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1688: A Global History by John E Wills |
1688 may not be quite as memorable as 1066 when it comes to English history, but the 'Glorious Revolution' that deposed the Stuarts was certainly a rattling tale. Coincidentally the same year also saw equally significant 'rattling tales' in cultures large and small around the world and, with global communications unimaginable at the time, it's fascinating to see both how such isolated events could shape our modern world and how parochial historical perspectives can be.
(bwl 64 Spring 2012) |
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33 Revolutions Per Minute: A History of Protest Songs by Dorian Lynskey |
From 'Strange Fruit' to 'American Idiot' this tome (843 pages in total) covers the rise and fall of the protest song through 33 examples spanning both the world and the object of protest, be it Vietnam, Black Power, Thatcher, apartheid or dictatorial repression. Each chapter takes the time and space to look at the perceived injustice, the historical context and the range of musical responses becoming as much a social history as a musical one.
(bwl 81 Summer 2016) |
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A Cack-Handed War by Edward Blishen |
When the author registered as a conscientious objector at the outbreak of WWII, he probably didn't realise he was in for four years of digging ditches and rubbing shoulders with a strange collection of political, religious and eccentric odd-balls. Agricultural labour was the order of the day and 'Conchies' were regarded as little more than traitors, so his memoirs provide a fascinating and alternative perspective to the usual view of Britain at War.
(bwl 63 Winter 2011) |
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A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole |
Imagine a mixture of Oliver Hardy, Brian Sewell and John Candy in Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Self-important, intellectually arrogant, a moral and physical coward with a fear of sexuality and a sense of destiny, trailing chaos in his wake: this is Ignatius J. Rielly, devotee of Boethius and an indignant man at odds with everything and anyone. A wonderful comic character dropped like a bad egg into the sweaty flesh pots of New Orleans. Recommended!
(bwl 29 April 2005) |
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A Metropolitan Murder by Lee Jackson |
I like a good detective story, especially those of the Holmes variety, where story and character lead and the atmosphere follows. This story turns that formula round with its emphasis on recreating Victorian London, its sights, sounds and idioms, and leaving the story trailing somewhat in its wake. It nearly lost me at one point but it did improve when the story gained momentum. It's an OK read but I think I'll stick to Holmes...
(bwl 29 April 2005) |
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A Round-Heeled Woman: My Late-life Adventures in Sex and Romance by Jane Juska |
The 'New York Review of Books' advertisement read:
"Before I turn 67 - next month - I would like to have a lot of sex with a man I like. If you want to talk first, Trollope works for me" which pretty much sums up the book. Documenting an intelligent but lonely woman's search for physical comfort, it's her choice of flawed and curious partners that provides the interest and humour. Or are all men like that?
(bwl 75 Winter 2015) |
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A Separate Creation - How Biology Makes Us Gay by Chandler Burr |
The search for the 'Gay Gene' was in all the papers several years ago. This book looks at the science behind the headlines and explains just why things are never as black and white as the papers would hope. The first chapter 'Proof that the Gay Gene Exists' is followed by 'Proof that the Gay Gene does not Exist' and the apparent contradiction is explored with humour, interviews and a wealth of easily digestible information.
(bwl 44 February 2008) |
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A Shepherd's Watch - Through the seasons with one man and his dogs by David Kennard |
To be a sheep farmer in North Devon might be a precarious existence at the best of times and not an immediately obvious subject for a book. However this simply told, honest account of one year of such a life draws you in so that you share the pleasures, the frustrations and the concerns. The author's decision to enter sheepdog trials may provide him with momentary relaxation but are just as fascinating for the outsider.
(bwl 48 November 2008) |
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A Short History of the World According to Sheep by Sally Coulthard |
I'm not sure what I was really expecting of such a title but after a 'how we got to know each other' chapter of the humano-arian relationship this was less a lineal historical progression and more a thematic based approach. In fact if QI ever decided to do a book on sheep it would look not too dissimilar to this - full of 'Well fancy that!'s and 'Who'd of thought!'s. Not that I'm complaining though . . .
