Dishwasher: One Man's Quest to Wash Dishes in All 50 States

Jordan, sometimes known as "Dishwasher Pete," serves up one of the most entertaining memoirs to appear in quite awhile. The kind of guy who liked drifting from job to job and place to place, Jordan found his calling in the late 1980s: washing dishes. Surprisingly, he thought the work was fun; it was easy to get a job (restaurants were always looking for dishwashers); and it was no problem moving around a lot. Soon he had his brilliant idea: he would wash dishes in all 50 states. His quest took him from an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, to a fish cannery in Alaska, to a commune in Missouri (and a whole lot of diners, restaurants, and cafeterias in between). Somewhere along the way, he became a cult celebrity: Dishwasher Pete, publisher of an offbeat newsletter, radio personality, and, in one of the book's many high points, a scheduled guest on David Letterman's show (although he never actually appeared on the program). The book's exploration of the dishwashing subculture is fascinating (it even has its own terminology, like "bus tub buffet"), and the author, who now lives in Amsterdam, is an engaging and lighthearted storyteller. Imaginative marketing, from author appearances to radio ads and postcard mailings, should drum up substantial interest in this delightfully offbeat book.