The lost book

[Frax]

Sometime in the 1960s I read a sci-fi book that has stayed with me but I can't recall title or author. Basic premise: Young genius in search of his father builds a ship for the hunt. Father was a space pirate who raided Earth and left. Government sends agent to watch the genius. They visit many worlds--on one they meet bird-like beings whose pleasure is sexual betrayal, on another they are tortured and genius shows agent how to leave his body. They find the pirate but he is no genius, so they search for a mind as great as the yourh. They discover one long dead who leaves behind a complex puzzle that can kill or drive one mad unless solved. The youth struggles long. Friend think he has been driven mad when he starts laughing uncontrollably. But he has solved the puzzle, the answer to the universe: the answer is that there is no answer.

Does anyone know tjis book?

 

[Alex The G and T]

For A minute this was sounding like Venus on the Half Shell by Kilgore Trout; but then you lost me.

Still sounds familiar.

Don't despair. Someone who is better than me at this will be along shortly.

 

[Hugh]

For A minute this was sounding like Venus on the Half Shell by Kilgore Trout; but then you lost me.

I went through exactly the same thought process.

Sounds interesting... I hope someone can identify....

 

[hitmouse]

I went through exactly the same thought process.

Sounds interesting... I hope someone can identify....

Me too. Second thought was Sirens of Titan, but that isnt it either. Sounds like something Robert Sheckley might have written, but nothing that I have read. Interested to find out what this is.