The Best of Botts

Alexander Botts #8

by William Hazlett Upson

The best and funniest of thirty years of Saturday Evening Post stories about the world's famous tractor salesman--Alexander "The Great" Botts.

Includes the following stories, with original publication dates:

I'm a Natural Born Salesman (Apr. 16, 1927)
The Big Tree (Aug. 18, 1934)
Situation Haywire (1944)
Alexander Botts and the Mobius Strip (Dec. 22, 1945)
Botts Gets a New Job (Oct 18, 1947)
Alexander Botts vs. the Income Tax (May 8, 1948)
The Crime of Alexander Botts (Aug. 4, 1951)
Botts Runs for His Life (Apr. 19, 1952)
Botts and the Impossible Mountain (Dec. 5, 1953)
Botts' Perfect Alibi (Sep. 15, 1956)
Botts Turns Traitor (Nov. 9, 1957)
Botts and the Day the Dam Broke (Aug. 16, 1958)
Botts and the Pickett line (Mar. 5, 1960)

Genres: Fiction

Paperback

First published March 1, 1961

Reviews

[Natt · Rating 4 out of 5]

อ่านในโครงการ Winter Wonder Read 2009
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[Robert Jr. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I started reading it a while ago, and it made me laugh, but it hurt to laugh at the time, so I set it down for about four or five weeks. Once I set down to read this one, I laughed more than I thought I would. I habitually pick up any humor book I find in the wild (except Asimov’s Joke Books, blech) as this genre of book seems rarer than the others for whatever reason. I often find them charming at most, as the majority typically don’t make me laugh much, if at all; though, I may have enjoyed them overall. I found Botts (apparently number 8 in a series of collections) in the used bookstore I frequent.

The Botts stories are simple short epistolary tales written using telegrams and letters, each as a phase of the story. Each story typically starts with a short telegram from the sales manager of Earthworm Tractor Company posing a problem or mystery for Alexander Botts, salesman (later promoted), to go solve (usually using a tractor and a controversial expense account amount). The second letter/telegraph is the answer from Botts informing his superiors of the situation, his suspicions, and a plan which comes across as maybe not so practical an idea. Typically, a third “emergency” telegram from a secondary character reports Botts to the boss as a failure and bumbling fool; this is often where the comedy lies (at least for me). The sales manager responds by chewing out Botts and demanding he “return immediately,” threatening his job, etc., and absolutely refuses to cover the expense account. Then the final act of the story is Botts responding with an explanation of what actually happened (according to him, he always makes himself out to be a genius and the greatest salesman/detective/operative ever) and his solution, which is always a thorough victory and occasionally funny. The humor in this book is embodied in its main character, Alexander Botts, part Sherlock Holmes (he never clues anyone in about his actual plans or what he actually knows, though this probably hints more at his dumb luck), part Jerry Lewis (often through the eyes of other characters, but of course he insists it was all part of his plan and intentional), and utterly self-conceited, although the stories imply his success was as much due to accident as it was to genius.

I would recommend this one if you’re in the market for some light humor with a quaint mystery or WWII spy story at its core.

[Rajita P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

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[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful collection of stories about Alexander Botts, tractor salesman. The stories are clever and witty, with Botts always managing to get the upper hand.