A compilation of Charles Bukowski s underground articles from his column Notes of a Dirty Old Man appears here in book form. Bukowski s reasoning for self-describing himself as a dirty old man rings true in this book. People come to my door--too many of them really--and knock to tell me Notes of a Dirty Old Man turns them on. A bum off the road brings in a gypsy and his wife and we talk . . . . drink half the night. A long distance operator from Newburgh N.Y. sends me money. She wants me to give up drinking beer and to eat well. I hear from a madman who calls himself King Arthur and lives on Vine Street in Hollywood and wants to help me write my column. A doctor comes to my door: I read your column and think I can help you. I used to be a psychiatrist. I send him away . . . Bukowski writes like a latter-day Celine a wise fool talking straight from the gut about the futility and beauty of life . . . --Publishers Weekly These disjointed stories gives us a glimpse into the brilliant and highly disturbed mind of a man who will drink anything hump anything and say anything without the slightest tinge of embarassment shame or remorse. It s actually pretty hard not to like the guy after reading a few of these semi-ranting short stories. --Greg Davidson curiculummag.com Charles Bukowski was born in Andernach Germany on August 16 1920 the only child of an American soldier and a German mother. Bukowski published his first story when he was twenty-four and began writing poetry at the age of thirty-five. His first book of poetry was published in 1959; he went on to publish more than forty-five books of poetry and prose including Pulp (Black Sparrow 1994) Screams from the Balcony: Selected Letters 1960-1970 (1993) and The Last Night of the Earth Poems (1992). Other Bukowski books published by City Lights Publishers include More Notes of a Dirty Old Man The Most Beautiful Woman in Town Tales of Ordinary Madness Portions from a Wine-Stained Notebook and Absence of the Hero. He died of leukemia in San Pedro on March 9 1994.