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This will, for the moment, be the last of my If Dr. Gonzo Had Been A Blogger posts.

One of my nonblogging friends emailed to say he's enjoyed reading excerpts from The Good Doctor's letters so much that he'd like to read the book. Not enough, apparently, to want to buy it.

I don't lend books. I value libraries and promote their use. I've had so many Thompson books go from my hands to those of friends, never to be seen again, that I no longer expect to get them back.

It's always funny to me when I visit a friend, see one of my (former) books on their shelf and "borrow" it back. Speaking of which, I think I'm going to be keeping an eye out for Kingdom Of Fear. That's one I've bought a few times that I don't have in my collection.

Photograph by Kilroy_60

Enough of that. Here are 10 of my favorite excerpts from letters of Hunter S. Thompson drawn from Fear And Loathing In America - The Brutal Odyssey Of An Outlaw Journalist...

"The language of physics and the language of law have always fascinated me; they are not the same, because the ends and antecedents are different, but there is a sameness in the precision and the efficiency, although the language of law can be just as precise and efficient when used to create problems, or obscure them, or even to alter the nature of problems and create the appearance of a solution...But there is no room for an adversary relationship in physics, because that in itself is a problem and a barrier."
- Hunter S. Thompson {page 705}

"Maybe tilting at windmills really is the best & most honorable way to go, these days. I get a definite kick out of it, myself --- but I have a feeling that my time is getting a bit short, and I'm getting unnaturally curious about how much reality we're really dealing with."
- Hunter S. Thompson {pages 585-586}

"Sometime soon, by the way, I plan to force a readjustment in my long-time status (or role) --- from RH's House Freak & Subsidized Looney to the role of an actual, profit-churning Writer. It's been fun all around --- no argument about that --- but I get the feeling it's about time we tried to establish a serious relationship. (Which is not to say that I plan to start taking myself seriously; all I'm talking about here is my work, as it were....)"
- Hunter S. Thompson {page 522}

"Having given up the notion that even a 'famous' writer can make a decent living by means of journalism, I tend to view it now as a kind of morbid self-indulgence that --- with a lot of luck and constant skilled management --- should more or less pay for itself." - Hunter S. Thompson {page 678}

"As a writer, I don't see where I have any obligation to deal with the saleable-idea market. That's what editors are for...and besides that, I've never had a good article idea in my life. Journalism, to me, is just another drug --- a free ride to scenes I'd probably miss if I stayed straight. But I'm neither a chemist nor an editor; all I do is take the pill or the assignment and see what happens. Now and then I get a bad trip, but experience has made me more careful about what I buy...so if you have a good pill I'm open; I'll try almost anything that hasn't bitten me in the past." - Hunter S. Thompson {page 145}

"It's making me crazy. I shall, of course, prevail. But it's wearing me down. I dig the battles, but I don't have much stomach for The War. The shitheads keep on breeding, multiplying. You croak one & two more slither out to replace it --- like getting rid of Johnson and gaining Nixon/Agnew. Jesus, what's next? Where will it end? I think maybe Kesey is right." - Hunter S. Thompson {page 339}

"I've been arguing for the past few years that music is the New Literature, that Dylan is the 1960's answer to Hemingway, adn taht the main voice of the 70's will be on records & videotape instead of books." - Hunter S. Thompson {page 343}

"Hopefully I can get on a schedule of working six days a week and totally amok on mescaline every Sunday. For the past month or so that's been my act: Loading up on Sat. nite, locking the doors, building a huge fire & turning up the amplifier --- wiring headphones to the bed with strange lamps burning and humping myself to a frazzle. Try mescaline --- I recommend it highly. Or have I already said that?" - Hunter S. Thompson {page 274}

"Right now I have to get back to my project; I've developed a process for deriving a powerful hallucinogen from potatoes. The patent is pending, so I can't discuss it until at least next year. Selah."
- Hunter S. Thompson {page 240}

"Indeed, and so much for all that --- except to stress that I have lived so much longer than I or anyone else expected me to, that I made no plans or provisions for this kind of awkward longevity and the realities that keep coming with it."
- Hunter S. Thompson {page 726}