplify what Adams sees as slightly wrong with the world, there is no better moment for this than in "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish," when Arthur Dent and Fenchurch, in their search for the mysterious worldwide disappearance of all the dolphins, visit Wonko the Sane. Wonko lives in Southern California in a house built inside-out, so as to keep the world in its asylum. Wonko, in a moment that sums up Adam’s complete disillusion with the oddities of life, reveals to the space travelers that the moment he realized the world had gone mad was when he found instructions for use on a box of toothpicks.

--Austin Tooley