The Adding Machine: Collected Essays

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The Adding Machine is a collection of essays written by Beat Generation novelist William S. Burroughs. This collection was first published in the United Kingdom in 1985, followed by an American edition in 1986. The subtitle for this book differs between editions: the first edition was published in the UK with the subtitle Collected Essays while the American version is subtitled Selected Essays.

The subject matter of the essays featured in this book vary widely; the pieces were written over a period of three decades. Topics include discussions about colleagues such as Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, as well as essays on other writers who influenced Burroughs such as Ernest Hemingway, Joseph Conrad and Samuel Beckett. Also included are some semi-autobiographical pieces.

The book lacks a sources or acknowledgements page to indicate where any of these essays were originally published.

The title of the book refers to the adding machine invented by the author's grandfather, William Seward Burroughs, I.

Works by William S. Burroughs

Novels: And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks (unpublished) - Junkie - Queer - Naked Lunch - The Soft Machine - The Ticket That Exploded - Dead Fingers Talk - Nova Express - The Last Words of Dutch Schultz - The Wild Boys - Port of Saints - Cities of the Red Night - The Place of Dead Roads - The Western Lands - My Education: A Book of Dreams Short fiction : Interzone - Exterminator! - Ali's Smile/Naked Scientology - Blade Runner, a movie - Tornado Alley - Ghost of Chance Non-fiction: The Yage Letters - The Electronic Revolution - The Job - The Third Mind - Letters to Allen Ginsberg - The Burroughs File - The Adding Machine: Collected Essays - The Cat Inside - Last Words: The Final Journals of William S. Burroughs - Evil River (announced 2007) Recordings : Dead City Radio Films: The Junky's Christmas - Ah Pook is Here - Naked Lunch