This book only rises to two stars because it quotes several whole dollops of the wonderful humorist's work. One must grudgingly admit that Altman manages to plod through the external events of his subject's lilfe, and as far as these are interesting (some are) the book is interesting. But Altman fails to analyse Benchley's work -- fails to connect his humor to events in his life or the work of other humorists and writers of the time. The book's early chapters are hopelessly bogged down in detail from Benchley's journals, only a few of which are either illuminating or interesting. The style throughout is pedestrian (except, of course, in the quotations.) A reader interested in Benchley would be far better advised to seek out the writings of the master himself.