this book is an outerlandish(outer space) type of bizarre nuclear book... it has what few books lack visual impact, and adventure..and keeps exploding with action (unlike few books that stick to one place for a million hours..and emotions, it jumps countlessly with entertainment and never fails at that.

Out of the three books in Burroghs' "cut-up" trilogy (the soft machine, the ticket that exploded, and nova express) this i feel is the best and most creative. Included in this book are Ginsyn's tape recorder experiments which produce a psychological analogy for the way our brains opperate as well as an interesting pass-time for anyone who finds the concept of words being a virus of the mind of any interest.

This book is the final word in cut-ups and Burroughs' tape experiments of the early 1960's. This is Burroughs' most beautifully written text, if somewhat overrepetitive at times. Moreso than in "Naked Lunch" or in "Nova Express," Burroughs fleshes out his ideas about language "being a virus from outer space," and looks forward to his essay, "The Electronic Revolution." This is a tough and uncompromising book, filled with beautiful nonsequitors, funny anecdotal tales, and plenty homoerotic sexual fantasies and realitease.

I read this book and found nothing in it that Burroughs didn't already write in previous novels. The only difference is that this one advocates a charity cause: the lemur. Burroughs really has written better. If you're a hard core Burroughs fan, go ahead and get it, but otherwise, there is plenty of other (much better) Burroughs to choose from.

There is nothing more exhilirating than discovering an author who disgusts the established academic community and thrills them at the same time. Not to mention the rest of us. Granted, this is one of Burroughs' minor efforts, but that may only be said due to its length. I found the 50-odd page a book to be read in one hour, or ten years, depending on what you were looking for. With his usual genius, Burroughs lets you get out of his prose EXACTLY what you are willing to put into it. Read this one slow... it pays.

This book is excellent. It explores the nature of mankind and how it will one day wipe itsself out along with all of its fellow species. Definitly a recommended read

The one book by William S. Burroughs you should buy. The unique genius that William truly was-yes, indulgent, odd and unsettling at 80, but how great it would have been to have known him young and probably pretty in 1950-is best understood with the direction of J. Grauerholz, although a bourgeois beatnik, for sure, who did love him and is the world expert on him. Ira Silverberg is a true young publishing genius, the new Ferlinghetti, and most responsible for the book. My earlier review I withdraw. Although true, it did not reflect the genius and truth of William-and Jack, Allen, Anne, Philip, Lawrence, Gregory, Gary, even Neal and Huncke, et al. View their literature with a full and clear understanding of their weaknesses and that we, the readers, are almost certain to have less ability to 'drive-on' pass the drugs, sex, parties, confusion-to produce as they could or can. At least be warned. A lot of souls have been lost on the beat road.

Every book that anyone owns will, upon reflection, remind them of the period of their life in which they read the book. Sort of like music.

If I look at my bookcase, I can run my eyes over the spines of a hundred or so spines, and by extension, a hundred or so feelings given to me from those books.

'Word Virus' is by no means an exception to this rule. If anything, it proves it. Simply due to its extensiveness, and the complexity (or stupidity depending on how you look at it) of Burroughs' writing, it took me a few months to hack through in my final year of high school. Even now, the glaring red spine amongst my other books manages to evoke my feelings of that time even now.

But by god it's worth it. There is nothing more frightening than Burroughs' prose. Everything he writes cannot be understood intellectually, but rather emotionally. You read his words, trying to make head or tail of what is printed in front of you, but that's not the point. You just have to let his ideas, his experiments simply wash over you and you'll understand them in due course.

A true shining light in literature.

Belive the myth.

A very exspansive and definitive collection for the Burroughs enthusist. This does not have it all, but it does offer a generous portion of this man's work. Including the forementioned, in the other reviews, colaboration with Jack Kerouac. Grauerholz really put togther this labor of love. I'd recomend it for first timers as well as old time collectors. Inbetween each chapter biographical information pertinent to that era is included. Also features a cd spoken word sampler, that pulls material from the Giornio boxed set. I'd also recomend that hefty delight.

i am a huge fan of the beats, but i was dissapointed in burroughs' collection of essays. most were dull, some confusing, and none of them really stayed on topic, which would be fine, except the topic was more interesting than the side trips he took. the kerouac essay is essential for anyone who is or likes the beats. it alone makes the book worth the price. and it's good to read after you've read the better beat texts.

