Rating: 
Summary: Not the greatest book I have ever read, but still enjoyable.
Review: Although this wasn't the greatest of science fiction books every written I am glad to have it as a part of my library considering I am trying to collect all kurt vonnegut books that are (or were) available. This is, for the most part, how I'd expect a Kilgore Trout book to be written. Don't expect much from it and you'll enjoy it.
Rating: 
Summary: Trout deserves a Hugo
Review: An excellent book by a much ignored writer. Where's THE SON OF JIMMY VALENTINE or 2BOR2B? Hopefully they will be republished soon!
Rating:
Summary: For a good time...read this one!!!
Review: An incredibly imaginative journey through space, time, consciousness, humanity, philosophy, religion, sexuality, debauchery, life, death, sports, the bizarre, the mundane, the tasteful and the tasteless (mostly the tasteless)...it's been awhile since I've read this book...I hope I didn't leave anything out!!! I've probably read it ten times...and I'll probably read it ten more!!!
Rating:
Summary: The Greatest Book Ever Written
Review: As the title suggests, "It Is The Greatest Book Ever Written!"Maybe not for Baptists but for anyone with an open mind it is, at the same time, farcical, hysterical, insightful and existential. I humbly suggest you buy da damn book now! It went outta print in the '80's or so and I treasured my 3 or 4 tattered, page worn, funky old paperbacks. Even went so far as to scan the pig in to my hard drive. Desparate men resort to desparate measures. All seriousness aside (Simon Wagstaff might, maybe have trouble with that), the book is fabulous! You like to laugh? Read it. You like absurdity? Read it. You like to ponder 'important' stuff like existence? Read it. And come away laughing like hell. Seriously, Baptists will not like this book!
Rating:
Summary: It's The Greatest Book Ever Written!
Review: Been through this beauty at least a dozen times and, after each read, walk around for about 6 months saying, "It IS The Greatest Book Ever Written!" A more relevant scathing satire on the human condition has not been written although Candide's Voltaire and Barth's immortal The Sot-Weed Factor are pretty damn close. Can't begin to remember how many buck-twenty-five copies were passed on to other Zen Lunatics during its years in print. Among the prized treasures in my "Gonzo Journalism Hall of Fame" Library are a coupla well worn, tattered and torn copies. One even was gently photocopied and scanned in during The Big Scare! (the book went out of print!) so's this masterpiece would most assuredly be passed on to the next generation. Readers reviews are pretty typical of my personal experiences. Most people just sorta thought "It was stupid" but, alas, most people really don't wish to know the truth. Given the definition: ex·is·ten·tial·ism (µg"z¹-stµn"sh...-l¹z"...m, µk"s¹-) n. Philosophy. A philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human existence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one's acts. --ex"is·ten"tial·ist adj. & n. it is pretty obvious why most would NOT walk around shouting, "It IS The Greatest Book ever written!" Few in that group are differentiable from The Tire People. Not that that makes them bad tires, it just makes them tires! The Bottom Line Is: those folks blessed to have no preconception of just a where we're headin' to (in this existence or the next) usually are the ones who absolutely roar at TGBEW. However, if you put them dreams of sugar plums outta your head and just accept, even for a moment, that nobody really knows what lies in the land beyond, you just might find that indeed it is a hysterically funny and thought provoking book. "No Hwang Ho and none of them questions for me, thank you very much!" And it's just fine with me that Kilgore wasn't no "high-browed existentialist". Those types gave existentialists a bad name. Besides, did anybody ever see Jean-Paul Sartre laugh? The boy was far, far too serious. In fact, he sorta reminds me of The Space Wanderer hisself. That's ok though, Simon was just the vehicle. The points were hysterical. Does "The Prison Planet" ring any bells in this day and age? Elder Sister Plum and artificial intelligence? Some silly female robot actually start thinkin' and being independent only after a good knock on the noggin? Given the capabilities of males and females, doesn't SW's proposed Pyramid and Blimp solution make more sense? Did Civilization's arrogance just prior to That Fateful Day At The Sphinx remind anybody of our current status? And "How 'Bout 'Dem Tire People!" Excuse me, I gotta Go-Laugh. (Re: "God as a cockroach will forever stay with me..." in another comment, The Wisest Creature In The Universe was a bazillion year old cockroach and re-reading his lines will, undoubtedly, cause you one fit of hysterical laughter because I'm roaring remembering It. God wasn't the cockroach but they were buddies.)
