Anyone who hasn't heard of Douglas Adams' series of comedy sci-fi books "Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy" or his wacky detective series based around the Dirk Gently character, must have avoided book shops like the plague... and probably not watched TV or listened to the radio much either (although ... Read review
The Salmon of Doubt is the late Douglas Adams' third comic novel about "holistic ... more
detective" Dirk Gently. Ten tantalising chapters of this unfinished project are padded to book size with about 50 short Adams pieces, mostly non-fiction. Additional material includes introductions by Stephen Fry and editor Peter Guzzardi (who stitched together the Salmon fragment from disk drafts), The Guardian's Adams biography, Richard Dawkins' farewell piece, and the order of the memorial service. The non-fiction by the man himself ranges from perhaps a dozen meaty articles and speeches to brief squibs, interview/questionnaire answers and tiny asides like: We are stuck with technology when what we really want is just stuff that works. How do you recognise something that is still technology? A good clue is if it comes with a manual. There are enjoyable pieces on computers (especially), atheism, dogs, manta rays on the Great Barrier Reef, the Save the Rhino stunt climb, and PG Wodehouse. Much of the rest is ephemeral; you can't help reflecting that Adams himself never chose to collect all this lightweight newspaper work. Lovers of his fiction will welcome the Hitch-Hiker-related short stories "The Private Life of Genghis Khan" and "Young Zaphod Plays It Safe", despite the latter's dreadfully dated political punch line. What of The Salmon of Doubt itself, a quarter of this book? There's a glimpse of a far-future estate agent's utopia, a woman asking Dirk Gently to investigate a cat that's literally only half there (his puzzling reluctance to take the case may echo Adams' own feelings about the novel), Gently's capricious trip to America in response to an unknown client's total lack of instructions, the tragic death of a rhino as perceived by the rhino... Many teasing questions; we'll never know the answers. Overall it's a must-have for devoted Adams fans and completists, a likely disappointment (though with pleasant exceptions) for new readers. --David Langford
Postage & Packaging:£2.75 Availability:Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Advantages: Large collection of Adams' work outside of books. Disadvantages: Only 79 pages of "reconstructed" story.
...sci-fi books "Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy" or his wacky detective series based around the Dirk Gently character, must have avoided book shops like the plague... and probably not watched TV or listened to the radio much either (although even Adams says that the books were the best).
THE BOOK
=========
Priced at £16.99 (RRP), it's £10.99 over at www.blackwells.co.uk (£6.99 paperback) and I got it for ... ...it because I've read all the rest of the Hitchhiker books and the Dirk Gently stories too. They're all great, compelling and usually very funny stories.
THE CONTENTS
=============
In case you weren't aware, Adams died suddenly in 2001. This book was published in 2002, very much as a tribute to his work but also with some new material he had been working on. As a tribute to such a great author, I am pleased ... more
Anyone who hasn't heard of Douglas Adams' series of comedy sci-fi books "Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy" or his wacky detective series based around the Dirk Gently character, must have avoided book shops like the plague... and probably not watched TV or listened to the radio much either (although even Adams says that the books were the best).
THE BOOK ========= Priced at £16.99 (RRP), it's £10.99 over at www.blackwells.co.uk (£6.99 paperback) and I got it for less than that on offer from www.thebookpeople.co.uk (but seem to have sold out now).
I bought it because I've read all the rest of the Hitchhiker books and the Dirk Gently stories too. They're all great, compelling and usually very funny stories.
THE CONTENTS =============
In case you weren't aware, Adams died suddenly in 2001. This book was published in 2002, very much as a tribute to his work but also with some new material he had been working on. As a tribute to such a great author, I am pleased to say that it is a very fitting book.
There are roughly three sections.
1) The introduction talks about how the book was put together: Largely from files recovered from Adams' Macintosh computers on seemingly many of the articles and speeches he had written over the years. There were also many drafts for parts of book he he been collecting ideas for over a decade. Along with this introduction is also a foreword written by Stephen Fry (5 pages long - a nice little addition and in good fitting with the rest of the book).
2) The majority of the book is a very large collection of the things Adams had written outside of his books, from quite length articles to short snippets.
3) The last big section is a story reconstructed from the recovered computer files into the beginnings of what would eventually have been another Adams book (which he was likely to have called "The Salmon of Doubt").
THOUGHTS ON THE CONTENTS =========================
One irritating thing about this book is that although there is a reasonable flow to it (not all that easy to achieve considering all the small articles), would it have been too difficult to put in a table of contents or even an index!? Sometimes you even feel like they squashed pages together to try and save the odd bit of paper (nothing I'm against, saving a few trees, but there ARE 13 blanks sides at the back of the book!). Consequently there is a little lack of structure and good luck if you ever want to refer back to any articles as you'll be hunting for quite some time.
