The Adding Machine is a highly stimulating collection of essays (and previously published articles?). Burroughs has a style that turns nonfiction readily into storytelling. There were times, I was actually not sure if what I was reading was either. Current 2025 events seemed relevant to discussions of politics, control, government, cultural mores and agendas. There’s a bit of a peek-a-boo quality as well, understanding more behind the man if one has not read forwards to their novels or a biographies. Something I will come back to time and time again is his one remark about being an elitist and popular, democratic governing being problematic (because it trends to the lowest-quality / -common denominator characters. Maybe we won’t have that issue any more with the rise of Trump and Musk as they presently disassemble the structures we’ve enjoyed for most of our lifetimes. Like Burroughs, I’ve got enough libertarian/anarchic qualities about my world views. What I cannot stand is tyranny. Life if a cut up, Burroughs viewed life symbolically — mystically. My Education is a collection of entries to his dream journal. Interesting, but for the completist only. I decided 40 pages was enough on a straight go. Perhaps I’ll pop it off the shelf and read a few pages periodically. In fact, the Adding Machine will also be a nice book to return to.
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