Agent Palmer

Dishonesty is the Second-Best Policy and other rules to live by is a collection of columns and essays written by comedian David Mitchell.

A lot of these columns take a satirical or humorous look at things that inspired the writing of the column in the first place, be it a news event in Great Britain or across the globe, from entertainment to science, politics to religion, or any number of things. So in my best attempt at a Mitchell-like column, I’m going to comment on the back cover paragraphs to explain more about what this book is about, why you may be interested in it, and what’s in it for you.

Bye Bye Barry is a 2023 documentary that focuses on the circumstances and mystery surrounding Barry Sanders’ decision to retire at the height of his abilities. It’s told in a way that may actually satisfy some football fans’ sense of wonder regarding the decision.

But in order to understand the circumstances around his walking away, you have to tell the story of who Barry Sanders was and his career up until his retirement.

The Inhuman Condition is a collection of short stories by one of the modern masters of the macabre – Clive Barker. Published in 1986, these stories are some of the first published by Barker, and they set a tone of dark and delirious, sensuous and sentimental.

The five stories; The Inhuman Condition (of which the collection is also named after); The Body Politic; Revelations; Down, Satan!; and The Age of Desire, all focus on the nature of humanity.

I can’t help but be in awe of some of the authors I have read in my lifetime. Many of those authors came from a different time, and there are two specifically that I haven’t read as much of as I want. One is Hunter S. Thompson, and the other is Tom Wolfe, who is the subject of a new documentary released at the tail end of last year.

Both authors are similar in my view as I’ve read only one of each of their books. For Hunter, it was Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas some decades ago, and for Wolfe, it was The Right Stuff just a few years ago.