SOURCE: Sherrill, Robert. Review of The Middle of My Tether, by Joseph Epstein. Washington Post Book World 13, no. 41 (9 October 1983): 4.

In the following review, Sherrill views The Middle of My Tether as an entertaining book.

When an editor of Playboy decided against using Joseph Epstein as a contributor, Epstein concluded that Playboy had no use for “a body of useful or curious information, or the spectacle of an idiosyncratic and perhaps interesting mind at work.” That, especially the second half, is an excellent description of what you get here. The Middle of My Tether is so entertaining it has caused me to squander a lot of time lately, phoning friends to read snippets from it. Such as:

From his essay on vulgarity: “Barbara Walters seems to me vulgar because for a great many years now she has been paid to ask all the vulgar questions, and she seems to...