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Type of bind: Audio CD
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN num: 9781597770064
Format: Unabridged
ISBN number: 159777006X
Label: Phoenix Audio
Manufacturer: Phoenix Audio
Quantity: 7
Printing Date: January 01, 2006
Publishing house: Phoenix Audio
Sale Popularity Level: 586267
Studio: Phoenix Audio
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
Rescued from the Macintosh of the late Douglas Adams, 'The Salmon of Doubt' gives listeners the opportunity to linger and frolic one last time with the uniquely entertaining and richly informed mind of the author. Unabridged. 2 cds.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
-
The insight this book provides into the workings of the mind of Douglas Adams is at once deeply profound, moving, hilarious and utterly charming.
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.
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.
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.
Rated by buyers 
-
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.
The good:
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.
The bad:
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).
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.
Rated by buyers -
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.
The good:
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.
The bad:
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).
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).
Rated by buyers 
-
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!
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.
Rated by buyers -
He left us much, much too soon, but he seems also to have left a lot of wonderful material on his beloved Apple hard drive. This collection, brilliantly read by Simon Jones, and introduced by Christopher Cerf, Stephen Fry and others, reaches broadly to give us Adams' commentary on the real world and imagination of the world he made for all of us. To my taste, his essays on science and the environment are the most delightful, but the one on the Beatles is pretty wonderful too!
The eulogies that begin the series are melancholy, because they remind us that Douglas Adams is gone, but they also show facets that those of us who knew his writings but never had the pleasure of meeting the man might have guessed were there, but for which we now have evidence.
Thank goodness we have one more chance to hop a Vorlon space freighter with him.
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