Inspired by UNCLE EDITH'S GHOST STORY to read more Benchley, I tackled this collection of essays. Benchley's humor is not (for me, anyway) of the laugh-out-loud sort. A few of the essays produced chuckling, many others a lopsided half-grin and some, no response at all. He wrote another book that I wish I'd read instead, if just for the title — It's called TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, OR DAVID COPPERFIELD. Anyway, here's a sample of Benchley from an essay on why nobody collects first editions of his works. "PLUCK AND LUCK was brought out later in a dollar edition for drugstore sale, and I have three of those in a fair state of preservation. One of them is a very interesting find for collectors, as I had started to inscribe it to Donald Ogden Stewart and then realized that I had spelled the name 'Stuart," necessitating the abandonment of the whole venture. It is practically certain that there is not another dollar edition of PLUCK AND LUCK with Donald Ogden Stewart's name spelled 'Stuart' on the fly-leaf. Would a dollar and a quarter be too much to ask, do you think?"