Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0345455290, Mass Market Paperback)

On Friday, May 11, 2001, the world mourned the untimely passing of Douglas Adams, beloved creator of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, dead of a heart attack at age forty-nine. Thankfully, in addition to a magnificent literary legacy—which includes seven novels and three co-authored works of nonfiction—Douglas left us something more. The book you are about to enjoy was rescued from his four computers, culled from an archive of chapters from his long-awaited novel-in-progress, as well as his short stories, speeches, articles, interviews, and letters.

In a way that none of his previous books could, The Salmon of Doubt provides the full, dazzling, laugh-out-loud experience of a journey through the galaxy as perceived by Douglas Adams. From a boy’s first love letter (to his favorite science fiction magazine) to the distinction of possessing a nose of heroic proportions; from climbing Kilimanjaro in a rhino costume to explaining why Americans can’t make a decent cup of tea; from lyrical tributes to the sublime pleasures found in music by Procol Harum, the Beatles, and Bach to the follies of his hopeless infatuation with technology; from fantastic, fictional forays into the private life of Genghis Khan to extended visits with Dirk Gently and Zaphod Beeblebrox: this is the vista from the elevated perch of one of the tallest, funniest, most brilliant, and most penetrating social critics and thinkers of our time.

Welcome to the wonderful mind of Douglas Adams.


From the Hardcover edition.

Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0333766571, Hardcover)

Edited and with an introduction by Christopher Cerf, The Salmon of Doubt and Other Writings comprises 50 pages of the late Douglas Adams unfinished novel, The Salmon of Doubt, along with other writings from 3,000 unpublished files stored on his computer harddrive. This collection is the unique last word from one of the worlds most successful and best loved science fiction writers and represents an important, fascinating and characteristically hilarious legacy. Other potential inclusions are: transcripts of the radio series Hitchhikers Guide to the Future, essays, articles for the Independent, and transcripts of Adams lectures.