The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time (original 2002; edition 2005)

This book is a miscellany, composed largely of material found on Adams' computer after his death. It is divided into three sections, appropriately titled "Life," "The Universe," and "Everything."

The first section contains personal musings and experiences. Adams writes about his school days, of climbing Kilimanjaro and diving in Australia (turns out Adams is a great travel writer), how to make a proper cup of tea, and numerous other subjects.

The second section concerns Adams' views of then-current technology. I wasn't as interested in hearing about his computer issues as readers of MacUser might have been at the time, but they are still reasonably entertaining. Particularly amusing is a piece from 1995 on internet advertising, where he talks about how discreet and tasteful it is in comparison to its printed counterpart. How things change.

The third section is mostly fiction. "The Private Life of Genghis Khan" was written with Graham Chapman and isn't very funny. "Young Zaphod Plays It Safe" is very funny, as is the title story, the beginning of a new Dirk Gently novel, sadly unfinished.

There are also a number of interviews scattered throughout the volume. ( )

First read when it came out, I decided to re-read it since I had actually read the 'Dirk Gently' books this time and could appreciate 'The Salmon of Doubt' as constructed here.

If Adams had lived it might have morphed into a 'Hitchhiker' book, but we'll leave those what-ifs aside. 'The Salmon of Doubt' will always be fragments of a Dirk Gently novel, a direct-sequel to 'Tea Time' (Gently is still sorting out a lot of messy details that that case left behind, namely the lack of a front to his house). What's in the book as a whole are a collection of newspaper columns and articles, interviews, some letters, and eleven chapters from several versions of a novel started by Adams and assembled by an editor. Adams was a very funny guy.

The assortment of pieces in this book is what works against it, I was particularly impatient with the section compiling his tech writing of the late 80s and 90s. It must be nice for somebody to find these here, but I didn't find reading complaints of shitty word processor performance particularly entertaining.

The rest is a hoot though.

Dirk Gently

Previous: 'The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul' ( )

Posthumous works are always an iffy prospect; in most cases you're looking at an early draft which may well have horrified the writer if they knew it would be published in that form. For as much as we all look forward to more Douglas Adams stories, whether they be Hitch-hikers or Dirk Gently related, much of what is new is not of Adams's standard.

We get segments of a Dirk Gently novel-in-development, that Adams thought perhaps should have been a hitch-hikers story. All-in-all, any Adams fanatic should probably avoid "Salmon of Doubt". ( )

I should throw this book across the room. It is good. It is worth reading, but we should be forewarned that the portion of the book The Salmon of Doubt that it takes its title from was not only cobbled together from various drafts (it was), but that it remains unfinished. Had it been finished I would have given the book five stars.

I still enjoyed and it was a good farewell for someone taken from us so abruptly. If I ever find that editor I'm going to snap my towel at them. ( )

I had to be a Dirk Gently completist and read this one before I started watching the show. I loved reading more about Douglas Adams and his interests. What is included here from the computers of Adams as 'The Salmon of Doubt' is a very solid, funny, uncompleted book. Many laughs on each page. I think it would have made a great addition to the Dirk Gently books. I will always consider Douglas Adams' death at 49 a great tragedy of literature. ( )