Hunter S. Thompson for Dummies: 5 Books to Get You Started

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Sampling an iconic and prolific figure of any artistic discipline can be a daunting task. When a kid asks about Robert Pollard or Martin Scorsese, where do you start? What do you leave out? It can be a bit trying. So, in an effort to introduce the uninitiated to the erratic genius of Hunter S. Thompson, I've compiled the following list. Use it as a beginner's guide of sorts, a springboard into HST's vast oeuvre. There is plenty more with these five came from:

1. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream (1971)

Predictable though it may be considering Terry Gilliam's wild ride of a film adaptation, this is essential reading if only because it forever colored Thompson's persona and place in history. Widely known as milestone of gonzo journalism, it's unfortunate that the drugs and insanity of the tale often overshadow just how brilliant Thompson's prose is on the page. Take, for instance, one of the greatest leads ever committed to paper:

We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like, "I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive . . ."And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, which was going about 100 miles an hour with the top down to Las Vegas. And a voice was screaming: "Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals?"

And if that doesn't do it for you, maybe this reading by close friend of the late Thompson and star of the film, Johnny Depp (with HST in the crowd, no less), will: