<DIV> <p class="MsoNormal">A collection of essays and occasional pieces on gambling, teaching, snakes, dogs, cars, hitchhiking, marriage and sophistication, memory and work, and a dozen other subjects.&nbsp; One essay announces that the two dollar bill can buy happiness and reports some resistance to this discovery. Another studies the art of life as a ne'er-do-well, a sort of prequel to the &quot;slacker&quot; phenomenon, written and published in Austin, Texas. In yet another essay, everyone's first name is Philip, (except the comet). Certain liberties are taken with the form.&nbsp; Pieces originally appeared in the <i>New York Times Magazine</i>, the <i>Los Angeles</i><i> Times</i>, <i>Oxford</i><i> American</i>, the <i>Texas</i><i> Observer</i>, <i>Connecticut</i><i> Review</i>, <i>Apalachee Quarterly</i>, and other newspapers, magazines, and anthologies.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">&nbsp;</p></DIV>