My daughter was given this book by her boyfriend. That caused me to revisit Zevon's work. In fact, I was listening to him just now when I read your post. He really was a genius, especially as a lyricist. I am sorry I missed the last half of his career. His last CD "The Wind," when he knew that he only had a few months to live, is "breath taking." The title is telling in that he was dying of lung cancer and literally could not breath.
He may have had a rough life, but he went out like a gentleman, and a brave one at that.