The Mathematics of the Breath and the Way: On Writers and Writing

"Bukowski was writing before the rise of MFA programs in creative writing. He recalls: 'Somebody asked me, "Bukowski, if you taught a course in writing what would you ask them to do?" I answered "I'd send them to the racetrack and force them to bet $5 on each race." This ass thought I was joking.' There was ever a touch of wild-man bravado with Bukowski. But some might judge it a better suggestion than being told to write what you know in a seminar room on a provincial campus."–Times Literary Supplement

"This new Bukowski just released by City Lights is a real treat ... From the onset, it reads like typical Bukowski–bawdy and broad, dissecting the world in which we live with piercing insight. ... The Mathematics of the Breath and the Way tells us just what it's like to live in a writer's skin. As such, we're afforded a rare chance to get intimate with Charles Bukowski on a whole new level."–Electric Review