Books: Leaves of Grass

DEALING or THE BERKELEY-TO-BOSTON FORTY-BRICK LOST-BAG BLUES by "Michael Douglas." 222 pages. Knopf. $5.95.

This is a deft little novel—and more. It is a shaggy-dog story about marijuana that will amuse potheads, yet remain palatable to middle-class matrons who wonder why Junior is both amorphous and resentful. In short, a very slick piece of work.

With Michael Crichton as one-half of the author, it should be. Though only 28, Crichton has already found time to graduate from medical school and write two popular books—The Andromeda Strain (scifi) and Five Patients (medical reportage). Unlike most...