(bwl 102 Autumn 2021) |
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A Turbulent Decade - 1976-1985 - The Diaries of Auberon Waugh by Auberon Waugh |
It was these scurrilous diary entries that first led to my (still un-cancelled!) Private Eye subscription and re-reading them is a real trip back to a different country of half-remembered scandal and gossip-mongering. Waugh's acerbic wit offended many at the time but his turn of phrase and sometimes startling imagery reminded me of an embittered, reactionary Eddie Izzard with an underlying but well concealed morality. I was grateful for the numerous explanatory footnotes though.
(bwl 46 June 2008) |
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Adventures of a Wanderer by Sydney Powell |
Simply written with directness and honesty, these reminiscences of an educated and foot-loose wanderer cover the twenty years up to the First World War. From South Africa to Australia, New Zealand, the South Sea Islands and Gallipoli, he went wherever work and the promise of adventure took him, meeting in the process a fascinating collection of misfits, 'gentlemen rankers' and romantics who fringed the frontiers of Empire. A book I found both revealing and rewarding.
(bwl 23 April 2004) |
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Against Type: The Biography Of Burt Lancaster by Gary Fishgall |
I could recognise Burt's face but would be hard put to name his films, probably because of his refusal to be pigeon-holed and his insistence on taking on such a wide range of roles. His attention to detail, his obstinacy, legendary temper and his burning desire to be as good as he could possibly be, made him either a challenging and demanding employee or a marvellous and generous actor. No half measures with Burt Lancaster!
(bwl 57 Summer 2010) |
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Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life by Roald Dahl |
As a collection of short stories, I didn't find this as satisfying as the others. Concentrating on country life and lacking for the most part the immediacy of the themes of sex and death, the stories come across as slightly knowing variations of Pop Larkin* escapades. Not that they are by any means bad but they do lack the cutting edge that distinguishes the best of his work. Dahl's contented post-war life shows through.
*H. E. Bates
(bwl 43 December 2007) |
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Am I a Chap? by Gustav Temple |
Exactly how to tell a true chap from some johnny-come-lately? It's tricky so I recommend this guide. Ten key chap variants such as Cad, Military and Dandy are each illustrated by a living and a deceased exemplar and a sartorial history of key accoutrements such as braces and blazers. These are amusing and informative as are the critiques of hopeful photos submitted to 'The Chap' magazine. Slip in the portmanteau when off to the Highlands.
(bwl 66 Autumn 2012) |
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American Journey: Life on the Home Front in the Second World War by Alistair Cooke |
Re-discovered just before his death (much to his delight) this picaresque journey loops around America as the author seeks for himself just how the declaration of war after Pearl Harbour affected the ordinary American. Sensitive, intuitive and perceptive, it is impossible to read without hearing Cooke's distinctive voice resonating within. For me this only heightens the enjoyment of a book that teases out the real issues and concerns confronting those he meets along the way.
(bwl 39 April 2007) |
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American Scream - The Bill Hicks Story by Cynthia True |
Hicks became an iconic figure due to his early death from pancreatic cancer aged 32. With his memory fresh and his compatriots still youthful, talking to those who remember him is not a problem and probably provides a more rounded picture of an individual of many contradictions and some less than appealing traits. His confrontational and intelligent humour is better seen than read but I doubt the account of his inner life will be bettered.
(bwl 48 November 2008) |
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Anatomy of the Wine Trade - Abe's Sardines and Other Stories by Simon Loftus |
An engaging series of character studies from the wine trade of the mid-eighties. Although the author insists that the profession of wine-buyer is neither glamorous nor enviable he then proves otherwise with these affectionate and kindly portraits. From soil to shop each stage in the wine-making process has its representative, all struggling to make a profit. With the rise of the supermarkets I was left wondering how they had all fared in the intervening years.
(bwl 21 November 2003) |
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Anger is an Energy: My Life Uncensored by John Lydon |
Every bit as shocking, confrontational and in-your-face as the Sex Pistols themselves! Meningitis at seven years old wiped his memory clean and medical advice was to make him angry to stimulate recovery. With this anger, an insistence on unwavering personal integrity and a laser-like stare Johnny was off and running. Uncomfortable to work with and probably on the arrogant side, his is a life spent upsetting apple-carts. A compelling book and an utterly fascinating individual.
