I got this book because I love Douglas Adams, since he died & will no longer be writing another novel. Anything from his notes however incoherent was good enough for me to buy.

I did not expect this book to be such a life-changer for me. It was a catalyst that triggered a flood of ideas/books/authors that followed for the next few years. My rating of this book is purely for what this book has meant to me, not exactly the book itself.

I liked Adam’s short stories & essays better than the actual detective plots of this series. That said, I really admire his ability to weave science, the universe, fiction & literature into vivid storylines.

Douglas Adams was brilliant—and it pains me to have to put that in the past tense. His novel-in-progress, The Salmon of Doubt, was cut short by Adams' untimely death in 2001. But this posthumous collection of miscellany from his computer's hard drive, also called The Salmon of Doubt, showcases Adams' brilliance, and is a worthy addition to his canon.

There's not much of the planned novel here—just a few chapters, and that's not what impressed me most about this collection anyway. The things that amazed me most about The Salmon of Doubt were: first, the breadth and depth of Adams' interests, as revealed here particularly in his discussions of Last Chance to See, written with Mark Carwardine, a serious attempt to document and, perhaps, even save some of Earth's vanishing species. And, second, the evidence of Adams' prescience when it came to computing and the Internet. Far from being just a comedic writer, the interviews and excerpts included here show clearly that Adams had his finger on the pulse of the Internet, more so than many self-acclaimed pundits and insiders. He foresaw the importance of wirelessness, for example, and the utility of thumbs for texting, well before such things were common knowledge.

The Salmon of Doubt isn't a complete novel, and never will be now—and that is tragic. But The Salmon of Doubt is one last amazing glimpse into Adams' mind, and for that I am grateful.

There’s nothing more to say than what others have already said except that I miss him.

It's really hard to rate a text that is a compilation of snippets that was intended to eventually be a book, but that the author never completed.

This reliquary is constructed of some well-not-quite-eulogies of Douglas Adams, and some quotes, snippets and letters that he wrote and some of his magazine articles. The entire first half of the book comes across as a portrait of a man we have come to know through his work, with some semi-biographical pieces such as his time spent in the America walking borrowed dogs, his passion for The Beatles and Procol Harum, his thoughtful journey into Atheism, and that time he dressed up as a Rhino to climb Kilimanjaro. I was fully amused to listen to his wish-lists for future technology, that spookily predict many aspects our modern day mobile cloud-computing world and fibre optic networks, even though they were written in the 90s.

Bumbling into the more Dirk Gently end of the book, I was amused to find myself listening to the voice of Arthur Dent, Simon Jones. Having been brought up on Hitchhiker's Guide (TV and radioplay versions) this seemed quite fitting. I'll admit that knowing this was ostensibly a Dirk Gently book, I should have at first considered... "the interconnectedness of all things". I was caught off guard with a frisson of real honest to goodness goosebumps as random descriptions in the text tied back to other anecdotes, turns of phrase and backstory from Adams's life. Either that or I was just cold... gusty winds may exist.

I'm not sure how this would go down with people who are not fans of the author, but the book is a nice quiet farewell to the man.

Der Inhalt der Festplatten von 4 Computern des verstorbenen Douglas Adams: Textfragmente, Interviews, Aufsätze und ein unvollendeter Roman -hört sich todlangweilig an - ist es aber nicht! Es ist eine sehr gute Einsicht in die Meinungen, Philosophien, Visionen und kleinen Probleme eines der größten Autoren dieser Welt.
Da gibt es: Philosophische Abhandlungen über den richtigen alkoholischen Drink, seine glühende Bejahung des Atheismus, das Problem mit den Adapterdingsbumsen beim Verreisen mit elektronischen Geräten, eine sehr treffende Trendbestimmung bezüglich des Internet und sozialer Netzwerke, die so um das Jahr 2000 wirklich noch sehr visionär war aber heute bereits eingetroffen ist, dann noch sein erstes Werk als Zwölfjäriger...... und zuletzt seinen unvollendeten Roman, einen Nachruf seines Freundes Dawkins und das Line Up seiner Beerdigungsveranstaltung.
Wenn man den Menschen hinter den genialen Romanen kennenlernen möchte oder sich als Fan bezeichnet ist dieses Buch absolut empfehlenswert!

