The final and sadly unfinished work from a Master as well as other pieces recovered from his mac following his untimely death in 2001.

Amazon.co.uk Review
The Salmon of Doubt is the late Douglas Adams' third comic novel about "holistic detective" Dirk Gently. Ten tantalising chapters of this unfinished project are padded to book size with about 50 short Adams pieces, mostly non-fiction.

Additional material includes introductions by Stephen Fry and editor Peter Guzzardi (who stitched together the Salmon fragment from disk drafts), The Guardian's Adams biography, Richard Dawkins' farewell piece, and the order of the memorial service.

The non-fiction by the man himself ranges from perhaps a dozen meaty articles and speeches to brief squibs, interview/questionnaire answers and tiny asides like:

We are stuck with technology when what we really want is just stuff that works. How do you recognise something that is still technology? A good clue is if it comes with a manual.

There are enjoyable pieces on computers (especially), atheism, dogs, manta rays on the Great Barrier Reef, the Save the Rhino stunt climb, and PG Wodehouse. Much of the rest is ephemeral; you can't help reflecting that Adams himself never chose to collect all this lightweight newspaper work.

Lovers of his fiction will welcome the Hitch-Hiker-related short stories "The Private Life of Genghis Khan" and "Young Zaphod Plays It Safe", despite the latter's dreadfully dated political punch line.

What of The Salmon of Doubt itself, a quarter of this book? There's a glimpse of a far-future estate agent's utopia, a woman asking Dirk Gently to investigate a cat that's literally only half there (his puzzling reluctance to take the case may echo Adams' own feelings about the novel), Gently's capricious trip to America in response to an unknown client's total lack of instructions, the tragic death of a rhino as perceived by the rhino... Many teasing questions; we'll never know the answers.

Overall it's a must-have for devoted Adams fans and completists, a likely disappointment (though with pleasant exceptions) for new readers.

After some prompting I've offered this one up as an international ring.

Order of Participants (subject to change)

thebatpeople US
Merinda US INT
BelleMorte US INT <~~ Here
eris-in-oz Australia INT
eatsletters Germany EU
Normy UK
catrionamoore UK

Released on Tuesday, January 04, 2005 at about 4:00:00 AM BX time (GMT-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada) at BookRing in Book Ring, A Bookring Controlled Releases.

RELEASE NOTES:

Sent to first participant, thebatpeople.

As I was leaving for work today, I checked my mailbox & found a package from the UK. Got to work, opened it up & found this book inside. On my break I read the editor's note & prologue. Can't wait to get to the meat of the reading. I really liked the dragon bookcrossing label also.

thanks

I was only going to read the Dirk Gently part of the book. I am not much of a celebrity stalker. I usually don't know anything about the people that write the books I read. I actually use to live not far from where Piers Anthony lived and never had the urge to drive by his house. Anyway, I didn't think his nonfiction writing would interest me. I read one article. Then another. Till I had read them all. His writing style was the same in his nonfiction. For example: the whole Manta Ray Bay fiasco in Australia was so Dirk Gently. I am a little POed at life, the universe & everything for snatching him before he could finish the Salmon of Doubt and he mentioned another Hitchhiker installment. Turns out that if I had only read the fictional parts I would have been done in a week. Sorry I took so long and thanks for all the fish. I will put it in the mail today or tomorrow.

A wondrous final hug from the late, great Douglas Adams.

Sent off to BelleMorte a few days ago...

got it today! i have one book ahead of it and next week is finals but will start as soon as i can

+kil+

wow. i hadn't realized that DNA had written for so many papers. Very interesting stuff. Also, I hadn't realized he was a "radical" atheist! I knew there was a reason i loved him. This was a great chance for fans of his to learn more about him than his quirky humor. I still can't believe that he died. For me, that day is one of those always-remember-where-you-were-and-what-you-were-doing days. I remember going onto the mesg boards at his site and seeing all the mesgs about how he was a "cool frood that always knew where his towel was". ^_^ He is a genius that will be forever missed.

Thanks so much for setting this ring up! Will have it on its way asap

+kil+

RELEASE NOTES:

moving it along!

+kil+

Did this book ever arrive at its destination? As we all know a hop from the US to Oz can be a harrowing trip and since the Lost Book Island is on the way it is suspected that this book just wanted to see the sights and take a little vacation on the island.

The Lost Book Island Resort does in fact welcome this book that seems to have lost its way and will give it a nice place to stay until it can be found once more. It is hoped that one day very soon this book will get a new journal entry to tell everyone where it has ended up and if it will be more successful at completing its bookring journey in the future.