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The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time | 
 enlarge | Author: Douglas Adams
Publisher: Del Rey
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
Buy New: $3.85
You Save: $4.14 (52%)
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Rating:  110 reviews
Sales Rank: 203788
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Pages: 336
Number Of Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 6.8 x 3.8 x 0.9
ISBN: 0345455290
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780345455291
ASIN: 0345455290
Publication Date: April 26, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: GREAT BUY!Brand New From US Distributor! WE ARE A 5 STAR SELLER with OVER 3,500,000 BOOKS SOLD!!! OVER ~ 675,000 FEEDBACKS ~ POSTED!!!
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Product Description
On Friday, May 11, 2001, the world mourned the untimely passing of Douglas Adams, beloved creator of iThe Hitchhiker#8217;s Guide to the Galaxy/i, dead of a heart attack at age forty-nine. Thankfully, in addition to a magnificent literary legacy#8212;which includes seven novels and three co-authored works of nonfiction#8212;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. brbrIn a way that none of his previous books could, iThe Salmon of Doubt/i provides the full, dazzling, laugh-out-loud experience of a journey through the galaxy as perceived by Douglas Adams. From a boy#8217;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#8217;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.brbrWelcome to the wonderful mind of Douglas Adams.brbrbriFrom the Hardcover edition./i
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| Customer Reviews: Read 105 more reviews...
The Original is still better than any book. December 16, 2008
Hold2File (Atlanta, GA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
As a fellow fan of HHGG, allow me to share with you my copy of ALL 12 of the Original BBC series broadcasts from 1980 in an MP3 format. The original audio is even better than the book. (Zephod's heads are in stereo.) I have posted the 30 minute episodes on my Hotmail Skydrive space at: br / br /[...] br / br /Enjoy!
 In Loving Memory of Douglas Noel Adams September 23, 2008
gregor42 (New York, USA)
The insight this book provides into the workings of the mind of Douglas Adams is at once deeply profound, moving, hilarious and utterly charming. br / br /The few chapters of the unfinished Dirk Gently novel that he had been working on were just enough to let me know that had he lived 100 years I would never have gotten enough. br / br /The only bad thing I can say about it is the profound sense of sadness it brought out in me about his loss. Upon reading it I felt as though he died again that day and the pain was fresh in my chest. br / br /The World lost one of the Greats when DNA passed away. He was by far the hoopiest frood ever. But at least now he'll always know where his towel is. br / br /
 A mixed bag of goodies December 22, 2007
Ash Ryan (Salt Lake City, Utah)
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
An interesting little volume filled with Adams' musings about a wide-ranging array of topics. Some of the essays and articles here are quite good, and others are, well, not quite so good. But they are all written with Adams' trademark zany wit, and you certainly won't be bored. br / br /The good: br /As usual, his observations about the foibles of life, whether it's his mortification about having to wear short pants to school because they didn't make long trousers his size, or the story about the stranger stealing his cookies, are hilarious. And his passionate enthusiasm for his personal values, whether it's technology or the Beatles, shines through in every line and is therefore quite contagious. He has a way of turning a phrase to bring an abstract point down to earth, especially when it comes to his criticism of theism. And some of his analogies between evolution and computer science are quite illuminating, particularly his observation that computer code is analogous to the genetic code in showing how evolution operates by performing simple operations millions of times over. br / br /The bad: br /As an amateur biologist, however, Adams does tend to get carried away with the computer analogies--no, Douglas, your baby is not "rebooting." Combine this tendency with his otherwise virtuous enthusiasm, and, like many computer scientists, he carries it to the point of assuming that we are on the verge of creating "artificial intelligence," i.e., that in the near future there will be conscious computers. This failure to distinguish between the biological and the man-made plays right into the theists' hands--after all, that's the basic fallacy behind the argument from design (the Celestial Watchmaker and all that), Adams has just kind of done it in reverse. And his playing at being a naturalist is at times almost embarrassing--like when he wants to ride a manta ray, which would probably be pretty cool, and then feels all stupid when told he can't, or when he hikes to Mount Kilimanjaro in a ridiculous rhino suit (although he does recognize the pretension of telling developing nations that they preserve the resources that Western nations "exploited" during their own development). br / br /As for "The Salmon of Doubt" itself, I haven't read either of the previous Dirk Gently novels yet, but I thought this one was shaping up to be, with more polishing, an interesting book. Of course, in its rough form, and with no ending, it is a bit unsatisfying. Overall, however, this collection is well worth reading, and the audiobook edition is well-read by Simon Jones, with all the introductions given heartfelt readings by their respective authors.
A mixed bag of goodies December 22, 2007
Ash Ryan (Salt Lake City, Utah)
An interesting little volume filled with Adams' musings about a wide-ranging array of topics. Some of the essays and articles here are quite good, and others are, well, not quite so good. But they are all written with Adams' trademark zany wit, and you certainly won't be bored. br / br /The good: br /As usual, his observations about the foibles of life, whether it's his mortification about having to wear short pants to school because they didn't make long trousers his size, or the story about the stranger stealing his cookies, are hilarious. And his passionate enthusiasm for his personal values, whether it's technology or the Beatles, shines through in every line and is therefore quite contagious. He has a way of turning a phrase to bring an abstract point down to earth, especially when it comes to his criticism of theism. And some of his analogies between evolution and computer science are quite illuminating, particularly his observation that computer code is analogous to the genetic code in showing how evolution operates by performing simple operations millions of times over. br / br /The bad: br /As an amateur biologist, however, Adams does tend to get carried away with the computer analogies--no, Douglas, your baby is not "rebooting." Combine this tendency with his otherwise virtuous enthusiasm, and, like many computer scientists, he carries it to the point of assuming that we are on the verge of creating "artificial intelligence," i.e., that in the near future there will be conscious computers. This failure to distinguish between the biological and the man-made plays right into the theists' hands--after all, that's the basic fallacy behind the argument from design (the Celestial Watchmaker and all that), Adams has just kind of done it in reverse. And his playing at being a naturalist is at times almost embarrassing--like when he wants to ride a manta ray, which would probably be pretty cool, and then feels all stupid when told he can't, or when he hikes to Mount Kilimanjaro in a ridiculous rhino suit (although he does recognize the pretension of telling developing nations that they preserve the resources that Western nations "exploited" during their own development). br / br /As for "The Salmon of Doubt" itself, I haven't read either of the previous Dirk Gently novels yet, but I thought this one was shaping up to be, with more polishing, an interesting book. Of course, in its rough form, and with no ending, it is a bit unsatisfying. Overall, however, this collection is well worth reading, but unless you're an Adams collector you can probably stick with the mass market version (or visit your local library).
 Sorry, Douglas, I was disappointed... December 11, 2007
Kristi L. Waterworth
Likely never intended for publication, but published anyway (as every famous writer's memoirs and journals are), this is a collection of ideas that Douglas had. I was incredibly disappointed, as it was toted to me as his fragmentary final book. BOO! br / br /Spend your money more wisely, buy Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency series by Douglas or his books about endangered animals. You will get way more out of them. Sorry, Douglas, rest in peace.
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