Ich habe mich immer sehr geärgert, da ich im Jahr 2000 eine Veranstaltung mit ihm in Wien, zu der ich mich hineinschwindeln hätte können, verpasst habe, da ich erst im nachhinein darüber informiert wurde. Als er dann kurz darauf zu allem Überfluss auch noch gestorben ist, war ich stinksauer. Dieses Buch hat mich ein bisschen dafür entschädigt dass ich ihm nicht die Hand schütteln und ein paar Worte mit ihm reden konnte.

"Where do you get the ideas for your books?
- I tell myself I cannot have another cup of coffee till I've thought of an idea."

This book is such a beautiful tribute to the late Douglas Adams. The pieces in it are laugh out loud funny, deeply meaningful, and often poignant. Surely I am not the only person that cried reading "Sunset at Blandings"; the feelings that Douglas felt at losing one of his favourite authors are so reminiscent of what his fans must feel.

This book is absolutely wonderful. Douglas Adams really brings meaning to Life, The Universe and Everything.

Трудно, дори невъзможно е да се оценяват сборници. Давам пет звезди за прекрасните есета в началото, както и за всички останали необработени и нешлайфани парчета текст дошли от Дъглас Адамс.

Настоящият сборник е представен от кратки разкази, есета, интервюта и части от проекта за 3-та книга от серията с детектив Дърк Джентли „Сьомгата на съмнението“.

Тази посмъртна компилация е събрана от харда на неговия компютър. Дискът с произведенията на Дъглас съдържаха 2579 файла — от огромни, съдържащи пълните текстове на книгите му до писма в полза на „Спасете носорозите“, неговият любим благотворителен фонд. Имаше и невероятни идеи за книги, филми и телевизионни програми, някои от по едно-две изречения, други по пет или шест страници. Освен това имаше чернови на речи, материали писани от Дъглас за неговия уебсайт, предговори към множество книги и събития, както и размисли относно близки до сърцето на Дъглас теми: музиката, технологиите, науката, застрашените от изчезване видове, пътешествията и малцовото уиски (изброявам само някои от тях). Накрая открих дузина варианти на романа, с който Дъглас се сражаваше през по-голямата част от последното десетилетие. Сортирането и подборът за това незавършено произведение, което ще намерите в третата част на тази книга, се превърнаха в най-голямото предизвикателство, въпреки че като го казвам по този начин, звучи много трудно. Не беше. Въпросите раждаха отговори още в момента на възникването си.

Сьомгата на съмнението.

В самото начало, подходът на Дъглас Адамс, основата на който е атеистичният му и фантастичен хумор на човек вярващ в "изкуствения Бог" - Затова твърдя, че макар да няма истински Бог, има изкуствен Бог, и че не е лошо да го имаме предвид. Това е моята теза в спора, а вие сте свободни да ме замеряте със столове! - ми напомни за "Пътуване със сьомга" на Умберто Еко. Става дума най-вече за първата част (на този сборник). Общото критично и хумористично отношение към живота, вселената и всичко останало има изключително сходство между "Сьомгата" на Дъглас Адамс и тази на Умберто Еко.

Тази първа част е озаглавена "Животът". Спомени, случки и ситуации от живота на автора, оформени в есета и написани така, че няма как да ви разкажа за тях. Прочетете ги, прекрасни са и определено ще се посмеете.

МАГИ И ТРУДИ. Страхотно :)

Пристрастието и любовта на DNA (Douglas Noel Adams) към науката и техническите постижения се вижда (освен в абревиатурата на името му) във всяка буквичка, която е написал. Определено е било мания и със сигурност от там идва нюансът на специфичния му хумор - (себе)критичен, (себе)ироничен - качества на луд професор :)

Последната част представлява 11 глави от недовършената книга "Сьомгата на съмнението". Разбира се, много необработени и недовършени текстове, на етап на натрупване, оформяне, създаване... Почти всяка една глава влиза от отнякъде - от страници, които си пропуснал, защото все още не са били създадени. Бели полета измежду поредната идиотско-гениална история на Дъглас Адамс.

Цитати:

ФУРНАДЖИЙСКА ЛОПАТА

Дайте на хората анкетен лист и те ще започнат да лъжат. Един мой приятел веднъж беше провел някакво допитване в Мрежата. Каза, че информацията, която получил, за състоянието на този свят, била покъртителна. Знаете ли например, че 90 процента от хората са президенти на собствени компании и печелят повече от милион долара на година?

ВЪПРОС: КОЯ Е ЧЕТВЪРТАТА ЕПОХА НА ПЯСЪКА?

