book data
1907 ratings, 3.88 average rating, 110 reviews
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published
April 26th 2005
(first published 2002)
by Del Rey
binding
Mass Market Paperback, 336 pages
isbn
0345455290
(isbn13: 9780345455291)
description
On Friday, May 11, 2001, the world mourned the untimely passing of Douglas Adams, beloved creator of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,...more
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avg 3.88
Read in January, 2002
recommends it for:
Douglas Adams fans
Readers beware: The Salmon of Doubt is not a single novel, but rather a collection of goods pulled from Adams' computer after his death--including a draft of the first few chapters of his next Dirk Gently story (also titled The Salmon of Doubt, thus the larger part of this collection's title). Also enclosed in this volume are a series of short stories, essays, travelogues, and other random snippets, some of which date back over a decade, and most of which have little to do with the...more
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This is a delightful and maddening book. This collection of essays, columns, speech transcripts and random musings was culled from Adams' computers after his tragic death at the age of 49. The collection offers new insight into one of the world's most gifted humorists, and there is both pleasure and education to be had in reading his thoughts on such diverse topics as music, atheism, evolutionary biology, conservation and computers.
The last section of the book contains the beginning of an ...more
The last section of the book contains the beginning of an ...more
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If you love Douglas Adams this book is an absolute must read. It's got some great incite into the man who could make a pot of petunias think to itself, 'Not again.' A large part of my enjoyment was finding out about Adams as a person, and in turn finding out that I've got some stuff in common with him. I mean sure I haven't ridden a stingray like he has or written the funniest books of all time and granted I'm not British, BUT we do make our tea the same way, we're both have the same religious b...more
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A kind of poor book which just happens to be filled with awesome.
I'd really like a well-organized and indexed collection of all of Douglas Adams' short writings. Round up all the columns and editorials he wrote, the text he did for his websites, everything, and get it all tied up with a bow and some context. Salmon isn't that collection; the writings are just tossed into poorly-defined buckets with no real TOC to speak of (and let us not speak of indexes), and there's no real ...more
I'd really like a well-organized and indexed collection of all of Douglas Adams' short writings. Round up all the columns and editorials he wrote, the text he did for his websites, everything, and get it all tied up with a bow and some context. Salmon isn't that collection; the writings are just tossed into poorly-defined buckets with no real TOC to speak of (and let us not speak of indexes), and there's no real ...more
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Read in October, 2008
This book is a collection of Douglas Adams' writing, some of which has been seen in newspapers or magazines, some of which is an incomplete Dirk Gently story and some of which is about rather than by Adams.
The journalism on technology is remarkably prescient, as well as being warm and often extremely funny. The beginnings of the Dirk Gently novel made me want to read on and find out how the story would unfold (although it seems rather likely that even Adams himself didn't have a particularl...more
The journalism on technology is remarkably prescient, as well as being warm and often extremely funny. The beginnings of the Dirk Gently novel made me want to read on and find out how the story would unfold (although it seems rather likely that even Adams himself didn't have a particularl...more
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Letzte Reminiszenzen an einen unersetzlichen Geist: The Salmon of Doubt' ist eine Zusammenstellung von Essays, Zeitungsbeiträgen und Redeausschnitten von D. Adams und über D. Adams sowie editierten Fragmenten eines Romans. Dieser Romanentwurf ist für mich eher einer der schwächeren Teile des Buches. Aus den kürzeren Beiträgen entsteht ein viel prägnanteres Bild des Menschen Douglas Adams. Sie handeln von Technik, Computern, Ökologie, Evolution, Musik und vielem anderen. Sie zeigen, das...more
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Read in June, 2007
It's an eclectic farewell to Douglas N. Adams (DNA). The most enlightening parts are his interviews on atheism. Knowing his outlook on religion and the "big picture" makes a lot of sense in the context of the absurd/random/beautiful universe he created in the Hitchhiker's Guides. Greed, love, tragedy, corporate and government schemes, and ginandtonics permeate the universe and make it a weird and funny place, but there is no real order or grand plan. Just a note from the almighty sayin...more
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‘The Salmon of Doubt’ is a posthumously published collection of words put into a fantastic collection of arrays by Douglas Adams whom had previously been assembling words in a very pleasing manner in the various incarnations of ‘The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy’ and the ‘Dirk Gently’ novels.
The book contains tributes from comic actor and writer Stephen Fry, Nicholas Wroe, scientist and writer Richard Dawkins and the editor of this collection, Peter Guzzardi. All of which give...more
The book contains tributes from comic actor and writer Stephen Fry, Nicholas Wroe, scientist and writer Richard Dawkins and the editor of this collection, Peter Guzzardi. All of which give...more
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Read in December, 2005
recommends it for:
Fans of Douglas Adams, techno-readers
I'm a huge fan of Douglas Adams and jumped at the chance to spend one last book with him. Be warned: this is not another Dirk Gently book. The end of this edition only contains part of an unfinished Gently manuscript, one that is nowhere as polished as Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul, the true last book in that fictional detective's run. The majority of Salmon of Doubt consists of essays by Mr. Adams on such topics as his eternal struggle with gadgets, his atheism and critical views...more
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recommends it for:
Doug Adams Fanatics
A collection of writings found on Douglas Adams' computer after his death. (Supposedly "unpublished" although that may mean "in book form;" some of them may have seen print in magazines.) A short tribute by Adams' friend Richard Dawkins is also included, as is the program from Adams' funeral. There are several unnecessary introductions, not written by Adams.
