This is a book of essays and magazine articles, and it is hit and miss. The book is split into seven sections. On The Road, as you would expect, is basically a few separate chapters of travel in the vein of his other books, but nothing too new and exciting. On The Beats is the standout section. His descriptions and opinions of what it means to be a Beat are not to be missed! On Writing was disappointing, I was expecting more insight from his writing about writing. Observations largely consist of a few childhood stories. On Sports was also disappoining, because reading about 1960s obscure baseball players just doesn't feel necessary or insightful; I doubt he was much of a sportswriter. Last Words was a column he had in Escapade, apparently a competitor of Playboy back in the day. Some about jazz, some history, some sports, some bullfighting. It's ok. The highlight is 1969's "What Am I Thinking About," where he answers a question about whether he identifies more with conservative politicians or the alienated radical youth. The surprise is that he doesn't much identify with the hippie youth who thought that they were modeling themselves after him, or who at least worshipped him at the time, but his response is nuanced and telling. cityCityCITY is some type distopian future short story, and, to me, it seemed barely coherent. Part Blade Runner, part Space Oddity.
All in all, it was a nice read, like a checking in with an old friend. These are not his greatst works, but they tell you more about the man than his fiction does, or at least different things. This adds to the overall picture, and, occasonally his prose still soars like noneother.