The Successful Eccentric

Eccentrics always make you wonder: Are they being eccentric for crafty and strategic reasons? Or are they truly wired differently than you and me?

James D. Scurlock's "King Larry: The Life and Ruins of a Billionaire Genius" makes a good case for authentic eccentricity. The index entries include "Hillblom, Larry Lee, cheapness of," "Hillblom, Larry Lee, negativity and paranoia of" and "Hillblom, Larry Lee, as germophobe." (Flip to the page for the last item and you find, "For a time, he carried his own bottles of Lysol and ketchup everywhere.") Also encouraging: "Illegitimate children of" requires 24 page references. And I'd argue that the subject of any biography that features a "failed rodeo-brothel-turned-drive-in-movie theater" is well on his way to legitimate eccentricity.

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