The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time

Unabridged
Author: Douglas Adams
Narrator: Simon Jones , Douglas Adams , Christopher Cerf
Genres: Science Fiction & Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction, Comedy, Other Series
Publisher: New Millennium Audio
Date: January 2009
Length: 8 hours
Ratings:
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  • CD

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Overview

There has never been another writer quite like Douglas Adams; witty, funny and brilliantly eloquent on a gargantuan number of topics. The Salmon of Doubt brims with the Adams trademarks: thought-provoking, silly and insanely original writings in an all-new ever-before-published collection. For the millions of readers who expressed their grief and shock at his untimely death, this is it: his final book and our last chance to see new work from an acknowledged comic genius of our time.

This work includes the title novella, essays on subjects near and dear to his heart, including perception, computers, and Bach's Brandenburg concertos; laugh-out-loud short pieces, and transcripts of Hitchhikers Guide to the future radio scripts. One last glimpse of Douglas Adams before we go.

Selected Reviews

Perhaps some unfinished work should stay on a laptop, undiscovered...

by Jeff C.
  • Book Rating: 3/5

glimpse into the man

by Anonymous
  • Book Rating: 5/5

More...

Read All 5

Reviews (5)

Perhaps some unfinished work should stay on a laptop, undiscovered...

Written by Jeff C. from Barrie, ON on June 19th, 2008

  • Book Rating: 3/5

I loved his other works and I have been a fan a long time. It was encouraging to hear that not only was he tall, and big, and generally everything you wanted him to be, but also to hear how he struggled with procrastination was a pleasant surprise. To find he was Apple's big apologist and a science nerd, an atheist, etc., these were all delightful insights. It is only a shame that his unfinished work had to be disturbed and shared with us before its time.

glimpse into the man

Written by Anonymous on February 7th, 2005

  • Book Rating: 5/5

This wasn't as good as the HHG series, but I did enjoy the story behind the stories and their author.

Tragic that this is the last time

Written by Anonymous on January 17th, 2005

  • Book Rating: 5/5

I have heard people talk about how tragic a loss the untimely death of Douglas Adams was - and now I understand how right they were. These snippets, salvaged posthumously from his hard drive, shine a light on a man whose wit, warmth and perspective are sorely needed in our world. In addition, the reading by Simon Jones is brilliant. Whilst he can't do an American accent to save his life, his reading is so personal and lively, that I would happily pay to listen to him read the London phone directory.

The Salmon of Doubt

Written by Anonymous on December 16th, 2004

  • Book Rating: 5/5

Utterly brilliant, a rare last glimpse into the genius that was Douglas Adams. May be disturbing to religious types as Adams speaks extensively about evolution and rational explanations to phenomena attributed to god. However, it is a deeply thought provoking and intellectually stimulating experience for logically minded people while being humorous and entertaining at the same time.

Would that Douglas had read this himself!

Written by Graham Gibby on October 17th, 2004

  • Book Rating: 5/5

This production follows the style of the Hitchhiker's trilogy, allowing each author (except the dearly missed Mr. Adams) to read his own words. The performances vary in quality, but they are writers, not readers. The reminiscences glow to almost blind at times, and contain substantial chunks that are repeated later in the book, making for some ‘been here, heard this’ nodding as you listen, even reaching for the fast-forward. But you shouldn’t and probably won’t skip over because Adams’ stuff is pretty much always funny, even on the third or fourth hearing. And it is his words that this is all about anyway. Simon Jones reads what Mr. Adams should have, and he does an admirable job, especially as Mr. Adams’ reading of his own work is so well known and loved. The articles, random bits, speeches and fragment of the ‘next’ Douglas Adams book remind us how genius has a way of sharing the truth through laughter and wonder. One notable exception to my praise for Mr. Jones’ work is his rendering of “Young Zaphod Plays it Safe,” and the performance of Zaphod Beeblebrox’s voice, which is radically different from Mr. Adams’ version of the same character. The production is fairly even and has only a few rapid volume changes. As there is only one track per disk, be careful how you FF, as you might not get to where you think you’re going. Also, woe betide the listener who removes the disk in mid-listen. Better make a note of the time before you eject. New Millennium Audio shows no desire to make stop-start listening or selective sharing easy for the listener. This is particularly frustrating as so many gems shine in the shorter pieces and seeming random jottings we are so lucky to hear.

Selected Reviews

Perhaps some unfinished work should stay on a laptop, undiscovered...

by Jeff C.
  • Book Rating: 3/5

glimpse into the man

by Anonymous
  • Book Rating: 5/5

More...

Read All 5

Author Details

Author Details

Adams, Douglas

Douglas Adams was born in Cambridge in March 1952, educated at Brentwood School, Essex and St John's College, Cambridge where, in 1974 he gained a BA (and later an MA) in English literature.

He was creator of all the various manifestations of The Hitchhiker�s Guide to the Galaxywhich started life as a BBC Radio 4 series. Since its first airing in March 1978 it has been transformed into a series of best-selling novels, a TV series, a record album, a computer game and several stage adaptations.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy's phenomenal success sent the book straight to Number One in the UK Bestseller List and in 1984 Douglas Adams became the youngest author to be awarded a Golden Pan. He won a further two (a rare feat), and was nominated - though not selected - for the first Best of Young British Novelists awards.

He followed this success with The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (1980); Life, The Universe and Everything (1982); So Long and Thanks for all the Fish (1984); and Mostly Harmless (1992). The first two books in the Hitchhiker series were adapted into a 6 part television series, which was an immediate success when first aired in 1982. Other publications include Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (1987) and Long Dark Tea-time of the Soul (1988). In 1984 Douglas teamed up with John Lloyd and wrote The Meaning of Liff and after a huge success The Deeper Meaning of Liff followed this in 1990). One of Douglas�s all-time personal favourites was written in 1990 when he teamed up with zoologist Mark Carwardine and wrote Last Chance to See � an account of a world-wide search for rare and endangered species of animals.

He sold over 15 million books in the UK, the US and Australia and was also a best seller in German, Swedish and many other languages.

Douglas was a founding director of h2g2, formerly The Digital Village, a digital media and Internet company with which he created the 1998 CD-ROM Starship Titanic, a Codie Award-winning (1999) and BAFTA-nominated (1998) adventure game.

Douglas died unexpectedly in May 2001 of a sudden heart attack. He was 49. He had been living in Santa Barbara, California with his wife and daughter, and at the time of his death he was working on the screenplay for a feature film version of Hitchhiker.