Humor and overall literary style have changed a lot in the 132 years since this book was published in 1889. However, the information remains informative, primarily because there is a certain amount of truthfulness about it that manages to disregard the passage of time. It takes in some unusual events that either did happen, or could have. It involves three men and a dog that is sometimes smarter than any of them. Between them, they come up with some depth of thought and at least a minor ability to understand human nature.
No real claim is made that the story teaches any particular lessons, good, bad, or indifferent, and veracity occasionally strays in unexpected directions. Of course, that’s to be expected when you realize the foursome, which naturally includes the dog, have no more, maybe less, poetic values than the rest of us. How you might have reacted in some of their occasional zany escapades is up to you to decide. In any case, we invite you to hear about what at least part of England was like almost a century and a half ago.
Jerome K. Jerome (1859–1927), English humorist, novelist, and playwright, was born in Staffordshire and brought up in London. His books include Three Men in a Boat, Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow; Three Men on the Bummel; Paul Kelver; the morality play The Passing of the Third Floor Back; and his autobiography, My Life and Times.
John Rayburn is a veteran of sixty-two years in broadcasting. He served as a news and sports anchor and show host, and his television newscast achieved the largest share-of-audience figures of any major-market television newscast in the nation. He is a member of the Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Fame. His network credits include reports and/or appearances on The Today Show, Huntley-Brinkley News, Walter Cronkite News, NBC Monitor, NBC News on the Hour, and others. He recorded dozens of books for the National Library Service and narrated innumerable radio and television recordings.