Customer Reviews

Spit in the Ocean, No. 7: All About Ken Kesey

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Do you love the writings of Ken Kesey? Buy this.

Do you want to relive a magic moment in the past, or want a better understanding of what the spirit of the 60s was all about? Buy this!

Do you want to laugh, cry, and have a great time? Buy this!!

Spit in the Ocean #7 brings to a conclusion a project Ken Kesey started more than a quarter of a century ago. In 1974, he laid out plans to self-publish seven issues of a literary magazine by this title, each issue to have a different theme and editor. By 1981, six issues had appeared, but the leader of the Merry Pranksters was ready to move on to other ventures.

Now, two year's after Kesey's departure at age 66, his friend Ed McClanahan has edited that final issue of "Spit," appropriately all about the man who gave the world so much joy. There are contributions from famous names like Hunter S. Thompson, Tom Wolfe and Larry McMurtry, but there's also lots from others who were touched by Kesey's boundless spirit and zest for life.

There are letters, interviews, memoirs, song lyrics, photos and more between these covers. I bet Kesey would have loved it. If they could have somehow included a DVD and scratch-and-sniff, he would have loved it even better. This book does a wonderful service in keeping alive the spirit of the writer, painter, filmmaker, jester, teacher, activist, wrestler, leader and lover of life named Ken Kesey.--William C. Hall

This book is loving remembrances of people who knew Kesey. Halfway through the book I forced myself to slow down, because I did not want to finish the book so fast. I wanted to savor the innate wisdom and humor of Ken Kesey for as long as possible. The world is a richer place because of his passing through it, and this book shares some of his life with us. He truly fought the good fight. His spirit is carried on by the many friends he had, and I thank them for sharing with us.

Only two reviews for this (well, now three)? How unfortunate. A lovely, insightfully odd, and sometimes twisted tome. Good reading for this distant admirer of the thoughts and processes of the time, the place, and the man.

I don't know how it all got started. Going back at least 25 years, a friend and myself were in his garage listening to the Dead and building stained glass windows on a hot summer day in preparation for a Dead show that he was going to be selling at. The Dead were almost always playing out of the Ghetto Blaster in his garage while we worked, and on this one particular day, Bob began talking about this guy Kesey, and how he was such a huge influence on the Grateful Dead, as well as dozens of other people during the 60s counter culture, of which Bob himself was completely immersed at that time. While cutting and bending lead and placing pieces of beautiful colored glass together to form what soon would become the face of Jerry Garcia, I stood listening to his fascinating, if not obscure details, of this guy Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters. I don't remember him mentioning the fact that this was the guy that wrote One flew over the Cuckoo's nest; a fact which until quite recently was revealed to me in a book called: On the Bus: The Complete Guide to the Legendary Trip of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters and the Birth of the Counterculture by Paul Perry. Regardless, I learned a few things about Kesey from listening to Bob, but just could not envision his personal experience and knowledge of the now late Prankster. Ahaa! That's how it all got started! I got to thinking about Bob again, all these years later, and his portrayal of Ken Kesey. LSD was part of that conversation, so naturally, I read Huxley's Doors of Perception a few months ago, then one thing led to another; the next thing being: On the Bus! I then read The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, which led me straight to this heartwarming wonderful book, Spit #7, which describes the many life situations from close friends of Ken Kesey, and the sometimes hilarious things that went on in those days of discovery and creation. Dear reader, I say heartwarming because by the end of the last part of Spit in the Ocean #7, I was literally wiping tears from my eyes in great happiness, as well as sadness at knowing that here was a man I knew very little about that had influenced me in ways that I could not have imagined, until reading all of these books about him, and that nearly everyone that walks the streets today has most likely been indirectly effected by him as well. Those things he set into motion, so many years ago. Knowing what I know now about Kesey; those things that Bob was trying to convey to me, all those years ago was the fact that this wonderful soul was so important an influence in the past, present, and hopefully the future, should not be the unsung hero that he has become. He was a multitalented artist; lover of life and people that did so much for personal freedom and expression, yet has unfortunately; like the counterculture of the 60s, gone the way of the tie die t-shirt. He should rather be taught in schools as a great American figure that was dedicated to the proposition that all humankind should be able to create equally. Perhaps in some small ways, the things that Ken Kesey started in the 60s is still with us, but the more we know, the better, so read this book. If you should read those aforementioned books in the order that I did, this book will be the topper. Sparks fly upward, Ken!

If you've followed the man and his work as I have, this book is a trip.The book arrived in timely fashion and was a good way to use some of my AMEX points for purchase.

An excellent overview of Ken Kesey's unique life and contributions, along with interesting tidbits from Kesey himself. I found it very helpful in composing a research paper on Kesey with information relevant to his two primary novels, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Sometimes a Great Notion.

Well, I enjoy any read by Ken Kesey but I can't really be objective here because my nephew contributed.. STILL.. it's a great, fun book..