Rating: 
Summary: For real Vonnegut collectors
Review: Definitely not an intelligent novel. Anyone who expects this to be a Vonnegut book will be sorely dissappointed. But I'm a huge Vonnegut fan and I thought it read just like a Kilgore Trout novel should. It was bad stylistically, it was rife with blatant sexual innuendo-- but the ideas were worthwhile, and that's exactly how Vonnegut has described Trout's books and stories. I think the real author did an excellent job of replicating the style of a fictional bad writer. If you're into Vonnegut, this is a must-have to complete your collection.
Rating:
Summary: For real Vonnegut collectors
Review: Definitely not an intelligent novel. Anyone who expects this to be a Vonnegut book will be sorely dissappointed. But I'm a huge Vonnegut fan and I thought it read just like a Kilgore Trout novel should. It was bad stylistically, it was rife with blatant sexual innuendo-- but the ideas were worthwhile, and that's exactly how Vonnegut has described Trout's books and stories. I think the real author did an excellent job of replicating the style of a fictional bad writer. If you're into Vonnegut, this is a must-have to complete your collection.
Rating:
Summary: Breathtaking delightful BADNESS
Review: Exquisitely, painfully, breathtakingly bad writing is a fine and delicate art. Savour the first third of this book because even Vonnegut/Kilgore can't keep it up. The only question: "So when can it be told?"
Rating: 
Summary: A good, light and amusing read.
Review: Farmer mimicks Vonnegut's style well. This is an entertaining and humourous science-fiction story. It's a light read, easily finished in one sitting (say, a long car ride). The social satire is not so subtle, way too transparent and a bit dated. The alien civilizations visited by the hero aren't very thought-provoking and probably won't satisfy well-read science-fiction fans. Nonetheless, the story works in a crescendo towards a very funny and absorbing ending. The trashiness of the story is intentional, an attempt to write like Trout, it is titillating and amusing, sometimes overdone. It leaves a lingering feeling, a nostalgic sensation like all good books when its finished.
Rating:
Summary: Possibly the greatest SCI-Fi book of all times, sort of.
Review: Gawd, I loved this book. In my younger days, I probably read it more times (used paperbacks only) than a preacher reads the Bible. It is very much like Vonnegut describes books by Kilgore Trout -- a combination of great humor, great wisdom, and multi-level sarcasm on the human condition and our greatest institutions. It is also very silly. (See Douglas Adams "Hitchikers' Guide to the Galaxy for similar deranged sci-fi humor!)
The basic story is of the life and travels of our hero, Simon Wagstaff, the Space Wanderer. He is the last surviving human being, after the Earth gets destroyed in a second Great Flood. At the time of the flood, he is on top of the reconstituted Great Pyramids (or was it the Sphynx?) He escapes in a Chinese Space Junk, which just happens to float by. (It should be noted that the ship is shaped like a giant flying dildo, consisting of a long cylindrical body with two bulbous engine pods at the back. It flys on 69X drive, which taps into the energy of living suns in another universe, and makes a screaming sound as it gets close to its peak speed of 69 times the speed of light!)
On one of the first planets he stops on, he drinks an elixer which gives him virtual immortality. He takes on board an almost human robot -- who was designed to be the perfect woman. She loves sex in all forms, is beautiful, sensitive, giving, etc. After about a thousand years, they get tired of each other and go separate ways. He then hops from inhabited planet to inhabited planets asking the ultimate question, "Why did God create man just to suffer and die?" This question makes him somewhat unpopular. Some of the planets he visits are as follows:
-- He goes to a planet inhabited by critters which look like car tires. The leader of a pack grows white-walls.
-- He goes to a planet where the laws are so strictly followed that everyone eventually ends up in jail on life sentences.
-- He travels to a planet where he treks across the desert to meet a wise sage, who turns out to be canibal.
Eventually, he ends up on the last planet -- inhabited by the oldest creature in the universe, a billion year old giant cochroach, who personally knew the Creater of the Universe. There, we find the answers to everything. For example, all intelligent life in the universe sprang from bacteria living in Giant Cochroach poop. As to the answer to the ultimate question in the universe, you'll just have to read the book.
As some of the other reviewers note, nothing by KT should be bound. His works were published only as paperbacks or as filler in XXX girlie magazines only with suggestive titles which have nothing to do with the story!
| 
