cover image Life and Other Ways to Kill Time--

Life and Other Ways to Kill Time--

Mike Nichols. L. Stuart, $15.95 (292pp) ISBN 978-0-8184-0462-7

Along with ruminating on birth, love, death, etc., Nichols, in this collection of his Fort Worth Star-Telegram columns, discourses with a delightful sense of the absurd on the phenomena and trivia, duties, pleasures and aggravations of life. Claiming to suffer from a ``sand-trap'' mind, he seeks to organize existence by means of ``The List,'' a never-finished compendium of chores and promises. Abuses peculiar to the telephone, automobile, microwave oven and other so-called conveniences of modern life inspire his most successful sallies. Some of his most effective shafts are directed against ``tax simplification'' and investment advisers. A hilarious account of what would happen if ``The Twelve Days of Christmas'' carol were carried out literally is one of the treasures among this lighthearted commentary on the modern scene. (July)