Quartet Books is a leading independent publisher with a fine tradition of pursuing an alternative to the mainstreamQuartet Books, owned and directed by Naim Attallah since 1976, has long been something unusual and valuable in the publishing world, ready to take chances on authors and books other firms might avoid. It has become even more precious in today’s era, when independent publishers are rare and political correctness is the norm. Attallah’s entertaining new book, drawn from fifteen previous books of autobiography and interviews and embellished with recollections from colleagues, provides a chronicle of a colourful life.