This is a book I could see owning. I found myself rereading some of his sentences over and over again just to savor them. This early work shows HST as a thoughtful, self-reflective young man. I thought both this and "Hell's Angels" are a testament to why we should care about his work. A tasty shot of fine narrative craft.

Well recommended by many. Well written, but not into diaries/biographies right now - save for later.

This is a good book. I do not know how it compares to the movie, but the book by itself is good. I say read the book first, watch the movie later.

I have read much of what HST has published including his scribblings for Rolling Stone. While it is nice to see emerging writing style that makes HST so enjoyable this one just doesn't take off. Thompson later moved closer to the edgejumping with his characters into the world of Gonzo journalism, To experience HST with his full freak on look elsewhere,

I wanted to read this book before I saw the movie. And now I want to read more books written by Hunter S. Thompson mainly because I really like his writing style. It was an easy ready though the story was ok.

Great book hilarious and hard to put down. Crazy ride but enjoyable.

Film adaptation of Hunter Thompson's first novel, starring Johnny Depp, will be released October 28.

Made me want to drink and write.

I would have to say this was Hunter S. Thompsons best work. I bought this book as I loved it so much. I recommend this book to anybody as it is a great,and very fast read!

In my opinion this is HST's best work by far! Don't get me wrong, I still dig Fear and Loathing, The great white shark hunt, and others but I hind that as he got older his books became more Kerouac style ramblings of a drug-addled brain. The first was the best!