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Personal obsessions, elaborate mythology, iconic visual art, and the inter-relationships among those things ... with Daniel Johnston, a handbook really does come in handy. Sometimes people have a difficult time with Daniel upon first exposure ("One thing I noticed ... was that other artists could listen to the tapes and totally hear the song, but to most other people it sounds like some horrifying noise, like listening to someone have a nervous breakdown on tape" (Kathy McCarty, p. 79), but further exposure often wins them over. This handbook is probably not going to get the Johnston-shy over the hump, but confirmed fans would probably be willing to pay twice the price for the detailed information about Daniel's life, career, and works. Like a Backstreet Boys biography, the book has a built-in audience, but it's a ludicrously smaller audience and thanks are therefore due to Yazdani for putting together a far better book than one would have any right to expect.