the book
the inspiration for the movie from which much of its narrative is borrowed
Some of the Reviews
Being a direct descendant of Charles Darwin might not make William Pryor a celebrity, but his autobiography ought to. Survival of the Coolest is a smooth, deep read about a man with a legacy for greatness who instead dives into drug addiction head first and comes up to tell about it. Set partly at a time when prescriptions for heroin could be filled at the local pharmacy, Pryor’s life may not have been what’s considered ideal, but it was never boring. Do yourself a favour, put down the celebrity bios and self-help books, and read this real life account of a real cool life. (Raquel Baetz)
The Survival of the Coolest makes essential reading for anyone who wants to understand why a War on Drugs and Just Say No can never work, and why some people become addicted to drugs while others do not. (Dr Dorothy Rowe, author of Beyond Fear)
For anyone looking for a real-life counter-culture version of Woody Allen’s Zelig, William Pryor fits the bill, and his autobiography is just as rip-roaring a ride. Well connected even before he was born, with a family tree that included Charles Darwin and connections to the Bloomsbury Set, Pryor nevertheless had an almost ridiculous knack for being in the right place at the right time in the 1960s: hanging out in the beatnik jazz Paris of the early 1960s, hanging out with Alexander Trocchi in Chelsea, punting with Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd, visiting a guru in India in 1967, and on and on. Here then, is the confessional memoir of an upper-class 1960s hipster, which opens the doors of perception to the reality of the 1960s, the lows as well as the highs. As addictive and repellant as drugs. (The Scotsman)