Not even having a simple table of contents, the one thing I was really looking forward to reaching in the book was the reconstructed story. I tried flicking through to see where it started a couple of times... but gave up eventually and just decided I'd have to keep reading until I found it. Not that the collected articles aren't enjoyable, but I was itching to get to the actual story! For those of you who are impatient like me, the story starts on page 191 (by which point in the book I was wondering if they'd remembered they said they were going to include it!). It is only 79 pages. A terrible shame that there wasn't more, but hardly Adams' fault! Just don't go buying this book if you expect a long or even complete story like his other works.
So the story itself. It's a Dirk Gently detective story, but definite elements that reminded me of the original Hitchhikers book. On the whole it would probably have been the most bizarre of all the stories (hmm, maybe there's a clue to that in the name of the book!): The world through the eyes of a very disorientated rhino and Dirk Gently realising he's a little out of practice at tailing people and really not getting the job done... or is he? (Did that make sense? No? Good, neither does the book, but if you read it then you'll see why it doesn't make sense).
The story is just long enough to show that Adams would have delivered another great book if he could have written the rest of it. Unfortunately we'll all just have to make do with those 79 pages and puzzle over how he would have tied it all together and where it would finally have gone.
Back to the rest of the book, although some people might get a bit offended by the mention about his atheism in a couple of places (although anyone with an open mind really shouldn't get offended) there are wonderful insights into some other of his passions: Wildlife and Technology. Certainly the Rhinoceros fund-raising trip to Kenya and his attempt to swim with manta rays are very memorable.
One final thing I will mention is a little short story (13 pages) about Zaphon Beeblebrox just before the main story. As if one of the sub-plots had been plucked from a Hitchhikers book, it's an entertaning little read ... although maybe not one if you're a bit squeamish or have just eaten ;-)
CONCLUSION ===========
I think Adams would have been happy with this book.It's an entertaining read whether you want to know more about his background or not. Sadly the story is a little short, but there's nothing that could be done about that - I don't think anyone could have finished it properly other than Adams.
Advantages: Everything Douglas Adams writes is marvelous in one way or another Disadvantages: Incomplete story, it's NOT a novel, some older reprinted material.
...he is most famous for the Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy (Radio series, books and TV series), but also wrote two and a half Dirk Gently novels, some computer games, a spoof dictionary and a conservation book. And he was a very funny bloke.
I read he had taken up exercise to help his writers block (he was as legendary for not-writing as he was for writing) and in one of those events that make us sedentary folk raise a knowing eyebrow, he died of ... ...Doubt", which is collated from the part written Dirk Gently novel he has been working on for over a decade, the contents of his Harddrive (some 3000 files!) and just about anything else he has ever written that they could get away with publishing.
It includes his first ever published work - A letter to the Eagle comic he wrote when he was twelve. Numerous short articles he wrote for magazines, introductions to other books and various other musings. ...
Raybid 20.06.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Salmon of Doubt - Douglas Adams
Advantages: The last works and lots of other material Disadvantages: Douglas Adams’s death means that’s all folks
...you’ll know that he created The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy, suddenly died last year, I loved his writings, his creations, and its quite sad. The Salmon Of Doubt was the novel Douglas Adams was working on before he died, and what there is of it has been published together with various other works. It must be the worse possibly way of getting to read a novel by your favourite author - it still makes me sad. Anyway.....
~~The Salmon Of Doubt~~
... ...his previous books ‘Dirk Gently’s.....’, the very, and absolute final deadline had passed and they sent someone out to help him, and at the time he’d only written one line!), then you shouldn’t get your hopes up too high for a new final novel.
Originally conceived as a third Dirk Gently novel, called A Spoon Too Short, Douglas changed the name to The Salmon Of Doubt, and through the years he announced it would instead, be a sixth hitchhiker novel ...
seagulls-lost-horizon 07.07.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Salmon of Doubt - Douglas Adams
Advantages: As eclectic a mix as you can imagine, a fitting tribute. Disadvantages: Not what it first appears.
From the beginning with an enthusiastic note from the Editor you can see that the "Salmon of Doubt" is a book that has been collected by fans of Adams's work, for fans. I must admit to being sceptical of the foreword by Stephen Fry and was surprised to learn this intelligent, yet ultimately irritating Actor come Presenter was a close friend to Adams. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised that Fry writes a superb introduction and indeed tribute ... ...Python star at Cambridge to the man of the "perfect metaphor". The foreword is both an insightful look into Adams's psyche and, in a tale of reverence provides almost a mini-eulogy to the man.
"The Salmon of Doubt" is a book that both excited and surprised me. Published posthumously following the unexpected death of Douglas Adams I and presumably many others expected it to be another instalment of "The Hitchhikers Guide To the Galaxy". This, the ...
dididave 18.01.2005
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Advantages: An excellent insight into the work of a genius. Disadvantages: It is sadly the last book to be published under Adams' name, but is the best tribute that could possibly have been written
...on that fateful day in the gym. This was the last tribute that we have sent to him, and I'm sure he's laughing at it in his grave, even if he was a determined atheist.