The meaning of the title is never explained in the book but a quick Google search suggests that it's a play on a Cel...more
The meaning of the title is never explained in the book but a quick Google search suggests that it's a play on a Cel...more
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Read in July, 2007
recommends it for:
???
I was very disappointed with this book. I really enjoyed the Hitchhiker's Galaxy "trilogy", and got a kick out of Douglas Adams wry sense of humor. I even had the computer game (in the 80s and early 90s) based on the Hitchhiker books. This book is a collection of essays, and articles, and only a part of it is written by Adams as a novel...and it was meant to be one of his Dirk Gently novels, which I am not fond of.
To be fair, I have not managed to even finish the book. But life is ...more
To be fair, I have not managed to even finish the book. But life is ...more
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Read in March, 2008
recommends it for:
fans of Douglas Adams
I have been a big fan of Douglas Adams since I was introduced to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy "trilogy" by my father. I really liked this book because it had a lot of interesting information about Adams, and a lot of interviews with him too. Also cool about this book was that it had the unfinished text of a story - tentatively titled "The ...more
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Read in January, 2003
As a big fan of Douglas Adams, I was saddened by his death. I enjoyed this book as a glimpse into the mind of the writer whose works I have read many times.
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Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
fans of Douglas Adams
Douglas Adams died in 2001. The Salmon of Doubt is a collection of his writing that the author's fans will appreciate.
The selections are wonderful and include a wide variety of pieces that Douglas was working on when he died.
The title refers to an unfinished Dirk Gently book which is included here. Though Adams originally intended the new book to continue the Dirk Gently saga, he hinted in an interview that he might instead turn it into a sixth
Hitchhiker book.
This is not a fini...more
The selections are wonderful and include a wide variety of pieces that Douglas was working on when he died.
The title refers to an unfinished Dirk Gently book which is included here. Though Adams originally intended the new book to continue the Dirk Gently saga, he hinted in an interview that he might instead turn it into a sixth
Hitchhiker book.
This is not a fini...more
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Any fan of Douglas Adams should read this book. It is hilarious and well written, and it gives you intriguing glimpses into the the author's mind that you just can't get any other way. After reading this book, Adams's other works instantly became more interesting because I knew WHY he included certain things and where his inspiration came from. For example, in his first Dirk Gently novel, the main character realizes that Bach's musical masterpieces are actually the sound of life itself - this is...more
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recommends it for:
anyone
A collection of Douglas' essays and short stories that were left on his computer when he died. All of them are brilliant and funny. It shows his politics and religious (non)beliefs more than any of his other stuff, so be warned.
The last bit is the first few chapters of the book he was working on when he died. He started it as a Dirk Gently book, but started to think that it might make a good Hitchhiker's book. Unfortunately, he died before he could figure it out. It's heartbreaking to read bec...more
The last bit is the first few chapters of the book he was working on when he died. He started it as a Dirk Gently book, but started to think that it might make a good Hitchhiker's book. Unfortunately, he died before he could figure it out. It's heartbreaking to read bec...more
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If anything, this book is a reminder of how much poorer the world is without Douglas Adams.
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This is sort of a mixed bag, a collection of writings in various stages of completion collected from Adams's computers and papers after he died... there are essays, articles, story segments, some additional "Last Chance to See" type work, and bits of an unfinished third Dirk Gently novel (though he seemed to think it could also work as a sixth H2G2 book), which would have been called "The Salmon of Doubt." Some pieces work better than others, for obvious reasons, but they're...more
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Read in May, 2008
recommends it for:
Adams fans, humor fans, science fans, nerds in general
It's a great shame that not only did we lose Douglas Adams as a writer, lecturer, protector of endangered species and funny man in general, but also that The Salmon of Doubt was never completed.
This book is a gathering of Adams' interviews, half-made ideas, small stories, lectures, articles and three chapters from his to-be new Drik Gently book. His writing is, as usual, timeless and wonderful, a treasurechest of wit and enlightening little remarks about the world humans in it and the techn...more
This book is a gathering of Adams' interviews, half-made ideas, small stories, lectures, articles and three chapters from his to-be new Drik Gently book. His writing is, as usual, timeless and wonderful, a treasurechest of wit and enlightening little remarks about the world humans in it and the techn...more
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Read in January, 2005
This book is a whole bunch of writing that Adams was working on before he died along with some published articles, musings, opinions, and a whole lot of whatnot. Adams was a committed Athiest and while he seems like a warm person and really interesting guy, he didn't really have much use for people who didn't share this view. Interesting. This book doesn't really go anywhere, and really can't just because of it's nature, but when the subject is as interesting as Douglas Adams, it is still a p...more
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quotes from this book
"My favourite piece of information is that Branwell Brontë, brother of Emily and Charlotte, died standing up leaning against a mantle piece, in order to prove it could be done.
This is not quite true, in fact. My absolute favourite piece of information is the fact that young sloths are so inept that they frequently grab their own arms and legs instead of tree limbs, and fall out of trees.
However, this is not relevant to what is currently on my mind because it concerns sloths, whereas the Branwell Brontë piece of information concerns writers and feeling like death and doing things to prove they can be done, all of which are pertinent to my current situation to a degree that is, frankly, spooky."
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