Get a handle on this (oh, you do -- the first book that looks like a beer glass?): The Oktoberfest is the biggest fair in the world. For 16 days in the Fall, there is a greater pursuit of hedonism in Munich than anywhere else in the world. Total pleasure, and all we remember is the lager. But there"s more. It goes way back, all the way to 1810 and Crown Prince Ludwig"s marriage to Therese. They had a horse race, and that was it. By 1875 they had the alcohol license and there was no looking back. Bavarian self-celebration couldn"t have been better, but at least there are toasts in all the tourist languages. Munich in October exists in a kind of consumption "state of emergency". If you"re going to go, you need to get in training, and this masterly tome is the perfect manual. Brush up on the history, the recipes for wurst, the lederhosen. It really is the perfect kitsch companion to male lack of memory after the event. So much so that next year you won"t even need to go. Just open up the book and do it all again in the privacy of your own home.