(bwl 81 Summer 2016) |
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Angry White Pyjamas - An Oxford Poet Trains with the Tokyo Riot Police by Robert Twigger |
Softies prove themselves by running marathons. Lovers of Samurai poetry, with a (tenuous) residency in Japan, might instead take an intense, brutal course of Aikido. Juxtaposing a lax, squalid and communal bachelor life with the punishing self-discipline of the Dojo, this account of the ups and downs of a one-year course is an eye-opener on Japanese culture, Western misfits, bodily pain and the fear of failure. Engrossing and fascinating - but I'll stick to marathons...
(bwl 14 July 2002) |
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Anzio: The Friction of War - Italy and the Battle for Rome 1944 by Lloyd Clark |
If ever a campaign failed to live up to expectations it was Anzio. A Churchill-inspired landing behind German defensive lines that was fatally hamstrung by misunderstanding and distrust between the two allies with its potency further reduced by cautious local commanders. The result was one of the bloodiest campaigns of the war and a severe test of relationships just prior to the Normandy invasion. No wonder the jibe 'D-Day Dodgers' evoked such a bitter response.
(bwl 51 May 2009) |
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Are you Dave Gorman? by Dave Gorman |
Normally these 'extraordinary adventures for a bet' sort of books feel a bit contrived but this one does have a feeling of authenticity about it. Who wouldn't be tempted to track down and meet 54 other individuals with the same name as yourself? The fact that they managed a book, television series and a whole stand-up routine out of it is probably down to telling a simple tale with charm and humour - but without malice.
(bwl 52 July 2009) |
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At Home with the Marquis de Sade by Francine du Plessix Gray |
How would you react if your daughter married the infamous Marquis de Sade? Drawing on remaining correspondence this excellent, absorbing study features his devoted wife, implacable mother-in-law and dissolute relatives. The complexity of his character is compelling - his charm, love of theatre, unfashionable abhorrence of capital punishment and views on the sanctity of marriage are balanced by arrogance, selfishness and intolerance. The author reveals unexpected and surprising aspects of the man and his time.
(bwl 13 April 2002) |
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At Home: Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson |
This is a typically Bryson-esque book in that the author looks at a common, everyday object (in this case his own 1850s Norfolk rectory) and from it extrapolates an extraordinary set of tales, stories and histories behind each of the rooms. From Hall to Attic, each space has it's own set of customs and practices that evolved over the centuries to become our 'normal'. Social history of the finest kind.
(bwl 73 Summer 2014) |
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At The Waters Edge: Fish With Fingers Whales With Legs . . . by Carl Zimmer |
Whales were a conundrum for Darwin but provide a fascinating detective story in this absorbing account of evolution. After struggling to evolve legs, what was it that prompted one particular group to return to the sea? Why, unlike their reptile predecessors, did whales develop sonar, filter krill with baleen, and have an up/down tail movement? Surprisingly much comes down to the teeth and skull of their ancient wolf-like ancestor Pakicetus. Big changes from small differences... (Clive)
(bwl 53 September 2009) |
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Authorised Biography of John Gielgud by Sheridan Morley |
This is an engaging biography from someone who knew and liked his subject. Not that Gielgud's failings are ignored, especially his naivety following his arrest on indecency charges and his absent-minded faux pas with fellow actors. His background and the struggle to find his own 'voice' are fascinating but it is his homosexuality, its relation to the culture of the theatre and society's shifting attitudes which provide a constant thread in this very enjoyable study.
(bwl 32 November 2005) |
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Bad Pharma: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients by Ben Goldacre |
If you believe Western medicine is firmly developed along the line of evidence-based science, think again. This extended piece of investigative journalism reveals the comprehensive corruption of this ideal, to the point where selfish business interests seem so endemic, ingrained and even encouraged that it's almost a hopeless case. The author, a GP himself, does offer some basic fixes but in a world where money talks (and talks loudly at that) even these look optimistic.
