I loved Wainaina's memoir One Day I Will Write About This Place, and this collection of essays and short stories gave me a greater appreciation for his work. His writing truly is excellent--there is such a deep attention to craft, to satire, to humor, to proving a point while also being entertaining and enjoyable. I did like his essays much more that most of his short stories, but regardless, I overall found this to be an excellent collection. I'll likely pick up a hard copy at some point.

I highly recommend this to anyone who has an interest in sub-Saharan Africa. Literally anyone.

Because Binyavanga Wainaina died young and recently, it's impolite to criticize this book, which is a collection of his essays. Still, I was disengaged when reading most of them.

His best essays are in the end of the book, including the essay that made him famous (which is the title of this book).
The "Continent of Satire" has 4 brilliant, funny essays, including "How to be a Dictator," and "How to be an African."

The rest of the book is weak.
I've spent 8 years traveling through all 54 African countries. I wish Binyavanga Wainaina had traveled more within his continent.
I wish he blamed Africans for its problems and spent less time blaming long-dead colonialists.
But that would be politically incorrect.

For someone who knows only African stereotypes, you must read this book.