I have been listening to Brian Baungartner's highly entertaining podcast, The Office Deep Dive, and this super fun, very entertaining oral history, is largely pulled from the podcast. However, even if you are a regular listener, this doesn't feel remotely like a repeat, because it's organized so differently. On the podcast, each episode Brian interviews a person, mostly actors, but not exclusively (the hair and makeup women were particularly fascinating.) In the book, each chapter is fairly chronological and topical. So in a single chapter, he'll have pulled quotes from a dozen or more interviews to put together, for example, what a lot of people felt about Steve Carrell (Michael Scott) leaving the show and how/if the show should continue from that point. This very different structure made it all feel fresh and new again.

But of course, this many years after the show has ended, fresh and new isn't why we all keep watching and rewatching and rewatching The Office, is it? We are looking for the familiarity and hominess. And we get it in spades here. Reading this book was so comforting and felt like snuggling up with a mug of tea and a warm blanket. I wish it had a few more photos, but already it's a massive book (about 450 oversized pages, and they're printing on a nice paper stock which makes the book heavier as well. You should pay attention to the paper that is used when a book is about a paper company.) This would be a fantastic gift for any fan of The Office, and as long as it was, I didn't want it to end.

I borrowed this print book from my local library.

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