Getting familiar with the Beatniks

I'm only just starting to get into Beat generation literature. I recently started William Burroughs Naked Lunch and so far, what a shocker. I must say I'm really enjoying it but its very surprising such an obscene work was produced in that time. Also, are most of the other works of the movement in this scatter-brained style? Is that what makes it 'Beat'?
And of course I'm accepting recommendations. What else would you suggest I read after this

 

I've got a copy of On The Road, by Jack Kerouac. I started reading it, but am about half way through so far, and it's been quite educational to discover that the language used then is still in use today (Cool, Hip, etc).

I've also got a copy of The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test, and in the same book there's Radical Chic & Mau Mauing the Flack Catchers by the same author, Tom Wolfe

These were written about the same time as Naked Lunch (which I haven't yet read), and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which my Son has given to me to read.

It was a very exciting time in the late 50's early 60's as writers started to explore the boundaries of what would appeal to the general public. I remember also reading about Sonny Barger and the Hells Angels, which I think was written by Hunter S Thompson, another of the new wave of writers, who have shaped the written narrative of our age ever since.

 

Someone else who may be something of an acquired taste is Thomas Pynchon. His books are very complex and take a lot of brain power to read. However, I've got The Crying of Lot 49, which is his shortest novel, and Gravity's Rainbow, which is somewhat longer. Then there's V, which I haven't read, and several others which I'll have to read after I've shuffled off this mortal coil, as they're too long for me to manage in the years I've got left on this earth.

 

Yes I'm famili

Yes I'm familiar with Thompson's work. I've read many of his articles on Nixon, the Hell's Angels, the Kentucky Derby, Vegas, etc. I started to read Fear and Loathing but then I realized it sounded a lot like the movie and I've watched the movie (both Johnny Depp and especially Benicio del Toro were otherwordly good). I haven't read Kerouac or Tom Wolfe yet, I figure I'll dive into On The Road next

 

I started Gravity's Rainbow 2 years ago, still yet to finish it and I can't move on to any of his other stuff till I do. I like your idea of post-mortal reading a lot, I think I'll believe in that

 

Check out Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Don't worry it's not a technical manual, lol, except for your mind.