През този век (а и през предишния) моделът на комуникациите едно към едно беше телефонът, който предполагам, че всички познаваме. Комуникацията един на много също не липсваше — радио и телевизия, книгоиздаване, журналистика и какво ли още не. Информацията ни залива отвсякъде и в мишените й няма грам дискриминация. Любопитно е, но не се налага да се връщаме много назад в миналото, за да открием, че цялата информация, която е стигала до нас е имала връзка с нас, и затова всичко, което се е случвало, всяка новина, без значение дали се е случила с нас, в съседната къща, в съседното село, в границата на държавата или в границата на нашия хоризонт, се е случвала в нашия свят и ние сме реагирали, и светът е реагирал в отговор. Всичко ни е засягало по някакъв начин, като например ужасна катастрофа, при която е можело да се притечем на помощ. В наши дни поради плетеницата от комуникации един на много, ако в Индия катастрофира самолет, ние може силно да се разтревожим, но от нашата тревога няма никакъв ефект. Вече не сме способни да различаваме онова, което се е случило на другия край на света от другото, което се е случило на нашата улица. В съзнанието ни разликата между тях е толкова размита, че сме в състояние да се разтревожим много повече от съдбата на героинята от сапунена опера забъркана в Холивуд, отколкото от съдбата на собствената си сестра. Връзките помежду ни са изкривени и разкъсани, и не е никак изненадващо, че се чувстваме стресирани и отчуждени в света, защото светът ни влияе, но ние на него не. Комуникацията много на един я има, но не е кой знае какво, нито кой знае колко. По същността си нашите демократични системи са модели на тази комуникация и макара да не са съвършени, вървят към драстично подобрение.
Четвъртата комуникация обаче — много на много — се роди едва с появата на Интернет, която разбира се тече по фиброоптични кабели. Този тип комуникация формира четвъртата епоха на пясъка.

МЛАДИЯТ ЗЕЙФОД И БЕЗОПАСНОСТТА

Най-опасни от всички бяха три еднакви личности — точно те бяха затворени в този контейнер и заедно с кораба трябваше да изчезнат от лицето на тази вселена. Не че бяха зли, напротив, бяха доста простодушни и очарователни. Но са най-опасните същества във вселената, защото никога няма да се откажат да сторят нещо, което е разрешено и никога няма да сторят нещо забранено…

СЬОМГАТА НА СЪМНЕНИЕТО

Сиамските котки гледат хората по един особено презрителен начин. Чувството е познато на всеки, който се е натъквал на кралицата, докато е чоплила зъбите си.
...
Не можеш да се взираш в морето. Е, можеш, но то е покрито с пластмасови бутилки и употребявани презервативи и само ще седиш и ще се ядосваш. Единственото, което ни остана за взиране е белият шум. Онова, което понякога наричаме информация, но което иначе е само мехурчета във въздуха.
...
Една кола, син кабриолет, елегантна и желана, излезе от западната част на Бевърли хилс и пое по, както аз го разбирам, грациозните извивки на Сънсет булевард. Всеки, който видеше тази кола щеше да я пожелае. Очевидно. Дизайнът й беше такъв, че да я пожелаеш. Ако се окажеше, че хората не я желаха твърде много, конструкторите й щяха да я проектират наново и наново, докато всички я пожелаеха. Светът е пълен с подобни неща, която именно е причината всички да са в непрекъснато състояние на желаене.
...
Затова ще кажа само, че дрехите й бяха точно такива, че да предизвикат луд възторг в някой който разбира от дрехи и освен това бяха сини.
...
Светът ѝ изведнъж се беше преобърнал с главата надолу и сега тя изведнъж съвсем неочаквано се беше превърнала в най-безпомощното човешко същество в Лос Анджелис — в пешеходец.
...
— Хората си мислят, че писателите си стоят в някаква стая, гледат умислено и записват велики мисли. Само че те през повечето време гледат панкьосано и се надяват, че още не са пратили съдия-изпълнител.

A book by Douglas Adams. Well, it's not actually by him, except in the sense that they were words that he wrote, mostly in that order. But he was dead when it was published. Collection of some previously published essays and the fragments of his final novel, which was harvested in bits from filing cabinets and from the hard drive of his computer, including some bits that weren't meant to be seen by the general public, as they were deleted, but someone foolhardily recovered the bits and slapped them back together to make money. Adams died so young that my sense of what is right in the world insists that I cling to a conspiratoratical hope that he was a very shy and private man thrust into too many spotlights because of his fame and having failed at politely asking people to just go away and leave him alone, he had to resort to publishing notices of his death so that he could quietly live on the considerable savings from his books.

Come on, haven't you read Christopher Moore and wondered about the possibility?

Sempre bello leggere anche solo poche righe di un romanzo di Douglas Adams, anche se inconcluso. Le interviste e gli iscritti hanno tutti qualcosa di interessante anche se dopo un po’ diventano un po’ noiosi.

It's really amazing the amounts of nostalgia that can build up in a person's system before it kinda explodes into a kind of reverse word soup full of interviews, introductions, epilogues, and snippets of novels we wish we had but they were never penned because the author up and died on us.

I'm writing of Douglas Adams, of course.

I almost didn't re-read this one because I remember it WAS mostly just magazine articles and interesting early computer-tech stuff and ruminations on science, god, and other random bits that fly out of this wonderful man's brain in tightly humorous one-liners that explain not only life, the universe, and everything, but also the way his mind works... and this is all DESPITE the fact that Mr. DNA may or may not have had a functional nose with which to sneeze out those humorous one-liners.

So am I rating this entirely based on a man's ability to be clear, funny, horribly learned, and dead?

Yes, but it's gotta be more than that, and indeed it is. I loved the man.

I grew up reading and re-reading HHGttG about a bazillion times with or without the cheese sandwhich, playing countless hours on the Infrogames title of the same name being simultaneously corrupted and flabbergasted by my inability to create NO TEA, and learning how to fly by distraction.

I even decided when I was fourteen that I'd grow a beard for the distinct purpose of giving some poor hapless creature a traveling burial site to not see the rest of the world through.

DNA is that kind of man to me.

This book reminds me of just how regular a human he is and it is an unabashedly wonderful nostalgia piece to boot.

Oh, and we also get a few short stories including Ghengis Kahn, a non-presidential Zaphod, and the opening to the next Dirk Gently book which would have been fantastic, I'm sure, had he written it.

*sigh*

Still, what a wonderful thing it is. Farewell, Mr. Adams. (Yes. I know I'm 16 years late. It's just that this book was compiled shortly after his death, so I feel it fresh. Sue me.)

In early 1998 (or was it ‘97?), I experienced one of the most heady experiences of my life. A literary idol approached me at a conference we were attending in France (it was in Cannes, but it was a media festival rather than the more famous annual event), invited me to join him at dinner and debate the existence of God. Douglas Adams, self-proclaimed radical atheist, wanted to consider God’s existence (or lack thereof) with me. As a minister, I’d like to write myself in as the hero and claim that I at least put a dent in the famous atheist’s armor. We had a fascinating conversation and I’d like to think that I pushed him into rethinking his position, but that’s not very realistic. Hang on! This does relate to this collection of Adams’ writing in his last years, especially those reprinted in The Salmon of Doubt.

In our discussion, I pulled out the well-worn rubber duck of apologetics. I told him that he was dishonest in calling himself an atheist instead of an agnostic. I didn’t realize that this was the most offensive opening I could try. I hadn’t read his interview with American Atheists where he asserted that Agnostic did not adequately express his position because he was “convinced that there is no God.” (p. 96) But I blundered into the conversation with my classic approach that it is intellectual arrogance to claim to “know” that there is no God by appealing to an illustration in one of Rudy Rucker’s books on multidimensionality. This took my literary hero off guard because “multidimensionality” was a great fascination for him. I told him that certainty of the non-existence of God might well be trying to decide a multidimensional issue via the limited dimensions we have discovered in our empirical science. Then, I conceded that being “convinced” was different than “knowing,” but that it wasn’t objectively any better than a person of faith being “convinced.” I scored the opening round a stand-off. I’m not sure what Adams would have scored it. He must have been somewhat satisfied because he shifted gears.

He told me that there was no rational need for the existence of God. This, of course, is a different question. Unlike my typical sermon, I opted to walk the tightrope of suggested that God is a useful concept—EVEN (don’t be horrified at my speculation, true believers) if a personal God didn’t exist. I told him that I personally believe in a personal God, but for purposes of discussion, we should consider whether there really was no rational need for the existence of God. I asserted that, contrary to Adams’ hero Richard Dawkins for whom I expressed admiration for his science and reservation for his assertions which went beyond the acceptable evidence, the idea of God was more helpful than harmful.

