Not Exactly What I Had in Mind

A funny and incisive collection of essays on oddities of life in the 1980s, from one of America's most cherished humorists

First published in 1985, Not Exactly What I Had In Mind is Roy Blount Jr.'s smart and witty examination of the era's most glaring absurdities—from the ever-growing deficit under then-president Reagan to the Game Theory–like levels of strategy required to pack for a vacation. In "Testimonial, Head-on," Blount offers a loving ode to the virtues of full-bodied beer. In "Who You Gonna Call?" he enumerates the indefatigable charms of Bill Murray. And in "What You Personally Can Do about the Federal Deficit," he proposes a brilliantly simple and populist way to reduce government debt—and probably make your neighborhood post office very happy in the process.


Powered by Roy Blount's irresistible sense of humor, Not Exactly What I Had in Mind revels in Reagan-era topics, but with a humor that is truly timeless.