The book that I chose to read for my summer reading assignment was The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. This book is about a human named Arthur Dent and his alien friend named Ford Prefect's intergalactic adventures after they escape from Earth seconds before it is destroyed. Over the course of this book, Arthur's character and attitudes change due to significant events and the actions of other characters.
In the beginning of the book Arthur wasn't very open-minded to the idea of life elsewhere than Earth. He just couldn't believe that intelligent life could exist on other planets in the galaxy. Even when seconds before the Earth is destroyed by a fleet of Vogon spaceships and he gets transported to safety by a friendly alien aboard one of the ships, he starts out thinking it was all a bad dream. It's not until he realizes that the Earth is gone and is never coming back, does he start warming up to the idea of life elsewhere in the galaxy.
The alien who saved Arthur was named Ford Prefect, from a small planet somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse. Ford was a galactic hitchhiker doing research for the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, a book that in many parts of the galaxy is thought to be the standard repository of all knowledge and wisdom.
Ford takes Arthur on an interstellar journey where they encounter other life forms. One alien that they encounter was Zaphod Beeblebrox - the two-headed, three-armed, ex-hippie, president of the galaxy. Others that they encounter are: Slartibartfast (a Magrathean), Hooloovoo (a super-intelligent shade of blue), and many other exotic and fascinating forms of life.
Arthur Dent started out believing that life only existed on Earth and that humans were the only intelligent life forms in the galaxy. But thanks to certain significant events (such as the Earth being destroyed) and the actions of Ford Prefect and other characters, he came to realize that intelligent life does exist elsewhere in the universe.