Doubtful Fishy

  Douglas Adams' trilogy of five, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" is the last thing I had the time to reading. While the first 5 parts (and the only official ones) went by fast, as I enjoyed the unusual type of humor, I really had trouble finding the time and mood for devouring the final one. And when I finally found the time I was disappointed.

Quite thick, considering...

 
    This is the "Salmon of Doubt". It should be made clear from the start that this is not really part of the series and it was never finished. Adams was not happy with the ending he used for the 5th part, "Mostly Harmless". He had some ideas set aside, that he thought he could fit into a Hitchhiker's setting. He wrote some drafts that were sent to his editor, and they were combined after his death into... this... thing that came out.
  

    So what felt wrong about this book? Well, quite a couple of things. First of all, the novel itself is very short. It ends just when the things are starting to warm up. To make up for that, a short story is added, "Young Zaphod plays it safe", along with a plethora of interviews and various writings of Adams'. Oh, and I must mention that 13 pages are left blank at the end. That, coupled with the lack of a table of contents, in which one would have seen exactly how short the novel really is) leaves the impression of a poor product, which the publishers had to twist a bit, in order to trick the reader into buying it.
 
    And just like the paragraphs in this article, the cohesion of the various chapters in the novel is weaker than expected.

    OK, so enough with the negative issues, because there were also things I liked in this book. The articles reproduced in the book are enjoyable... well most of them. I liked the view Adams held on technology. I liked even more the view he held on the perspectives on the masses.

    The interview he had with American Atheists was also interesting, and had a nice ending.
AMERICAN ATHEISTS: "What message would you like to send to your Atheist fans?
DOUGLAS ADAMS: "Hello! How are you?"

    But the thing I liked most was a scene in the novel. But few will find it as amusing as I did.

Yes, Gusty Winds may exist

    To make the history of the series even weirder than they already were, there is also an official 6th part in the Hitchhiker's series, written by Eoin Colfer. It received some mixed reviews according to Wikipedia. Maybe I'll have the time to read that one... hopefully I won't be disappointed.