This is exactly as advertized. It's cheerfully humorous and lighthearted but at the same time, a fairly rigorous examination of writing and the creative process from the prodigious experience acquired by Mr. Cleese over his long (and illustrious) career.
The book is broken into shorter chapters (some of them are 1 page(ish) - very short indeed) which illuminate one or more points. Many of the larger ideas will be familiar to fanatical followers of the author from his series of lectures at Cornell as a professor-at-large. They're expanded upon in this book and there are some pretty profound ideas included for a humorous little book.
In the current culture of anti-intellectualism it's all too easy to become disillusioned and exhausted by all of the backlash against well spoken prose, language, literature, intelligence... This book (and Cleese) are erudite and unapologetically intelligent.
There's a lot of material here for fans of Monty Python and Cleese the Actor, but there's also a lot to love here for anyone who loves to read intelligent well spoken people talking about an interesting topic.
I enjoyed it hugely and recommend it to everyone.
Four stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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