Hitchings' book is as much a promotion of Johnson's dictionary, as a piece of literature to read, as it is a biography of Dr. Johnson. It does both well.

Of particular interest to me. I had forgotten about the significance and culture of the coffee house during Johnson's time. The reminder of this bit of history makes the running gag in Pynchon's "Mason & Dixon" about coffee houses being everywhere that the English were that much funnier. In his great buddy novel Pynchon shows Mason and Dixon served coffee by a Mr. Star buck in the American colonies when they arrive to survey the Mason Dixon Line. There is quite a bit of food and drink humor and I thought he was only referring to our current obsession with coffee. As I say, I had forgotten about a similar craze actually occurring during the era of M & D and therefore of Dr. J as well.