Adams was skeptical (duh!) and attempted two analogies which I found interesting. He pulled some British currency out of his wallet and suggested that burning it wouldn’t warm you, eating it wouldn’t feed you, and wearing it wouldn’t cover you, but that it had purchasing power because the state stood behind it. But, he suggested that you need the assurance that the state exists in order for the currency to have any effect whatsoever. I countered (maybe a feeble parry at best) that, for the bulk of the British population, they had no idea of the nature of money supply, national deficit, budget viability, and governmental oversight of that currency but had an essential faith in the government. One doesn’t have to have all of the economics behind the currency explained satisfactorily in order to use the money. In the same way, one doesn’t have to understand everything about God in order to benefit from the idea of God. Therefore, there may well be a rational need for God.

Before I explain the next analogy, imagine my amazement to see the late 1998 speech from Adams that was reprinted in The Salmon of Doubt: “Money is a completely fictitious entity, but it’s very powerful in our world; we all have wallets, which have got notes in them, but what can these notes do? You can’t breed them, you can’t stir-fry them, you can’t live in them, there’s absolutely nothing you can do with them, other than exchange them with each other—and as soon as we exchange them with each other, all sorts of powerful things happen, because it’s a fiction that we’ve all subscribed to. …if the money vanished, the entire cooperative structure that we have would implode.” (p. 140) Did our discussion bear fruit? Adams didn’t change his mind about the existence of God. He merely recognized the utility of the concept of God. Egotistically, I had thought to convince him one step at a time, but perhaps, I merely pushed him to fortify and develop his philosophical position to allow for a utilitarian (he called it “artificial”) God.

The conversation was still stimulating, especially so when Adams began to expound about Feng Shui. Now, maybe I wasn’t listening, but I thought he was expressing skepticism about Feng Shui, so I said that it wouldn’t really make any different that he and I don’t believe that dragons exist, but that the concept of the dragon may help people design more comfortable and functional living spaces even if no dragon ever sets foot in the dwelling (and presumably they would not). Therefore, I suggested that even if I was wrong about the personal God whom I serve, my life may be better and more meaningful as a result of my conceptual idea of God’s involvement in my life. Now, admittedly, Adams’ hero of evolutionary arrogance (Richard Dawkins) wouldn’t concede this as said individual perceives the very concept to be harmful due to the fundamentalist extremes which have wreaked havoc in human history, but it seemed like the approach caused Adams to pause. Again, that could be arrogance on my part. I WISH I had impacted Adams and this could merely be wish-fulfillment.

However, I was delighted to read on p. 146: “You figure out how the dragon’s going to be happy here, and lo, and behold, you’ve suddenly got a place that makes sense for other organic creatures, such as ourselves, to live in.” Do I think I won a debate with this man who was, in so many ways, my intellectual superior? Naaah! I just like to think that our conversation pushed him in a direction he was already considering. Do I wish I could have convinced him of the existence of a personal God who cared about Him and wanted to be involved in his life and life’s work? Absolutely! Do I still admire him as a person and his creative output? Absolutely!

There were a few other lines that I really enjoyed in this book of essays, interviews, introductions to books, albums, and concerts, speeches, and rambling thoughts before I got into what I really procured the book to read, the last Dirk Gently story. I loved his line about art when he said, “I think the idea of art kills creativity.” (p. 158) And, I loved the story about his awkward experience in the train station with the cookies (pp. 150-151). It appears that he was sharing a table while waiting for a train. He had his coffee and a packet of cookies along with his morning newspaper. As he was reading his paper, the fellow reached over, opened the bag of cookies, too one out and began to eat it. Some British reserve kept him from confronting the man for his effrontery, so they actually ate the cookies in uncomfortable silence one-for-one. When the man left, Adams moved his paper and discovered an identical, but unopened bag of cookies under his paper. He was amused that he had thought so ill of the man while he was erroneously consuming the other man’s cookies. And he knew why this had occurred, but the other man never discovered the punch line. In the U.S., of course, there would have been a loud vocal confrontation at the very least.

As for the title piece, the bare-bones portion of the unfinished Salmon of Doubt, it was delightful—even in its admittedly unpolished form. I followed the tortured logic of the cabbie who assumed that since people said, “Follow that cab!” in the movies and he, having had a long tenure as a cabbie had never heard that phrase, he must indeed have been the cab that all other cabs were following (pp. 249-250). I rolled my eyes with empathy when Dirk discovered a freezer cabinet full of “old, white, clenched things that he was now too frightened to try to identify.” (p. 226) I chuckled at the description of Gently’s office that was “old and dilapidated and remained standing more out of habit rather than from any inherent structural integrity” (p. 238) I really loved the slam on typical airline personnel speak (Airline Syllable Stress Syndrome—p. 253). I was sad that the book wasn’t complete, even in its current form.