When I set out to write Happy Hour is for Amateurs, there weren’t any gimmicks to the book. No clever marketing bullshit, just exactly what the Author’s Note says:
[A] funny riff on a funny time that happens to have some important points jammed in the mix– the written version of the discussion we might have if we sat down over a bottle of Maker’s Mark and you said, ‘Tell me about the last ten years. And entertain me.’
On style and delivery, the aim was equally simple – to write the damn thing well. Better than the average book.
We must have done something right, because now it’s out in paperback. And the roll-out for the softcover here will be as simple as it was for the hardcover. To anyone who hasn’t bought the book, we’re going to put up excerpts of it over the coming week or so… Let the prose of the thing do the marketing.*
The first is “1998,” the introductory chapter. This one will be a lot longer than any other excerpt, as it’s an Amazon link, and the company decided to make the piece available in its entirety. People seem to like this chapter. Several have told me it sold them on the book. Hope you enjoy it.
And as always, to those who’ve bought the book, thank you.
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* There is one difference. These won’t be out-takes of first drafts of passages, like the “Nuggets” pieces. These will be actual slices of the book, in PDF format. Because they are actual text from the book, however, they will only remain up for a very limited period of time.
Really great read, nice to see something from the book. I am currently out of the country and book stores here refuse to order anything that I request, I will have to wait until I get back to the states to get it. The 1998 entry definitely got me more excited about it though!
PL: I never realized how hard it was to get a book into stores until this endeavor. I suggest ordering it on Amazon. (Unless you can find a Borders nearby). Barnes & Noble have been difficult, to say the least. They stock it, instead of Humor or Sociology, it gets jammed into the wasteland of “Law” books.
I’ve seen it next to Philip Howard’s great books, “The Death of Common Sense” and “Life Without Lawyers” in the Law section and can’t help shaking my head. His books belong in sociology/culture/current events. The messages in them are important and stretch so far beyond the pedestrian concerns of the legal industry. But what does B&N do? Stick ‘em in “Law.” Bury them.
At least my paperback is now in humor.
Perhaps B&N is trying to undermine the legal profession with these planted books. They figure maybe some bright-eyed young kid thinking “I’ll change the world by becoming a lawyer!” will encounter Howard’s or your books first and smarten up before they too waste a decade.
PL: One would like to accord them that much. Sadly, it’s as far from the case as possible.
The public wants redemptive lessons – the narratives reinforced. That’s what sellers believe, and there’s wisdom behind that thinking. And that’s why a non-judgmental (I make fun of law, but I don’t point a moralizing finger) voice has no easy place. As to why they stuff Howard’s books in the “Law” section, God only knows. He deserves a lot better. His points aim so perfectly at what ails us as a culture, what’s degrading us from the inside out. “The Death of Common Sense” is simply brilliant. Highly recommended.
Had to read that chapter again to remind me how good it was the first time! A chill in the air, a couple of important projects approaching done, about a year since I read it for the first time…. Sounds like time to sit back, relax, mix a drink and start reading Happy Hour again. My time is important, but this book is simply too good not to read a couple of times.
PL: I didn’t read it for a long time. But I came back to it recently and had myself laughing. And it definitely goes better with a drink.
“…You’re the biggest slob I’ve ever met.”
“Look at me. Do I look like a slob?”
“Oh no. YOU are very put together. It’s everything around you that’s a mess.”
Re-reading this again slower because I am procrastinating at work made me realize that this is an auxiliary, but functional description of a Ten Percenter. We typically LOOK like everyone else and put together, but that’s a front since we don’t bother with a lot of the minutia of life creating piles of papers and mail and books that we’re going to get to “someday.” Those “somedays” don’t feel like they ever come around. They do. We just think they’re much better spent escaping all of this shit than doing anything that resembles work or obligation.
There were other subtleties as well, like the descriptions of the freezer and garbage giving insight into the lifestyle being lived.
PL: It’s a subtle set-up. I was worried about giving away too much with the freezer line. Nice eye.
My wife’s been on me about being selfish in my attentions for years. I’ve always put immediate self-appearance above all other maintenance. Hell, I might be the only person I know who’s been a gym rat for two decades running purely out of vanity. Being in good condition’s just a nice side effect.
I recently picked up HHIFA again (over the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend) and it accompanied me through several bong sessions and glasses of Wild Turkey. It was just as enjoyable the second-and-a-half time around.
Couple days ago, after I finished it I gave my copy to a friend, a chem-eng student planning on heading to law school because he thinks it will be easier and hopefully promise greater returns. He doesn’t really see that law is a mature industry and the thing is – he actually enjoys the field he is studying (and is very smart). But he thinks law is quick and easy for some reason. Maybe easier than quantum mechanics but what is the point of “easy” if you want to blow your brains out? So hopefully HHIFA will give him a look at what he is setting himself up for.
Pl: People get stuck with assumptions. Here’s to hoping he’s more open minded than that.
As to the “quick and easy” thing, offer him this simple retort: “You get what you pay for.”