(bwl 68 Spring 2013) |
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Bad Science by Ben Goldacre |
Undoubtedly the most important book I've read in the last 12 months. As in his newspaper column, but with more depth, he examines the claims of newspapers, pharmaceutical companies, health gurus and statisticians with a dispassionate and scientific eye. Ever wondered why everything seems to both cause cancer and prevent it at the same time? Been scared by the MMR vaccine? Been suspicious of 'expert' guests on tv programmes? Then this book is for you . . .
(bwl 57 Summer 2010) |
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Barrow's Boys - A Stirring Story of Daring, Fortitude and Outright Lunacy by Fergus Fleming |
The 19th C explosion in British exploration (and the enduring myth of the plucky, bumbling British explorer) had less to do with knowledge and more to do with a lack of wars and promotion. John Barrow, Admiralty Secretary, sought to make his mark through promoting expeditions over the globe - Timbuktu, the Niger, Australia and, most famously, the North West Passage. These are extraordinarily vivid chronicles of brave, frequently under-funded and, sadly, politically disposable heroes.
(bwl 28 February 2005) |
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Battle of Wits - The Complete Story of Codebreaking in World War II by Stephen Budiansky |
If it wasn't for the fact that my eyes glaze over at even the whiff of an equation, I could praise this book to the rafters. As it is any topic that relies so much on mathematics for its existence shouldn't take much notice of my own numero-phobic issues. Luckily behind every code there's a human story and there's more than enough examples of heroism, personality clashes and rivalry to keep you turning the pages!
(bwl 50 March 2009) |
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Bearded Tit: A Love Story With Feathers by Rory McGrath |
An unenthusiastic thumbs up for a diverting reminiscence. Why unenthusiastic? Well a mix of Red Herrings, Unreliable Narrator, a touch of Anagnorisis* and a splattering of Self-Deprecation make this tale of boy meets, loses and regains girl (years later) feel like an exercise with smoke and mirrors. It's readable and engaging all right, just a bit annoying and at the end you half expect him to leap out shouting "Gotcha again!" just as you finish.
*A sudden recognition of their own or another character's true identity or nature. Apparently.
(bwl 53 September 2009) |
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Beer and Britannia - An Inebriated History of Britain by Peter Haydon |
Church and pub were twin pillars of village life - the church is well documented, the pub usually ignored. This book goes some way to rectify this, showing how changes in drinking habits through the ages were largely reactions to taxation, prohibition or regulation. Peter Haydon blends anecdote with research to show that although the tipple may be different the results are always the same - the English binge-drinker continues to stagger his way through history.
(bwl 20 March 2003) |
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Big Data: The Essential Guide to Work, Life and Learning in the Age of Insight by Viktor Mayer-Schonberger & Kenneth Cukier |
Rather presciently, the opening example of Big Data usage relates to the outbreak of the H1N1 virus with Google searches for symptoms providing a real-time picture of the spreading virus. A 'good' use of data mining but as companies and organisations realise that the data they hold is often more valuable than any product they make there can be a feeling of exploitation. This is a well-balanced discussion with fascinating, revealing and sometimes alarming insights.
(bwl 96 Spring 2020) |
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Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions by Daniel Wallace |
Myths and tall tales are attracted to heroes and eventually submerge and subsume the individual. In Big Fish the opposite is the case as the myths and legends that gather around an ordinary man (indeed that are created by him) actually serve to illuminate and explain his life. After all, we are all the heroes of our own existence and how better to make sense of it than through 'The Story of My Extraordinary Life'?
(bwl 63 Winter 2011) |
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Blue Period - Notes from a Life in the Titillation Trade by Nicholas Whittaker |
A budding journalist's tale of how he found himself writing large chunks of Fiesta in the 70s (from readers' letters to the exotic 'biographies' of less than exotic models) is both amusing and slightly poignant. Working daily with the slightly seamier side of life takes its toll on personal relationships and emotional health as the 'dream' job eventually becomes both numbing and repetitive. Less glamour than a Carry On movie but a very breezy read!
