As a kid, Sam Kashner lapped up the beauty and madness of the Beats, living vicariously through the novels, poems, and stories of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William Burroughs. When he heard that Ginsberg had founded an unconventional writing program in Boulder, CO, Kashner became the first certificate student of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poets. The Beats were facing their twilight years and feeling it in their joints and in their minds. Kashner became their student, secretary and psychiatrist. Out of this rich material Kashner brings us a funny, touching, and irreverent portrait of the Beats; and a very personal journey of a young man coming of age. Illustrations.