(I get the list in digest format, so I'm replying to more than one thing here!) To add my $.02 to the recommendation list for Andy Hoffman: I second the Annie Dillard and Eudora Welty. Ivan Doig (This House of Sky, Heart Earth, and others). Maya Angelou. On the humorist/thinker topic: Some of today's funny guys studied philosophy in college -- Steve Martin, Jay Leno, various members of the Monty Python troupe. (Although I'm not saying that everybody who studies philosophy is necessarily a "really deep thinker," I think one certainly does not seriously study philosophy unless (s)he is ready for a workout.) I don't consider myself an academic, but I can't watch/listen/read the Python stuff without realizing some serious thinking has been involved in their creative process. Ditto for Martin. --Gaye C. Auxier OKC, OK