This is what Burroughs was trying to say in the first place. Whereas his novels, Burroughs extends a helping hand into the world of Interzone, and leads the reader on a new-age, pornographic, strung-out mental trip. In The Adding Machine, Burroughs cuts to the chase, and is brutally honest about politics, junk, sex, and his friend Jack Kerouac. But, with all this plain language, something is lost from excluding the use of his trademark style of prose. This is not essential Burroughs, but worth checking out.

The Adding Machine by William Burroughs is a collection of essays on a variety of subjects. Ranging from autobiographical descriptions and stories to his own views on art, literature, writing and reading. Some of them are downright essential (like his tips on how to write "creatively") while others are mildly boring (like the piece on cut-ups which nowadays seems fairly dated). Overall I'd recommend this book to anyone who is fairly familiar with Burroughs' work and would like to know what's behind his genius and the roots of his universe. For people who have never read Burroughs this book might leave curious to his other work, but, in general, is not the best place to start.

This installment to the W.S. Burroughs library is a good one. It's full of interesting anecdotes, general thoughts, bits of conversations, and the classic Burroughs cut-up style prose. This book contains not only these things, but some original pages out of Burroughs' personal cut-up notebooks. These pages contain pictures from his travels abroad, newspaper clippings, and referrences to characters in his novels. This is a nice compilation of short works from foreign press publications, but it merely lacks one element, and that is "purpose". Burroughs did not write this book as he did his others to prove a point, or to introduce a new thought into the mainstream of our collective psyche. In fact, this book was produced as sort of a "Greatest Hits" compilation. Otherwise, this is a great read for both the fan of beat literature, and the intellectual interested in broadening his/her horizons.

This is a collection of short Burroughs pieces from various "little mags...Burroughs' principal literary output between 1962 and 1969 appeared in these obscure places, and most of the pieces collected in The Burroughs File date from that period".  The writing drifts from being utterly petrifying to...what the hell is this?  "VERTIGO OF DEAD LANGUAGES THE PULLEY AND THE COMPASS LAGOONS OF MURDEROUS SLEEP-(THEY SHARED THE salmon)-HEAVY STICKY NIGHTS INKY CLOUDS HAUNTING SHADOWS COMPASS DRIPPING GEOMETRY". If you're up for it it can blow your mind, but if you've never read Burroughs before LEAVE THE BUILDING NOW!  And even if you have, make sure one of those books is one of the cut-up trilogy--I'd recommend Nova Express. 

This book also contains photocopies of pages from his scrapbooks, and a couple essays on Burroughs.

A documentary anthology focusing almost exclusively on writings by and about people using drugs before the 1960s -- before, as one of its editors states, "the modern era of drug use and drug hysteria." The sources collected within are excerpted from some of the more usual suspects, like Jean Cocteau, Aldous Huxley, Albert Hofmann, and Baudelaire, but there are also a few surprises (for example, Mark Twain and Sigmund Freud). The reader will come away with a newfound understanding of how unoriginal much of our present dialogue over similar issues actually is.

A compilation of selections for those interested in drug use by historical figures. Features Anais Nin dropping acid, Sigmund Freud on cocaine, Mark Twain nearly becoming a coca trader, as well as the usual suspects (Hofmann, Baudelaire, Huxley, Ludlow) and others.

Published over twenty years ago, Naked Angels still holds up as a thorough critical study of the works of Ginsberg, Burroughs, and Kerouac. The first section deals mainly in biography, but it seeks to explain why each of the writers explored certain topics and how their experiences shaped their styles. However, if you have studied these three in a biographical sense, the information presented here will not be new to you.

The second section covers the works of the three writers. While there is certainly a wealth of sources that give critical insights into Beat writing, this section brings them together into an often detailed, more often general study of Beat themes, styles, and voices. The Ginsberg section is particularly detailed in its analysis of Ginsberg's long lines and mysticism. Though Kerouac and Burroughs receive their share of treatment, the Burroughs section lacks the further illumination provided by Burroughs over the last twenty years of his life. And the Kerouac section hits only the high points, simply because it would be too difficult to cover every aspect of this prolific writer's work in a mere 70 pages.

