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The Good Samaritan Strikes Again
With “a style that brings to mind Mark Twain, Art Buchwald, and Garrison Keillor” ( People ), Patrick F. McManus delivers another stellar collection of witty cautionary tales of the great outdoors in The Good Samaritan Strikes Again .
Gathering together twenty-four of his hilarious essays―originally published in such magazines as Outdoor Life ―this volume features not only McManus’s follies with Mother Nature, but those of human nature as he shares such funny moments of his life as his first kiss, his public relations career, his less than helpful attempt to be a good Samaritan to an injured motorist, and so much more.
Gathering together twenty-four of his hilarious essays―originally published in such magazines as Outdoor Life ―this volume features not only McManus’s follies with Mother Nature, but those of human nature as he shares such funny moments of his life as his first kiss, his public relations career, his less than helpful attempt to be a good Samaritan to an injured motorist, and so much more.
212 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
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366 people want to read
About the author
Patrick F. McManus
56 books417 followersPatrick F. McManus is an American outdoor humor writer. A humor columnist for Outdoor Life and other magazines, his columns have been collected in several books.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 72 reviews
January 11, 2023
The Mark Twain of the outdoors
Patrick McManus is one of the funniest writers I've ever read. A modern day Mark Twain. When he's really on his game he can make you laugh before he even gets to the punch line. For instance in SNAKE, the reader knows that Pat's friendly snake is in the crawl space beneath the cabin. The two handy men, also in the crawlspace, don't. When they happen to need a piece of rope my eyes began to water, my body to shake and I could barely get to the next pages and the finale.
I used to read his work aloud to my wife while she drove. If "me and Retch Sweeney" appeared anywhere near the beginning of any tale, she started laughing and driving erratically before I could get any further. Some of his collections are funnier than others. In addition to this one, I recommend THE NIGHT THE BEAR ATE GOOMBAW and THE GRASSHOPPER TRAP.
Patrick McManus is one of the funniest writers I've ever read. A modern day Mark Twain. When he's really on his game he can make you laugh before he even gets to the punch line. For instance in SNAKE, the reader knows that Pat's friendly snake is in the crawl space beneath the cabin. The two handy men, also in the crawlspace, don't. When they happen to need a piece of rope my eyes began to water, my body to shake and I could barely get to the next pages and the finale.
I used to read his work aloud to my wife while she drove. If "me and Retch Sweeney" appeared anywhere near the beginning of any tale, she started laughing and driving erratically before I could get any further. Some of his collections are funnier than others. In addition to this one, I recommend THE NIGHT THE BEAR ATE GOOMBAW and THE GRASSHOPPER TRAP.
December 28, 2017
If you like the outdoors and need a good laugh this is the book for you. If you don't like the outdoors and need a good laugh this is the book for you.
December 5, 2021
Patrick McManus is a good cure for a bad day. His essays about his crazy childhood and his hunting and fishing adventures never fail to bring a smile to my face. If I was smarter than I am, I’d start each day off by reading one of his essays. McManus could cure a cloudy day.
If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
September 5, 2021
Not his best collection, but still some side-splitters in there.
November 27, 2014
I was introduced to Patrick McManus' writing through the audio cassettes of his stories performed by George S. Irving. The recordings are over-the-top hilarious, at least to me. McManus' books are obviously a little more work, but they have caused me to laugh frequently and to read passages to my wife. This is how I found out that McManus is not for everyone - they are more aimed at nostalgic former small town boys with at least passing interest in the outdoors and a sense of humor. This collection had only one Rancid Crabtree story. In my mind, these stories of the grizzled skunk trapper are the highlights of McManus' oeuvre. In this story, "Rancid Crabtree and the Demon Bat", the boys build a kite large enough to lift a person, with the expected consequences. Overall the stories reflect the wordplay that McManus is known for, and I will be reading more of them.
January 16, 2016
Humor is so different for everybody. I once read a PG Wodehouse book that had me laughing so hard that my daughter came up from the basement to make sure I was OK. I lent it to a friend thinking they would also find it funny and they returned it with the comment that there were a few sections that made them chuckle. I think Patrick McManus's stories are probably a lot like that. Some of the stories in this book I thought were hilarious. All of them at least made me laugh or chuckle a few times.
June 29, 2007
A humorous collection of anecdotes and conversations from the famous outdoorsman's life and career, broken up into three categories: home life, sporting life, and childhood. His sense of humor is similar to Mark Twain, though nowhere near as effective or cruel to its subjects. The humor largely comes from the ignorance of McManus' subjects (often himself), though it's never offensive or edgy. Modest and tame, this collection is pretty easy to share with grandpa.
June 24, 2020
The very first McManus I ever read. Still have a soft spot for these stories. But it helps that it's vintage McManus goodness. Also read in 2016.
January 23, 2025
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
---
WHAT'S THE GOOD SAMARITAN STRIKES AGAIN ABOUT?
This is a collection of 24 of McManus's essays, pulled from a variety of sources talking about...well, mostly the things he always talks about—his life, hunting, fishing, and things he finds interesting.
