One of Hollywood's great leading men, James Garner boasts a career that spans six decades. Whether known as Bret Maverick, Jim Rockford, or Noah Calhoun, Garner's mass appeal transcends generations, but few know the true story of his life, now told in his intimate memoir of growing up in Oklahoma and making it in Hollywood. After suffering physical abuse at the hands of his stepmother, Garner left home at fourteen. He went on to become Oklahoma's first draftee of the Korean War and was honoured for his bravery with two Purple Hearts. Garner eventually returned to Los Angeles where his acting career took off. Working alongside some of the most renowned celebrities - among them Julie Andrews, Marlon Brando, Clint Eastwood - Garner became a star in his own right.

Jon Winokur defines and classifies irony and contrasts it with coincidence and cynicism, and other oft-confused concepts that many think are ironic. He looks at the different forms irony can take, from an irony deficiency to visual irony to an understatement, using photographs and relate-able examples from pop culture. * "Irony in Action" looks at irony in language, both verbal and visual, while "Bastions of Irony" and "Masters of Irony" look at institutions and individuals steeped in irony, though not always intentionally. PLUS:
* The Annals of Irony looks at irony, and its lack thereof, throughout history. A delight for anyone with a smart, dark sense of humor.

This is an irreverent A-Z guide to the tics, twitches and safety-valve nuttiness of modern life. Acquired Situational Narcissism or Psychological Phlegm? Readers will be able to discern their every psychological quirk in this enthralling guide to the maladies of the modern age. The modern age of anxiety threatens to overwhelm all right-thinking people with a monster dose of angst, ambivalence and dread. Fortunately, most manage to cope, but not without displaying some pretty spectacular compensatory behaviour. Even more fortunately, they can now recognise and name all of their symptoms, courtesy of Jon Winokur's fantastic "Encyclopedia Neurotica", a guide to absolutely everything wrong with the behavioural patterns of the modern world. Whether suffering from cyberchondria ("hypochondria resulting from seeing one's symptoms on a medical website") or pronoia ("the irrational belief that people like you"), readers will find Winokur's wry catalogue enthralling, entertaining and educational. Arranged as a conventional A-Z, with informative insert panels and including hundreds of illustrative quotations from the famous, the wise and the certifiably bonkers, "Encyclopedia Neurotica" is the one title no latter-day loon can afford to be without.

In Advice to Writers, Jon Winokur, author of the bestselling The Portable Curmudgeon, gathers the counsel of more than four hundred celebrated authors in a treasury on the world of writing. Here are literary lions on everything from the passive voice to promotion and publicity: James Baldwin on the practiced illusion of effortless prose, Isaac Asimov on the despotic tendencies of editors, John Cheever on the perils of drink, Ivan Turgenev on matrimony and the Muse. Here, too, are the secrets behind the sleight-of-hand practiced by artists from Aristotle to Rita Mae Brown. Sagacious, inspiring, and entertaining, Advice to Writers is an essential volume for the writer in every reader.

Do you believe that cynicism is simply common sense? Do sunny smiles make you want to snarl? Do you have the feeling you may answer with something unprintable the next time you hear "Have a nice day"? Then you'll be in the best of company with the whiplash wits and sardonic savants brought together in this collection. 15 line drawings.