(bwl 34 April 2006) |
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Bonzo's War: Animals Under Fire 1939-1945 by Clare Campbell |
A fascinating look at a forgotten area of WW II, namely what happened to all the pets? Sadly many of them were put down in the initial days of the Phoney War with crematoria pushed beyond their limits. Then came tensions with rationing and the consumption of crucial supplies, tales of heroism and miraculous survival and finally conscription into the armed forces. A real eye-opener and an engrossing read, although with its share of sadness.
(bwl 78 Autumn 2015) |
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Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football by David Winner |
How far can you go in extrapolating the character of a nation through the way it plays football? Quite a way if this engaging and very enjoyable work is to be believed. The Dutch emphasis on consensual government and mistrust of leaders, their views of space and its uses (a result of their national geography) and historic Dutch attitudes to Germany all played their part in creating football teams of undeniable genius but deep psychological flaws.
(bwl 54 November 2009) |
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Captain James Cook: An Autobiography by Richard Alexander Hough |
If anyone's life could be summed up as 'three strikes and you're out!' it seems to be that of Captain Cook, chart-maker, navigator and explorer. The consummate professional progressed up the naval ladder to command two highly successful voyages but took one trip too many. Exhaustion, mental illness and a suggested parasitic infection blighted his third and fateful voyage but this fascinating book ensures due credit for the work for which he should be remembered.
(bwl 64 Spring 2012) |
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Captives - Britain, Empire and the World 1600-1850 by Linda Colley |
An empire short on manpower would always risk leaving its citizens exposed and vulnerable to capture and these testimonies prove the lie that Britons 'never shall be slaves'. Concentrating on North Africa, the Americas, India and Afghanistan, Britons showed an extraordinary ability to be assimilated into their captor's society, often showing an embarrassing reluctance to re-emerge. For the poorer captive, 'going native' even as a slave often seemed preferable to the life they left behind.
(bwl 39 April 2007) |
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Charmed Lives - A Family Romance by Michael Korda |
This biography of film director Sir Alexander Korda goes some way to explain how three wartime refugee brothers from Hungary could become the personification of post-war British film-making. What it does best is to look at the brothers' family dynamics - it was less successful in invoking the political background to British film making of the time. Even so it's an engaging read, even if the claims of 'a cast of thousands' was typically oversold...
(bwl 19 June 2003) |
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Churchill's Wizards: The British Genius for Deception 1914-45 by Nicholas Rankin |
As a tale of wartime intrigue and derring-do this is undoubtedly an enjoyable and informative read. Who couldn't help but be fascinated by the development of 'dazzle' paint for ships, stainless steel observation posts in the shape of trees, canvas tanks and bodies left with misleading information. But 'genius'? As innovation was strongly resisted by the British and both the French and the Russians were equally successful with concealment the claim does seem slightly excessive.
(bwl 55 Winter 2010) |
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Cinema's Strangest Moments by Quentin Falk |
This could best be described as a superior 'dip-in' book comprising a series of anecdotes on the more unusual aspects of film-making. These are grouped by decade and what makes it refreshing is that many of the films and subjects are more obscure and interesting than usual in a book of this type. It looks (and reads) as the work of an enthusiast, not a researcher, which put it in a class above for me.
(bwl 40 June 2007) |
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Cod - A Biography of a Fish that Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky |
Peppered with cod recipes through the ages, this absorbing book explains how a northern cold-water fish features so prominently in the cuisines of Spain, East Africa and the Caribbean. The cause of war and wealth; as early as the first millennium Atlantic catches required supplementing by Basque fishermen off America. But it was salt that turned a perishable item into a tradable source of protein both to fuel the slave trade and to provision exploration.
(bwl 20 September 2003) |
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Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki and his Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami |
Once there were five inseparable school friends but one is cold-shouldered by the rest who each declare independently that they never want to see him again. Accepting this shattering rejection stoically he leaves his home town for a new life. Decades later he wonders exactly why he was ostracised and goes in search of answers. It's a melancholic and reflective novel which would have been much shorter if he'd asked them in the first place.
(bwl 87 Winter 2018) |
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Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches From The Unfinished Civil War by Tony Horwitz |
Before Trump, Qanon and anti-vaxxers, the South was still a different country, defined by the American Civil War in a way that the North never was. Here a fascinated and curious northerner engages with battle re-enactors, Daughters of the Confederacy, local museums and others ruminating on the war that for many never ended. His empathy and thoughtful reflections are not only entertaining but provide welcome context on the mindset of much of the modern USA.
