It's basically a collection of Adams' writings and articles of interviews, some half-finished Dirk Gently story that goes to Albuqurque (New Mexico) and no further...

It's basically the literary equivalent of ADHD (I should know -- I have ADD).

Nevertheless, one might understand that a great writer and person was lost when he died much too soon at barely 49 years old.

Passata l'iniziale diffidenza verso questo genere di operazioni, che mi sembrano sempre molto commerciali e prive di amore verso gli autori scomparsi, mi sono trovato davanti qualcosa di gradevole e gustoso.
La prima metà, saggistica, è buona, con articoli ed aneddoti su vari aspetti dell'ingegno umano e dell'umana condizione, che fanno riflettere, sorridere, interrogarsi. Certo, alcuni sono un pò sottotono, ma tutti hanno il pregio di farci conoscere meglio questo autore, le sue idee ed il suo modo di pensare.
La seconda parte contiene un breve racconto dell'universo della Guida Galattica ("Sicuro, sicurissimo, perfettamente sicuro") ed i primi capitoli de "Il salmone del dubbio", nuova avventura del detective olistico Dirk Gently, incompiuta.
Questa parte è tanto meravigliosa, nella misura in cui amate questo autore: se la Guida Galattica vi ha lasciati indifferenti, non troverete nulla di interessante. Se Dirk Gently non vi è piaciuto, odierete lo spreco di pagine dedicato alla sua nuova avventura, anche se incompiuta.
Ma se viceversa li avete apprezzati, troverete "pane per i vostri denti": storie e personaggi assurdi, stravaganti, a tratti follemente divertenti.
Personalmente ho gradito molto la parte saggistica, perchè mostra l'uomo, prima dello scrittore. Un uomo arguto e sagace, raffinato nell'intelletto, dannatamente "british", capace di tratteggiare situazioni ed idiosincrasie del nostro tempo.
Viceversa il racconto incompleto di Gently, proprio perchè incompleto lascia l'amaro in bocca.

Published upon his death The Salmon of Doubt is Douglas Adams' final work. It is composed of various interviews, speeches, observations, short stories and the beginning of a new Dirk Gently novel. It is a combination of technology, science, fiction and humor. (It is also the title I assumed would be my fiftieth.)

I liked the book, but think I would have liked it more had I heeded the advice on the back cover and not read it straight through. There's not enough continuity to make it that kind of book. (Apparently the fact that it's a compilation of items rather than a story was not a big enough clue for me.)


Favorite Quotes:

"I only knew that the Beatles were the most exciting thing in the universe. It wasn't always an easy view to live with. First you had to fight the Stones fans, which was tricky because they fought dirty and had their knuckles nearer to the ground."

"Obviously the Sub Bug wins some points for being portable up to a point. You can take it on a plane, which you wouldn't do with a manta ray, or at least not with a manta ray you liked, and I think that we probably like all manta rays on principle really, don't we?"

"He moved his horse slowly forward and surveyed the small group of peasant huts that stood huddled together in the centre of the clearing, trying very hard at short notice to look deserted."

"There is a particular disdain with which Siamese cats regard you. Anyone who has accidentally walked in on the Queen cleaning her teeth will be familiar with this feeling."


Overall Opinion:

Unless you're an Adams' fanatic and looking to read everything he ever wrote on any subject then take it slowly. Read something else at the same time and you'll enjoy The Salmon of Doubt more than I did.



Rating:

6

I liked the Dirk Gently story and some of the correspondence was as charming as your would expect from Adams. The pop-science and pop-atheism stuff in the middle was a bit boring and unsophisticated to me though.

This partially posthumous volume consists of a collection of magazine articles, newspaper columns, interviews and such like, along with one short story (about a young Zaphod)originally published in the Utterly Utterly Merry Comic Relief Christmas Book...a copy of which I own...and the (very) incomplete conflated text of three versions of the third Dirk Gently's novel. This novel was abandoned whilst Adams was still alive, in favour of a 6th Hitchhikers' novel. Adams had decided that the material/theme was better suited to the latter. Personally, I think a 3rd Gently's would have been much more fun than a 6th 'Hikers'. The Long Dark Tea-time of the Soul is my favourite Adams novel and The Salmon of Doubt looked to be very much in a similar vein, structurally and stylistically. It's a great shame that we will never see an end to this fragment.

THIS REVIEW HAS BEEN CURTAILED IN PROTEST AT GOODREADS' CENSORSHIP POLICY

See the complete review here:

http://arbieroo.booklikes.com/post/33...

