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The Salmon of Doubt
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Amazon 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 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
'Douglas Adams created a new comic genre, and peopled a whole other world through his work' FINANCIAL TIMES 'His ability to connect cosmic ideas with the banal commonplaces of everyday life was unique' STEPHEN FRY
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
160 of 163 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
Douglas Adams once noted that there was a class of reviewer who simply took the best jokes out of a book and put them in their review. It's going to be difficult to review The Salmon of Doubt without doing that, every page has quotable lines, memorable phrases and oh-so elegant metaphors that are just sitting there waiting for a reviewer to pluck them out. I'll do my best not to.
Latterly, Douglas Adams had become as famous for not writing Hitchhikers books as for writing them in the first place. The Salmon of Doubt, a collection of essays, articles, interviews and, finally, ten chapters of his last novel, demonstrates that he'd developed his displacement activities to avoid writing into a fine art, progressing from 'taking another bath' and 'going for a walk' to coming up with some of the most elegant essays on atheism ever written and climbing Kilimanjaro to save rhinos. This is what he'd been getting up to all that time, and it was a far more interesting and productive way of occupying himself than coming up with new things for Marvin to do.
And if I haven't done so already, here's where I lapse into cliche - Douglas Adams delighted millions; created characters and phrases that have passed into everyday use; he died tragically young; he made the most complex philosophical and scientific ideas seem so simple; I never met him but he made me feel that I knew him; I laughed aloud while reading this book.
Stephen Fry's introduction is perceptive, but more importantly it's moving. Fry makes the crucial point - Adams convinced a generation of readers that he was writing just for us. The sense of loss in this, and an equally moving tribute by Richard Dawkins at the end of the book, is keen.
... Read more ›26 of 27 people found the following review helpful
By Graeme Smith
Format:Hardcover
There are all sorts of reasons why The Salmon of Doubt should never have appeared. Adams himself never chose to publish his collected articles, letters and speeches, and he was patently unhappy with the way the third, unfinished, Dirk Gently novel was going - so why should anyone else take the decision to publish for him?
It's hard to justify, but I'm glad they did. Douglas Adams was always more interesting when he was writing about subjects which touched his passions, rather than taking us on the flights of fancy that made up his fiction - brilliant though that was - and perhaps more than anything Adams would have himself chosen to publish in the one place, this collection gives an insight into a constantly inquiring mind which had developed a very logical yet very human world-view. Adams' passions - rock music, Bach, conservation, atheism, missing deadlines - glow out from these pages.
The unfinished Dirk Gently novel is, perhaps, more frustrating than enlightening, stopping abruptly as it does. It seems disjointed - I'm not convinced by the way it has been edited together, but since we're not likely ever to see the source material, I can't really comment there.
The inclusion of the running order for his memorial service at the end also seems unnecessarily morbid - surely this publication should be celebrating a life rather than marking a death? But then, if Dave Gilmour was to play "Wish You Were Here" at my funeral, I think I'd want people to know about it.
It's hard to justify, but I'm glad they did. Douglas Adams was always more interesting when he was writing about subjects which touched his passions, rather than taking us on the flights of fancy that made up his fiction - brilliant though that was - and perhaps more than anything Adams would have himself chosen to publish in the one place, this collection gives an insight into a constantly inquiring mind which had developed a very logical yet very human world-view. Adams' passions - rock music, Bach, conservation, atheism, missing deadlines - glow out from these pages.
The unfinished Dirk Gently novel is, perhaps, more frustrating than enlightening, stopping abruptly as it does. It seems disjointed - I'm not convinced by the way it has been edited together, but since we're not likely ever to see the source material, I can't really comment there.
The inclusion of the running order for his memorial service at the end also seems unnecessarily morbid - surely this publication should be celebrating a life rather than marking a death? But then, if Dave Gilmour was to play "Wish You Were Here" at my funeral, I think I'd want people to know about it.
Not one for those who have read no Adams, but an interesting rounding-off of a far-too-short career for the rest of us.
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful
By Peter Hunt
Format:Paperback
If you are a fan of Douglas Adams' fiction, then this book is well worth getting. Although it contains mostly non-fiction essays, articles and interviews, they are very entertaining, and have the same sharp, witty and informative voice as his fiction works.
Adams was clearly an extremely intelligent and perceptive man, and his ability to make wry but penetrating observations in a clear, concise and entertaining way is displayed here again and again. These essays run the gamut from the hilarious to the deeply moving - sometimes within the same article.
The unfinished novel, The Salmon of Doubt, is interesting, but somewhat frustrating to read, as none of the disparate elements quite come together. As a work in progress, it sadly needed a lot more work done to it to bring it up to Adams' usual standard.
