When Greg Johnson was interviewing for a job at a mental health center his interview was interrupted by a police officer with a naked woman in tow. I was looking for an adventure, he says, and this looked like it.

In A Very Famous Social Worker the author recounts with insight and humor his experiences as a rookie social worker in West Virginia's Greenbrier Valley. His unlikely parade of clients include a preacher whose wildly rebellious children are threatening to bring down his ministry, a teenage underwear fetishist, a man obsessed with Dolly Parton, and a schizophrenic poet. He goes the extra mile, often literally, teaching a client to drive, transporting an inebriated musician to rehab, and navigating a winding country road with a three-tiered wedding cake.

Engaging and entertaining, A Very Famous Social Worker sheds light on a profession practiced by 600,000 Americans that remains little known to the general public.