This book is a solid overview of the core Beats and their seminal works. Its age shows at times, but it's worth a read as a well-written and well-thought treatment of Beat literature.

Tytell gives an excellent insight into the founding members of the Beat movement. He shows the backgrounds and the motivations of one of the most innovative literary movements in the 20th century. I would strongly recomend this for anyone , especially if they are just starting to explore this group of writers.

A comparatively obscure work that came after Exterminator! and before Cities Of The Red Night. Very poetic and beautiful to read, continuing the ideas and characters of The Wild Boys from a different viewpoint: revolution through magic, body transference, lust and violence, and in this case sentimental reminiscence of an idealised boyhood. Although not as explosive as some of his more lauded works, this is nonetheless a treasure that has haunted me like a lost love.

This book is often passed over and has little that can't be experienced in other must-reads by Burroughs like the two early narratives, Naked Lunch, and the cut-up trilogy. But what it does contain is possibly "real" autobiographical insight into Burroughs' childhood. It was written at an important phase in Burroughs' life--just as he was preparing to return to the US of A from his self-inflicted exile in Tunisia. What is surprising about this book is that it is his only work primarily situated in childhood episodes. Are these his own early experiences with sexuality? Difficult to decipher. Also shocking (to a Burroughs' reader) is his attempt to direct his cut-up random method into a more apprehendable narrative. Also, it largely occurs in St. Louis and his early boyhood homes in America... with periodic flights to an "interzone." This review is for a reader of Burroughs, and as I have said there isn't much new here nor is it his best writing, but each of the facets I mentioned about should compel an avid fan to read this strangely personal and insightful look into a man in transition and upheavel who normally and so easily eludes interpretation and any sense of emotion. Try it.

Miles' biography is intended for the general reader. There is good background on Burroughs' childhood, a good bit of biographical detail throughout, and the book doesn't delve into the written works all too deeply. Being one of three general biographies written about Burroughs, it bears comparing to the books by Ted Morgan and Graham Caveney. Miles' book is not as scholarly or exhaustive as Morgan's book, Literary Outlaw, but is both more scholarly and more exhaustive than Caveney's, Gentleman Junkie. It was written after Literary Outlaw, so there is more information on the Kansas years here, including a chapter entitled "Shotgun Art".

This is a biography intended for a general readership. Miles' familiarity with his subject may make this of interest even to the Burroughs beginner. There is a bibliography of works written by Burroughs (but none about him), and an index.

Miles seems to be Burroughs' biggest fan. This is not a critical appraisal of Burroughs OR his works. At times the writing is very bad. Still, Miles had the advantage of a fascinating subject.

If you haven't read a book about Burroughs before, read Literary Outlaw, by Ted Morgan, and pass this one up.

ken32

This was the first biography of Burroughs I read; I also have the Ted Morgan biography, but I don't think a direct qualitative comparison is possible. While Morgan goes into enormous biographical detail, Miles puts Burroughs' work in central position, and his analyses are really perceptive and thorough, with demonstrative use of passages from the text as well as references to relevant events in Burroughs' life. It is, as other reviewers have said, really the best existing introduction to Burroughs' work - I don't know if I could have made it through the cut-up trilogy without the preparation of reading this book first.

I should also point out that some biographical details are here which are not in Morgan, e.g. the use of real names where Morgan substituted pseudonyms.

A great piece to have, I recommend it to anyone interested in Brion Gysin, as well as for any serious reader of W.S. Burroughs. The conversations are comprehensive, Terry Wilson is obviously not just some rube who happened to speak with Gysin. It covers philosophy, art, life, music, permutations, cut-ups, religion, nearly everything across the board, with some excellent stories by Mr. Gysin appearing throughout. It's a shame that so little information about this man is readily available. Undoubtedly one of the most important artists/people of the 20th century. Now all we need is for The Third Mind to be reissued, along with everything else. (Anyone heard of a guy named "Flash Allen"? Supposedly there is a film called "Brion Gysin" made by him, but there seems to be no information about this anywhere.)

a.n.

(the book also has hard to find excerpts by Mr. Gysin and Mr. Burroughs from no longer extant writings as well as photographs)
(I gave it 4 stars because some of the calligraphy is noticeably pixelated, which gave it an amateurish kind of look, though the photographs do not have the same problem)