Not Exactly What I Had in Mind

**A funny and incisive collection of essays on oddities of life in the 1980s, from one of America’s most cherished humorists**

First published in 1985, *Not Exactly What I Had In Mind* is Roy Blount Jr.’s smart and witty examination of the era’s most glaring absurdities—from the ever-growing deficit under then-president Reagan to the Game Theory–like levels of strategy required to pack for a vacation. In “Testimonial, Head-on,” Blount offers a loving ode to the virtues of full-bodied beer. In “Who You Gonna Call?” he enumerates the indefatigable charms of Bill Murray. And in “What You Personally Can Do about the Federal Deficit,” he proposes a brilliantly simple and populist way to reduce government debt—and probably make your neighborhood post office very happy in the process.

Powered by Roy Blount’s irresistible sense of humor, *Not Exactly What I Had in Mind *revels in Reagan-era topics, but with a humor that is truly timeless.