I've been reading with enormous delight this collection of articles by Barry Farrell. It's a posthumous collection by a brilliant writer who died in 1984. What an unexpected thrill it was to discover this book's existence. It helps bring back to life an unfortunately neglected writer. I knew him briefly (too briefly) -- a fine guy. Barry Farrell's bracing journalistic style and humanity take the reader back to a better time in journalism when writers cared deeply about their subject matter.

Certainly I'm not an objective reviewer. I attended Barry Farrell's classes at UC Santa Barbara in the 1970s -- and was, I believe, rather a disappointment to him -- but he nonetheless became one of my most important role models as a writer. What I've long regretted, however, was not having more of his writing on my bookshelf. Barry mostly published in magazines, and so it's been hard even for those of us who are devoted to his work to find and collect any significant fraction of his lifetime output. I own and cherish a few aging magazines featuring his writing, but these bits and pieces barely scratch the surface of his 30 fruitful years of shoe-leather journalism. This book, then, is a wonderful and long-overdue development. I had read perhaps a third of these pieces, and was delighted to discover them anew. The other two-thirds of the book was an absolute delight, each page a treasure of flowing language and unerring eye for detail. Of course, it also brought back to my ear Barry's voice, and images of him I'll always carry with me: coffe at the outdoor cafe in front of the library at UC Santa Barbara after class, or the time he cajoled Joan Dideon and John Gregory Dunne into visiting our small class of 12 or 15 students in the English Department's spartan conference room. So, take it from a blatantly partisan -- but completely sincere -- reviewer: buy this book! For heaven's sake, if you love great non-fiction writing -- if you are devoted to writers like Joan Dideon, John McPhee, the non-fiction of Wallance Stegner, and other master wordsmiths of our age -- you will not be disappointed.

Barry Farrell is a name I didn't know before two weeks ago. Barrey Farrell is now a name I won't forget. As a young journalist, I think this book is an essential read for anyone considering a career in the field. But anyone interested in reading great stories that take a smart, comprehensive view of a subject will find just that in this little green book. Farrell is an angel of a writer. But what I admire more is his hard-nosed reporting. After reading some of these stories, for instance "Stalking the Hillside Strangler," it awed me knowing how much footwork had to go into such exquisite work. This book is a clinic on how to report and write, and I will turn to it often for inspiration.