Spanning twenty years of the author's work, this collection of fifteen previously unpublished essays includes a look at the effect that television has had on the new generation of writers and a dissection of the movie "Terminator 2."

Set in an addicts' halfway house and a tennis academy, and featuring one of the most endearingly screwed-up families in contemporary fiction, Infinite Jest explores essential questions about what entertainment is and why it has come to dominate our lives, about how our desire for entertainment affects our need to connect with other people, and about what the pleasures we choose say about who we are. Equal parts philosophical quest and screwball comedy,...

A collection of essays shares whimsical observations about such topics as the Bush-Kerry presidential race, the pain experienced by lobsters while they are being prepared for the feast, and Franz Kafka's questionable sense of humor.