I deduct one star because the collection is not *quite* what was promised. Initially, we were told in press releases that this book would contain much of the unpublished material found on Adams' laptop after his death. However, apart from the novel excerpt, nearly all the material has been published before, either in magazines, newspapers or online. It's great to have it all in one place, but a lot of it we've seen before.
Nevertheless, as a tribute to Adams' life as a novelist and journalist, this book is as close to perfect as it can be. After reading The Salmon of Doubt, I both marvelled at Adams' genius, and mourned his untimely passing.
Ah Douglas, you left us far too soon.
Adams was clearly an extremely intelligent and perceptive man, and his ability to make wry but penetrating observations in a clear, concise and entertaining way is displayed here again and again. These essays run the gamut from the hilarious to the deeply moving - sometimes within the same article.
The unfinished novel, The Salmon of Doubt, is interesting, but somewhat frustrating to read, as none of the disparate elements quite come together. As a work in progress, it sadly needed a lot more work done to it to bring it up to Adams' usual standard.
I deduct one star because the collection is not *quite* what was promised. Initially, we were told in press releases that this book would contain much of the unpublished material found on Adams' laptop after his death. However, apart from the novel excerpt, nearly all the material has been published before, either in magazines, newspapers or online. It's great to have it all in one place, but a lot of it we've seen before.
Nevertheless, as a tribute to Adams' life as a novelist and journalist, this book is as close to perfect as it can be. After reading The Salmon of Doubt, I both marvelled at Adams' genius, and mourned his untimely passing.
Ah Douglas, you left us far too soon.
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
When this book turned up on my desk at work, I tore open the wrapping and started reading it there and then. Much chortling (and no small amount of guffawing) later, I had to return to work. But the book left its mark on me, in the form of a huge wave of melancholy...
You see, Mr. Adams is gone. The genius and extremely tall gentleman who breathed life into Dentarthurdent and changed the name of Svlad Cjelli into something altogether more pronounceable has gone to amuse the inhabitants of an altogether nicer place, and the world is a duller place for it.
What we have left to remember him by is this, a half-finished novel, a collection of contemplations, some book introductions, interviews, and short things that can only be described as sentences. Tell you what, it's bloody genius. Maybe it's because he's writing for himself a lot of the time, I don't know, but it really is genius.
Buy it, and remember him as I think he would have liked to be remembered. As someone who really knew how to make you laugh.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Catch the salmon
If you have read any of Doglas Adams other books, you will not be dissapointed with this one. Well writen, funny & informative. A must read
Published 5 months ago by Paul Dolby
4.0 out of 5 stars
one for adams fans
Likely only to be of real interest to confirmed fans. An insight into some of the activities behind and beyond the hitch-hiker and gently books.
Published 5 months ago by wormitboy
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not What is Implies
The cover suggests this is mostly the unfinished third novel featuring Dirk Gently but actually it's mostly a collection of various articles written by Adams for various magazines... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Daniel
5.0 out of 5 stars
A book for fans of Douglas Adams' work.
The Salmon of Doubt is a collection of real gems from Adams' work taken from various sources and compiled in this wonderful book. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Plumsouffle
5.0 out of 5 stars
The story of an intelligent man with many dreams that alas will never...
When i purchased this book I really did it for the beginning of the final Dirk Gently novel (of which I believe the first chapter was from the version which Adams planned to... Read more
Published on 3 Sep 2009 by F. Wight
4.0 out of 5 stars
Doesn't exactly leap to the top of Adams' body of work
There's not much to add that previous reviewers haven't covered regarding this posthumous Douglas Adams collection. Read more
Published on 27 April 2009 by Captain Pugwash
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Benefit of Doubt.
`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... Read more
Published on 30 July 2008 by Ian Wood, Author of 'Here's 2 Absent Fathers'
5.0 out of 5 stars
A look into an awesome mind
If you have read every Douglas Adams book but still don't feel close enough to the great man himself, this is the book for you. Read more
Published on 26 Jun 2008 by E. Marsden
4.0 out of 5 stars
Be aware of what you're getting
For those who know Douglas Adams' work, chances are you are aware that The Salmon of Doubt is the last of Adams' work before his untimely death and is incomplete. Read more
Published on 7 May 2008 by Mr. R. Wenman
5.0 out of 5 stars
Don't um, don't ah, just buy and read.
This lunchtime I finished reading The Salmon Of Doubt, the first work of Douglas's I've read since he died all those years ago. Read more
Published on 30 April 2008 by Paul Castle
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