The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) - Softcover

Adams, Douglas

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0345460952 ISBN 13: 9780345460950

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 2003

Synopsis

"A fitting eulogy to the master of wacky words and even wackier tales . . . Salmon leaves no doubt as to Adams's lasting legacy."--Entertainment Weekly

With an introduction to the introduction by Terry Jones

Douglas Adams changed the face of science fiction with his cosmically comic novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and its classic sequels. Sadly for his countless admirers, he hitched his own ride to the great beyond much too soon. Culled posthumously from Adams's fleet of beloved Macintosh computers, this selection of essays, articles, anecdotes, and stories offers a fascinating and intimate portrait of the multifaceted artist and absurdist wordsmith.

Join Adams on an excursion to climb Kilimanjaro . . . dressed in a rhino costume; peek into the private life of Genghis Khan--warrior and world-class neurotic; root for the harried author's efforts to get a Hitchhiker movie off the ground in Hollywood; thrill to the further exploits of private eye Dirk Gently and two-headed alien Zaphod Beeblebrox. Though Douglas Adams is gone, he's left us something very special to remember him by. Without a doubt.

"Worth reading and even cherishing, if only because it's the last we'll hear from the master of comic science fiction."--The Star-Ledger

About this title

Review:

The Salmon of Doubt is the late Douglas Adams' third comic novel about "holistic 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

Review:

"A fitting eulogy to the master of wacky words and even wackier tales . . . Salmon leaves no doubt as to Adams's lasting legacy."--Entertainment Weekly

"Worth reading and even cherishing, if only because it's the last we'll hear from the master of comic science fiction."--The Star-Ledger

"You are on the verge of entering the wise, provoking, benevolent, hilarious, and addictive world of Douglas Adams. Don't bolt it all whole--as with Douglas's beloved Japanese food, what seems light and easy to assimilate is subtler and more nutritious by far than it might at first appear."--Stephen Fry, author of The Liar and Making History: A Novel

About this edition

• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0345460952
• ISBN 13: 9780345460950
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 299