A compilation of assorted pieces from throughout the career of Douglas Adams that ultimately comes across as a mixed bag. Stretching back from his youth through to the end of his sadly shortened life, some pieces feel introspective and biographical while others are forgettable rants.
The problem with gathering together a selection of these writings and interviews is that inevitably the book ends up covering the same few topics ad nauseum. Atheism, Apple computers, evolution and the environment are subjects that pop up in most pieces.
The saving grace of this book is undoubtedly the incomplete third Dirk Gently novel which feels as though it would have sat comfortably next to the rest of his work and as such is so unfortunate that it will never be finished.
For the Dirk Gently parts and a short story about Zaphod from Hitchhiker's I'm giving this 2 stars. The rest can be skimmed and/or skipped.

As a side note at the end of the book there's an extract from the memorial for Douglas which seems odd as 1) it was held in a church and 2) it featured prayers and religious songs. That really seems unusual for someone who was such a vehement atheist. Or maybe that's just the paradox that was Douglas Adams..!

I am glad that I finally listened to this audiobook which I purchased several years ago. I knew that this book was unfinished but hadn't realized that the majority of it wasn't Adams' unfinished manuscript at all but instead a collection of interviews, articles, speeches and other short works of his. I found these very pleasant listening but due to the nature of the collection, there was a fair amount of repetition of some of Adams' favorite analogies/stories/anecdotes.

I was pleased though not surprised to learn that Adams was a fan of P.G. Wodehouse (as am I)!

Douglas Adams is so great and I'm so sad he never got to finish this book.
This collection has some really great stuff by him but it also has some that's rather boring. I thought the essays went kinda back and forth, because while I love his writing style, I think its much more appropriate for stories than essay structure. The way he jumps from a topic to an anecdote to a rant makes for an entertaining read but it also loses the focus of an essay sometimes. I thought some of the editing/arrangement of work was questionable but overall it didn't effect the actual content, just the flow/themes in a collection of various kinds of writing.
When it comes down to it Adams is consistently such a special and unique author and his sense of humor is always so spot on.

Not really a book but an entertaining collection of ramblings by someone who’s ramblings are well.. quite entertaining
-Stephen Fry probably said this

Oh, how bittersweet is was to read Douglas Adams’ “The Salmon of Doubt.” His writing is witty and reflective. Some words make me laugh and some words make me cry. How sweet the taste of those Dirk Gently chapters, but how sorrowful I am that he did not have the chance to complete the book. How fortunate we all are to have been alive at a time when his books graced our bookshelves!

I can recall the time that I first picked up his book “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency.” This must have been about six years ago or so. I had finished watching the 2016 TV series before that and I had the spontaneous insight that I’d like to read the book version. In my country, and my specific city, we have posted around our neighbourhoods these wooden boxes with plexiglass doors that look like oversized bird houses. They are called “Little Free Libraries” and there are about half a dozen in my neighbourhood. Sometimes they will be empty, but sometimes they will be overflowing with books, it’s really luck of the draw.

That day, the day that I decided it was time to read “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency” I decided that I would find it in a “Little Free Library.” You could call it a hunch. I walk up to the first one, it wasn’t there. I walked a couple blocks more to the second one—nope, not there either. Third time is the charm! There it was, “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency” staring me right in the face. I suppose life gets you to where you need to be. Since that day, I have never seen “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency” in another “Little Free Library.”

“Anything that happens happens, anything that in happening causes something else to happen causes something else to happen and anything that in happening causes itself to happen again, happens again” (p.278 e-book).

Thank you Douglas Adams, for causing so much to happen in the world.

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 unfinished Dirk Gently novel tentatively titled The Salmon of Doubt. Though Adams was an avowed atheist, the frustration I felt at having this tale end so abruptly was enough to make me wish he's wrong about the afterlife and hope some trance channel will track him down in the ethers so we can all find out just who was sending Mr. Gently those wire transfers and what, exactly, the rhinoceros was doing on the highway to Santa Fe.

The Salmon of Doubt is a hard book to categorize. It contains various items from Douglas Adam's hard drive downloaded after his death, along with some items from other sources, and his half finished novel The Salmon of Doubt. It was compiled and published after his death. The book as a whole is an interesting look into the mind of a man who, although remembered for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, is so much more. If you want to truly know all the facets of his mind, this is the book to read. He was not only a great wit, but a concerned environmentalist, and philosopher. Highly recommended for any Douglas Adams fan!