Rating: 
Summary: Praise for How I Got to Be This Hip
Review: The author of this book, Barry Farrell, died in 1984. My name is Steve Hawk, and I am the editor. I'm adding my comments here to make sure amazon.com readers are aware of the complimentary blurbs (from such writers as Norman Mailer, Calvin Trillin and John McPhee) that adorn this book. Farrell was one of the most respected journalists of his day, and the comments from his peers attest to that. Here's what they say:Calvin Trillin: "Barry Farrell and I become friends when we were both 'floaters' at Time magazine -- two utility infielders who filled in for writers who were on vacation or sick or shrewd enough to have got themselves detached to some special assignment. Even then, when Barry was writing Sports one week and Show Business the next, we were awestruck by his graceful prose and dazzling insights. My admiration only incrased in the ensuing years. He was, among other things, a charming man, and, as is so rarely the case, the charm came out on paper." Norman Mailer: "The magazine piece for a short occasion presents the writer with an onerous demand: It is almost impossible to be yourself. Barry Farrell, however, could always offer a reflection of his special qualities -- at once elegant, ironic, and never without feeling for his own moral values." Johne McPhee: "I used to look upon the term 'natural writer' as romantic, conceptual nonsense. Then I came to know Barry Farrell, nearly thirty years ago, and before long concluded that there was in the world at least one." Josh Greenfeld: "Barry Farrell was the Hildy Johnson of the magazine page, his prose as pure and clean as his life was undistilled and raffish. To anyone who knew him he was the stuff of legends. And, as reading this collection clearly evinces, it is time for the legend to begin." Emmett Watson: "Even when he was a kid whom I worked with on a newspaper, Barry Farrell's writing filled me with excitement. He became a world-class writer-journalist, a poetic craftsman who would walk the last mile for the right word."
Rating: 
Summary: 100 stars
Review: This book should be on the +required+ reading list of every reader-- I'm sorry Amazon tops out at 5 stars-- the book is worth far more.
Rating:
Summary: Farrell's unique perception illuminates his subjects
Review: Who is Barry Farrell? The first thing I noticed about this book was Steve Hawk's name (bro of famous skateboarder Tony Hawk) but I'm glad something caught my attention because this book hit me like a sucker punch. Reading it was like tripping over hidden treasure in my backyard; the deeper I dug the richer I became. Farrell comes at his subjects like a crab-sideways, with a bent perspective I'd never contort myself into seeing on my own. You learn that looking at things straight on doesn't always provide the most illuminating viewpoint. Few writers make me envious but I felt that emotion tugging hard after seeing how deep he dived into the scum of life (Hillside Strangler, Charles Manson, plagiarizing pimps) while still retaining his ability to appreciate the beauty of children composing poetry and kite flying. He seems almost schizophrenically talented. Plus, all his subjects are treated to the same dogged research and unique perspective. He doesn't halfass anything in this collection. But that's not the best part of his writing; his dry-often sardonic-humor rumbles underneath every sentence, but never gets in the way. He could write about a telephone book and I'd read it. Are there plans for another collection?
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