Reviews for How to Live on an Island

The average rating for How to Live on an Island based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-07-27 00:00:00 Vicki Miccoli This is such dope shit. Read it after a bunch of this San Fran longshoreman intellectual's aphorisms mostly re mass social movements were in Harper's. Can't find my copy (might have given it to my mama?) or else I'd've typed some of it as an exercise in compression and clarity. Mostly aphorisms, epigrams, and brief paragraphs, like this (from "The True Believer"): "Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for the lost faith in ourselves." That's just one I opened the book on . . . Really worthwhile bathroom reading.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-11-27 00:00:00 John Johnson I read this in college the first time and would have given it five stars back then. Now I no longer feel that way. I finished with four stars just to be kind to my memory of those days. The most interesting part of my copy was the notes my friend made to me about my comments and underlining after I lent it to him way back in my college days. Here are some samples: "Why the hell are you underlining every damn line? You're driving me crazy!" "What the hell is wrong with the rest of this page?"--He wrote that about a mostly blank page. "Suck!"--He wrote that about a quote he apparently did not like. "I regret my ignorance but would you kindly take this further?"--Spoken to the author about a confusing quote. "No sense! He is caught up with words! He should take this further. Nothing more irritating than to read someone who is being difficult just for the sake of being difficult." "What the hell are you talking about?"--Spoken to me about a written comment I made. Frankly, I have no idea what the hell I was talking about. "No, in both cases! They are the same!" "Not good enough! Take it further. Be more specific." "How about a few commas!" "Makes no sense at all! Ridiculous assumption!" "Hence? What the hell do you mean hence? Who says your first statement is true?"