Paul Buck - poet, playwright, artist, performer, translator and teacher - is one of those rare and amazing people who has made every part of his life into art. ''Improvisation is at the heart of my existence, and improvisation is based on preparation and self discipline,'' writes Buck. He was at the heart of the contemporary art scene in ''Swinging London'' during the 1960s, and in the 70s founded the seminal magazine, Curtains, which brought writers like Derrida, Bataille and Paul Auster to the foreground. This intimate book, part of Bookworks's engrossing Time Machine series, is essentially an archive in the form of a scrapbook of the life Buck has led, bringing together cuttings, clippings and comments (both fiction and non-) to tell the history of the counter-currents and counter-cultures that he has lived through. Among the figures included are Kathy Acker, Maurice Blanchot, Marc Almond, Genesis P-Orridge, Raul Ruiz, Jean-Patrick Manchette and Susan Hiller.