As I've mentioned, this book is, in effect a tribute to Douglas Adams. It has a collection of a hundred or so articles, short stories and unfinished novels, all written by the man himself.
The contents al came from the hard drive of Douglas' beloved apple mac, and some of it has ... ...we were to record everything the book would be quite a few volumes long.
There are general articles and lectures by Adams from magazines such as MacUser and several newspapers. Included are interviews about his books, tv series, radio, computer game, even the hitchhiker towels. All the things in it have been expertly picked, and they illustrate would Douglas Adams was really best at.
You will also find a small unfinished version of the next Dirk ...
willboy12 30.08.2003
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Advantages: Displays the sort of quirky brilliance that made Douglas Adams famous. Disadvantages: Melancholy-inducing - this is the last chance to read anything new by Douglas Adams.
...Adams had just died at the age of 49, I remember feeling an acute sense of loss. This was not only because I was, and still am, a fan of his, and not only because he was dead and at a relatively young age. Quite a few of my favourite SF writers have died during my lifetime, including Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke, and while I've always felt a sadness and a sense that their absence has taken some of the light out of the world, there's also often ... ..._The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy_ and the _Dirk Gently_ novels, Douglas Adams still had a lot more to write about and would have taken his stories to some pretty exciting new places. There would have been another _Dirk Gently_ book, of course, and then an embarking on who knew what amazing projects. Alas, it was never to be. Instead, we have _The Salmon of Doubt_, a posthumous collection of Adams's articles, bits and pieces salvaged from his ...
AlexCull 06.04.2009 (07.04.2009)
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Advantages: Great funny read. Nice charactures. Disadvantages: Not as well known as Hitch-Hikers.
DOUGLASADAMS - DIRK GENTLY'S HOLISTIC DETECTIVE AGENCY
-------------------------------------------------------
So here i am, sat awake at a stupidly late hour, i cant sleep, which is pretty much how every night goes, well i thought to myself, why not read a good book, so completly at random i decided to pick up one of my old favourites, Dirk Gently's holistic detective agency.
This is the first book in a trilogy which sadly never got finished due to DouglasAdams' untimely death, although the first few chapters have been released in the last DouglasAdams book, The Salmon of doubt.
But what better way to celebrate a great writer than to look back at some of the material that made him famous.
DouglasAdams wil always be known as that bloke that wrote Hitch Hikers guide to the galaxy, which is a great shame, as people tend to ...
Advantages: Really great and well written ideas Disadvantages: No movie, and the sad news of Douglas Adams?s death
?s a few things I didn?t know or at least stuff I hadn?t remembered, if your a bit of a fan its well worth it.
The cut bits of text are great, these tend to be cut pieces or early versions of well known pieces but its fascinating to read. Also included are an excerpt of a Doctor Who film treatment by Douglas, commentary of the characters, and a few other bits and pieces. All great stuff.
~~Conclusion~~
Its been said that radio is more enjoyable than TV, because the pictures are so much better, and I found myself saying when I learned of his death that ?The worlds he created are the best I?ve ever imagined? and its true.
Lately I?ve been reading interviews with DouglasAdams and together with this book and ?The Salmon Of Doubt? - a collection of his works including the last novel he was working on, Douglas said he had so many idea ...
Advantages: funny story, very well written Disadvantages: no disadvantages
series, but this book the RATEOTU puts the story in all connections with the history of the 3 later books. The trilogy is altogether an excellent read. The trilogy is also available on unabridged audio books read by DouglasAdams.
Other books by douglasAdams
-------------------------------------------
> The Meaning of Liff (1983, with John Lloyd)
> The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Original Radio Scripts (1985, with Geoffrey Perkins)
> The Utterly Utterly Merry Comic Relief Christmas Book which includes:
+ Young Zaphod Plays it Safe
+ The Private Life of Genghis Khan,
+ A Christmas Fairly Story
+ "Supplement to The Meaning of Liff"
>The Deeper Meaning of Liff
> Last Chance to See
> The Illustrated Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1994)
> DouglasAdams's Starship Titanic
> The Salmon of Doubt (2002), unfinished ...
Product Information for "The Salmon of Doubt - Douglas Adams" »
Product details
Type
Fiction
Genre
Science Fiction
Title
The Salmon of Doubt
Author
Douglas Adams
ISBN
0091785294; 0330418432; 0333766571; 0345459350
Manufacturer's product description
This volume comprises 50 pages of the Douglas Adams' unfinished novel The Salmon of Doubt, along with writings from 3000 unpublished files stored on his computer hard drive.
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