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    25 Reasons Hunter S. Thompson Was A Literary Rock Star

    "I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me."

    1. He autographed his books by shooting them.

    2. His debaucherous lifestyle was the inspiration for no less than three Hollywood feature films.

    3. He started calling himself Dr. Hunter S. Thompson after buying himself a mail-order doctorate in Divinity.

    4. He paid for cocaine with multi-million dollar checks.

    5. He invented a sport called shotgun golf.

    6. He partied in a convertible with John Cusack and Johnny Depp… And an inflatable sex doll.

    7. He lived, rode with, and eventually survived a beat-down from the Hell’s Angels.

    8. As a prank on friend Jack Nicholson, he snuck up to his house in the middle of the night and placed a frozen elk heart on Nicholson’s doormat, causing blood to seep into the star’s living room.

    9. Miami Vice actor Don Johnson once asked him to answer the famous Zen riddle, “What is the sound of one-hand clapping?” Thompson responded by slapping him upside the head.

    10. He once invited Conan O’Brien to his house to drink whiskey and shoot assault rifles.

    11. In 1970 he ran for Sherriff in Pitkin County, Colorado as part of the Freak Power ticket.

    12. He despised Richard Nixon and everything he stood for, but bonded with him talking football for hours in the back seat of Nixon’s limo on the 1968 campaign trail.

    13. He was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine multiple times.

    14. The character of "Duke" in Garry Trudeau's "Doonesbury" comic strip is based on him.

    15. He liked to fill barrels with explosives and shoot them.

    16. Johnny Depp was his roommate, partner in crime and close friend.

    17. Months after this incident, Thompson shaved his buddy’s head as Depp prepared to play him in ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.’

    18. His daily routine went something like this.

    19. He once discharged a fire extinguisher on his boss and Rolling Stone founder, Jann Wenner.

    20. He taught himself how to write by retyping F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great Gatsby’ over and over on a type writer.

    21. In high school, Thompson was arrested for stealing a man's wallet. He and his friends also robbed the same gas station three nights in a row.

    22. When given the choice between prison and the military, he chose the latter but was eventually "honorably discharged."

    23. He predicted the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan the day after 9/11.

    24. He was both loved and feared by many prominent politicians.

    25. His final wish was for his ashes to be blown out of 150-foot cannon into the stratosphere.