Out of My Head: Coon Dogs That Lie to You, Killer Pancakes & Other Lunacies

Essays offer a humorous look at ice tea, leadership, etiquette, American history, salesmen, daylight savings, sports, and home ownership

The title, which suggests frenetic zaniness, belies the contents, for Atlanta TV star Powell offers low-key, gentle humor that at its best is delightful. He proposes the "wimpersand" as punctuation to finish sentences that end in a whine; explains why autographs by Button Gwinnett, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, are so rare; proves that listening to classical music makes the listener fat. As might be expected of a good ol' boy, Powell is a regionalist and devoted to food Southerners regard as haute cuisine, extolling the virtues of Killer Pancakes (made with both flour and grits) and boiled peanuts. Non-Southern readers will forgive him, given the charm of these pieces.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This humor book will offend nobody, injure no innocent soul, and take up no improper place on library shelves. Opening its pages is like entering the home of a hospitable old friend. You can be sure of enjoyable fare, entertaining company, and an au revoir enveloped in pleasant memories. The author is a cameraman for an Atlanta TV station, and on the side he delivers lighthearted "commentaries" that are nothing more or less than a series of delightful conversations. Fifty of these have been collected here. Powell discourses on everything from picking up pennies to picking the wrong line in a supermarket, managing always to find novel angles to the familiar. Accompanying drawings by Carl Warlick add a nice touch.
- A. J. Anderson, Graduate Sch. of Library & Information Science, Simmons Coll., Boston
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.