Vous voulez voir cette page en français ? Cliquez ici.

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Paradise Burning: Adventures Of A High Times Journalist
 
 
Share your own customer images
Search inside this book

Paradise Burning: Adventures Of A High Times Journalist [Paperback]

Chris Simunek (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.


Product Details

Product Description

From Amazon

It's hard to imagine that anyone writing for High Times magazine could provide incisive and cutting commentary on contemporary culture, but pessimistic smart-ass Chris Simunek doesn't let the herb go to his head when he sits down in front of the keyboard. This book is a biography of Simunek's years with High Times and his travels to Jamaica, a spring-break bash in Mexico, the Rainbow Gathering, and the annual motorcycle rally in Sturges, South Dakota. Cavorting with criminal bikers, angel-headed Rastas, and hug-happy hippies, Simunek maintains a sly cynicism that makes his self-pitying prose a dark and deeply funny pleasure. --James DiGiovanna

From Publishers Weekly

As its cultivation editor, the author says that "[e]very month I've got to make sure High Times is filled with information for readers interested in growing their own dope." And this wryly self-proclaimed "dope reporter" runs into some interesting folks who are in search of that perfect high, such as the Dirt Farmer, "who lived in an old farmhouse?the kind of place the Waltons might have stayed in if Papa was a sociopath and a multiple felon," but who has a Field of Dreams full of the best marijuana south of the Mason-Dixon line. We get to infiltrate a Potsmokers Anonymous meeting where the "toke and stroke" method is analyzed with hilarious consequences. Next is Sturgis, S.Dak., the home of the annual Sturgis Rally and Races for bikers that is about "babes, beer, guts, tits, ass, tattoos, drugs, vets, and a lot of people telling bad jokes." There is also a visit to Jamaica in search of "the real Bob" Marley, the late reggae cult figure; a junket to the annual gathering of Rainbow Family of Living Light in Taos, N.Mex., where even a dope reporter like Simunek finds "the passivity of the thing... unnatural"; and a road trip following the Sex Pistols around Europe in their Filthy Lucre comeback tour. Fans of the film Reefer Madness and Hunter S. Thompson will be delighted by Simunek. Photos.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
See all Product Description
Inside This Book (Learn More)
First Sentence
I'm here in Kent, Connecticut, a New England town of the Stepford Wives variety where American flags fly proudly in front of people's homes, Dole/Kemp stickers still hold prominent positions on the backs of people's minivans, and the self-serve Mobil station runs on the honor system. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

Tag this product

 (What's this?)
Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.
Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags
 

Customer Reviews

5 Reviews
5 star:
 (2)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most helpful customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Beyond Gonzo!, Sep 6 2000
This review is from: Paradise Burning: Adventures Of A High Times Journalist (Paperback)
If you have made it to this review, Good! These people ABOVE don't know what they are talking about (wou will notice the 0 of x readers thought this helpful) and the grumpy first lady (top review) should lighten up! Plain and simple this writer is a genius. Long before his days at HIGH TIMES or doing readings in NYC, or his first great story written for EUGENE LANG (NEW SCHOOL) you could tell Chris had talent. Even if fans caught some of these stories in HIGH TIMES they will still make you laugh out loud on repeated readings. The first night I met chris was during a long frenzied night of acid on the edge of the godforsaken California desert. (moreno valley) This is long before the kind of success any NYC student would only dream about obtaining. Take a native New Yorker and drop him in the bleak unrelenting California desert and you would expect utter panic. Still, during that night his insight and sense of humor were right on the pulse of what I wanted my genaration's best writers to express. Forget dropping names like WILLIAM or HUNTER S. or Gonzo, only his employment at a magizine, makes the feeble minded reach for such easy associations. Simunek's talent goes beyond this, this is the book readers will look back upon to over a long career and see how people's demand to pigeonhole a new writer, underestimates the sounding of a true voice for our times, once CHRIS/GENE moves out of the subculture and casts he insight gaze on new areas will people realize what a unique gem they have on their hands.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


2.0 out of 5 stars Hip but harsh, May 27 2000
By 
This review is from: Paradise Burning: Adventures Of A High Times Journalist (Paperback)
This book is written in a hip way, and its writer has had an interesting time getting stoned out of his mind.

Unfortunately he is young, cynical and arrogant, and his insights tend to be either shallow or insulting.

I think that he will one day regret having revealed how sordid and pointless a lot of the journalism is for his magazine, and how he exploited his expense accounts in a dishonest way.

Marijuana is a good plant with many uses, but this author and his magazine promote the wrong image for marijuana and its users, and they are one reason that marijuana is still illegal.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


4.0 out of 5 stars Ya gotta read this one folks..., July 12 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Paradise Burning: Adventures Of A High Times Journalist (Paperback)
Even if you don't give a hoot about smokin' one, pick-up this book. It's not completely freaky and unsettling like a great deal of beat works of fiction from an author like Burrough's, but it still has that candid and sincere feel to it. Meet a diverse array of characters while you tag along with the cultivation editor for a magazine about the greenest thing on God's earth. Once you're done, you are going to want everyone you know to read this book!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Want to see more reviews on this item?
› Go to Amazon.com to see all 5 reviews  4.0 out of 5 stars 
 
 		 Most recent customer reviews



Only search this product's reviews


Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Look for similar items by subject























i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...

Feedback

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?