There's not a recurring theme or anything, I'm guessing this is just a collection of pieces written in the early 1990s (the previous collection was published in '91, the following in '94).
MCMANUS'S HUMOR
I think the best way to describe this humor is gentle. He's not one for clever wordplay (although he will occasionally indulge), this isn't biting satire, he's not as outlandish and goofy as Barry. It felt like Lewis Grizzard at half-volume—I think it's similar to Garrison Keillor (although I really can't say) or Tom Bodett.
I can't imagine you'll guffaw—or laugh out loud. But you'll be amused. You'll smile—maybe even chuckle.
SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT THE GOOD SAMARITAN STRIKES AGAIN?
I haven't read McManus since the mid-80s—there were a couple of years where some of his early collections were in heavy rotation amongst my extended family and I sampled a few. Mostly I didn't get his humor at the time—even then I didn't relate too much to the hunting and fishing jokes. I understood more of them now, at least—but I don't know that I found them more amusing now.
I feel like I need to turn in my Idaho Citizen card for saying that kind of thing—McManus and I were born in the same city, we were inculcated with many of the same values, and had the same kind of environment growing up. But our senses of humor didn't develop along the same lines.
The pieces that had the least to do with outdoors-y topics worked best for me. He touches on aging and worry, there's a little bit of satire relating to PR, there's some stuff on coping with stress, recounting his first kiss...the title essay involves trying to help a motorist following an accident. Then there are a lot of things involving camping, hiking, fishing, hunting and the like...most of those had something I found amusing—a paragraph, a clever sentence—many of them were largely entertaining. But that's for me—and humor is more subjective than most things I talk about here (although everything is pretty subjective here)—so who knows how you'll react.
When Ford Prefect's editors were done with his revisions to the entry for Earth in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the entry summing up our planet read "Mostly harmless." Similarly, I think The Good Samaritan Strikes Again could be summed up as: Mildly amusing.
Your results may vary, obviously, but it's a pleasant way to spend some time—not much more. But honestly, who wouldn't mind a pleasant couple of hours?
---
Over half a century of poking around the woods and mountains, I have rescued several dozen wild creatures from life-threatening situations. Almost none ever expressed an iota of gratitude. Instead, they have attempted to bite me, peck me, claw me, scratch me, gore me, even as | rendered them the service. The only one to repay the favor of my rescuing it was a skunk, when I was eight years old, and it spent all of its resources to purchase my freedom from school for a whole week. In my experience, however, that skunk was unique among wild creatures for its kindness and generosity.
WHAT'S THE GOOD SAMARITAN STRIKES AGAIN ABOUT?
This is a collection of 24 of McManus's essays, pulled from a variety of sources talking about...well, mostly the things he always talks about—his life, hunting, fishing, and things he finds interesting.
There's not a recurring theme or anything, I'm guessing this is just a collection of pieces written in the early 1990s (the previous collection was published in '91, the following in '94).
MCMANUS'S HUMOR
I think the best way to describe this humor is gentle. He's not one for clever wordplay (although he will occasionally indulge), this isn't biting satire, he's not as outlandish and goofy as Barry. It felt like Lewis Grizzard at half-volume—I think it's similar to Garrison Keillor (although I really can't say) or Tom Bodett.
I can't imagine you'll guffaw—or laugh out loud. But you'll be amused. You'll smile—maybe even chuckle.
SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT THE GOOD SAMARITAN STRIKES AGAIN?
I haven't read McManus since the mid-80s—there were a couple of years where some of his early collections were in heavy rotation amongst my extended family and I sampled a few. Mostly I didn't get his humor at the time—even then I didn't relate too much to the hunting and fishing jokes. I understood more of them now, at least—but I don't know that I found them more amusing now.
I feel like I need to turn in my Idaho Citizen card for saying that kind of thing—McManus and I were born in the same city, we were inculcated with many of the same values, and had the same kind of environment growing up. But our senses of humor didn't develop along the same lines.
The pieces that had the least to do with outdoors-y topics worked best for me. He touches on aging and worry, there's a little bit of satire relating to PR, there's some stuff on coping with stress, recounting his first kiss...the title essay involves trying to help a motorist following an accident. Then there are a lot of things involving camping, hiking, fishing, hunting and the like...most of those had something I found amusing—a paragraph, a clever sentence—many of them were largely entertaining. But that's for me—and humor is more subjective than most things I talk about here (although everything is pretty subjective here)—so who knows how you'll react.
When Ford Prefect's editors were done with his revisions to the entry for Earth in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the entry summing up our planet read "Mostly harmless." Similarly, I think The Good Samaritan Strikes Again could be summed up as: Mildly amusing.
Your results may vary, obviously, but it's a pleasant way to spend some time—not much more. But honestly, who wouldn't mind a pleasant couple of hours?
January 23, 2018
A word of explanation about the reading time for this book. Under normal circumstances I would have read this 211 page book in about a week. However, I was reading it to my granddaughter at times when she was at our house and didn't have homework she was working on.
Patrick McManus is a favorite author of mine. I have yet to read a McManus book that I didn't like. Most of his books are collections of short stories of outdoors humor. Fishing, hunting, and camping are common elements of his stories. North Idaho, particularly around Sandpoint where he grew up, provide many of the locales for his stories. Sandpoint is a quiet town which I have visited two or three times each year.
Anyone wanting some good humor stories should read Patrick McManus books.
Patrick McManus is a favorite author of mine. I have yet to read a McManus book that I didn't like. Most of his books are collections of short stories of outdoors humor. Fishing, hunting, and camping are common elements of his stories. North Idaho, particularly around Sandpoint where he grew up, provide many of the locales for his stories. Sandpoint is a quiet town which I have visited two or three times each year.
Anyone wanting some good humor stories should read Patrick McManus books.
December 30, 2023
Patrick McManus is something else. He is the only writer who wrote books that my guy enjoyed all the way through. It helped that these were short stories and that the reader starts laughing at some point and has trouble stopping. There are a lot of them and this isn’t even a particular favorite.
Every single book McManus ever wrote was a favorite for Bob. He read them, kept them nearby and gifted them. I follow Bob’s lead since he has left this life. What can a buy a guy friend? Well, perhaps a Patrick McManus book. How about a teenager? How about a woman? Everybody enjoys a laugh and we all either have pets or put up with other people’s pets. If you haven’t read his books, go get yourself one and you will see what I mean!
Every single book McManus ever wrote was a favorite for Bob. He read them, kept them nearby and gifted them. I follow Bob’s lead since he has left this life. What can a buy a guy friend? Well, perhaps a Patrick McManus book. How about a teenager? How about a woman? Everybody enjoys a laugh and we all either have pets or put up with other people’s pets. If you haven’t read his books, go get yourself one and you will see what I mean!
June 3, 2020
A very nice surprise, this one!
I have stumbled upon McManus somewhat randomly, as a recommendation on r/Books (I believe) for fun readings, something I like for a brief read before sleeping.
This book is hilarious, McManus' style witty and brief and anecdotal. Very nice read and prose, although he tries to be light-hearted and easy!
I'll soon have my hands on his biography, but this was a pretty clear introduction to a erm... peculiar guy!
Recommended for a light read, good fun
I have stumbled upon McManus somewhat randomly, as a recommendation on r/Books (I believe) for fun readings, something I like for a brief read before sleeping.
This book is hilarious, McManus' style witty and brief and anecdotal. Very nice read and prose, although he tries to be light-hearted and easy!
I'll soon have my hands on his biography, but this was a pretty clear introduction to a erm... peculiar guy!
Recommended for a light read, good fun
Read
May 24, 2021Do you like a good laugh and the outdoors? Well if you do this book is for you. This book is a bunch of short stories splits up into three parts homelife, sports, and childhood. The funny part of this book I think is the way the author acts very ignorant. This book didn't make me laugh because I don't have the same sense of humor. I recommend this book to those who want an easy read and maybe a laugh but personally, this book is not for me. This book's genre is comedy.
Read
December 23, 2024The always reliable Patrick F. McManus! I am usually a reader but for this one I listened to the audiobook (narrated by Norman Dietz) and loved it! My favorite stories were: Sighting In, Now You See Me Now You Don't, The Blundered Buss, The Secret of Goosey Smith's Success, You Can See By My Outfit, The Good Samaritan Strikes Again, Ah Sweet Poverty.
February 5, 2018
I read many of McManus' books with my dad while growing up. They always set us laughing. I have re-read this one, and still love them. If you want to read some short, usually outdoorsy, funny stories, any of McManus's books are great. This one in particular has a fantastic anecdote at the very end.
April 12, 2018
This is a real hoot! Good natured, fun read. Thoroughly enjoyed. Maybe more of a "guys" book - not that there was anything inappropriate - but the stories of men & boy (mis)adventures just resonated with something inside my "boyish" self.
December 12, 2020
This is a collection of short stories/essays previously published by this well-loved humorist in publications such as Outdoor Life, Field and Stream and other magazines. It's entertaining with several laugh-out-loud moments.
February 5, 2019
Once again Patrick McManus is hilarious. His stories are funny and well designed. His imaginary world is an endless collection of laughs.
July 21, 2019
Short stories of down home humor. Did I chuckle? Occasionally. Did I laugh? No. Maybe this style is not for me.
February 1, 2020
This author is a truly funny funny guy .Don't miss out!
February 24, 2020
Laugh-out-loud funny
May 27, 2020
Audiobook performed by Norman Dietz.
June 15, 2020
Made me laugh.
August 15, 2020
Okay I think this is my favorite so far ... The Good Samaritan ... The Fly ... The Flashlight Man ... The Kelly Irregulars Learn To Cry
Freaking hilarious!!! All of them!!
Freaking hilarious!!! All of them!!
November 27, 2020
Very enjoyable. Great humor blended with stories of youth and out of doors adventures. McManus is always good for a lighthearted read break.
January 31, 2021
Not his best work, but some chuckles.
April 29, 2021
McManus uses great wit to tell his stories in an entertaining and enjoyable way.
November 12, 2021
Everything that McManus writes is fun. He's a very talented writer.
July 23, 2023
Patrick McManus makes me laugh out loud.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 72 reviews