Patrick McManus, author of How I Got This Way and one of America's favorite humorists, is an impish commentator on the obvious and not so obvious absurdities of modern life. His national best-seller, The Night the Bear Ate Goombaw, is a collection of hilarious short pieces about fishing, its exotic equipment, and activities like "gunkholing." You will learn, for example, that the best way to learn to fish is to build an addition to your house first. It should be big enough to hold all the nifty fishing equipment you will cart home from sporting goods stores and garage sales. McManus cheerfully guides you through the finer points of becoming a skilled garage sale shopper, too. Be prepared to enter a quixotic universe that works according to the laws of "synch" and marvelously loopy chains of cause and effect. The title selection takes place on an ill-fated camping trip; other selections include "Kid Brothers and Their Practical Application," and "As the Worm Squirms."