(bwl 103 Winter 2022) |
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Confessions of a Late Night Talk Show Host by Garry Shandling |
Larry Sanders. A funny guy. Self-obsessed, arrogant and insecure. And what about those pithy monologues? Short phrases - measured delivery - smirk to the camera. Very amusing. And very much like reading this book. Funny, insincere with an uneasy feeling of being exploited. On small pages. In large print. With over a hundred pages devoted to photographs of guests. But I had the last laugh - I only paid 20p for it second-hand. It was worth every penny.
(bwl 36 September 2006) |
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Cor Baby That's Really Me! by John Otway |
He's a great act to see live but sadly there's no way John Otway would ever be a rock superstar. However he does know how to get things going with slightly off the wall projects, mainly aimed at self promotion. Of which this autobiography is one. But it's still good fun and shows a sense of self-awareness which he exploits by the slightly annoying use of a third person narrative. Detached irony overload maybe?
(bwl 78 Autumn 2015) |
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Courtesans and Fishcakes - The Consuming Passions of Classical Athens by James Davidson |
Athenians, it seems, avoided overt displays of wealth for fear of taxation, showing off instead at private dinner parties (symposiums) or in their choice of ruinously expensive courtesans (hetaera). This book not only looks at their attitudes to drink, addiction to fish and fluid system of inherited wealth but it also throws light on how these concealed yet 'consuming passions' were to affect the politics and the ultimate downfall of Athens itself. Fascinating and enjoyable.
(bwl 15 October 2002) |
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Cranks, Quarks and the Cosmos: Essays on Science and Scientists by Jeremy Bernstein |
Not being a scientist I do really enjoy a bit of science reading for a glimpse of a totally different world and Bernstein does the job admirably. I think it really helps that the author is himself a theoretical physicist as he chooses his subjects and topics with the eye of someone who really knows who or what is significant and why, and his skill as an author make for an informative and stimulating read.
(bwl 76 Spring 2015) |
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Cruel Britannia - Reports on the Sinister and the Preposterous by Nick Cohen |
The writings of this Observer journalist were new to me before reading this collection but I enjoyed them a great deal. His light touch and skilful analysis in pointing out the hypocrisy and the double standards of 'New Labour' since its coming to power were not only amusing but, with the help of hindsight, very accurate (for example in his analysis of the 'Blair's Babes' photograph). Dissenting labour journalism at its incisive and honest best.
(bwl 23 April 2004) |
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Dancing on the Grave - Encounters with Death by Nigel Barley |
Having read and enjoyed this fascinating anthropological exploration, I cannot imagine any other field could possibly be as complex or colourful as the range of human attitudes toward death - or jokes about death, relations with ancestors, cannibalism, rebirth or even the approved method of behaving at funerals. In many ways this is an inspiring book that can lead to a questioning of our own attitudes as well as marvelling at the creativity of others.
(bwl 31 September 2005) |
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David Copperfield by Charles Dickens |
This is my first Dickens novel and very enjoyable it was too. A real 'what happened next?' page turner with an unfeasibly decent hero (despite a constant ability to fall head over heels in love), some very dodgy villains and a host of amusing and noble supporting characters. Not forgetting the rush of convenient deaths and handily remarkable conveniences preceding a happy end. You'll find it's impossible to avoid reading choice extracts out loud though.
(bwl 82 Autumn 2016) |
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Dawn of the Dumb: Dispatches from the Idiotic Frontline by Charlie Brooker |
I enjoy Charlie Brooker's TV broadsides and expected to feel the same with these collected writings. And I did . . . at first. The problem with reading collected articles covering several years is that it shows how often he derides reality TV whilst appearing to be obsessed by it. Great for a dip into but concentrated bursts mean you are left wondering if he's less a maverick wildcard and more part of the process.
(bwl 66 Autumn 2012) |
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Dear Mr Shaw: Selections from Bernard Shaw's postbag by Vivian Elliot |
Sage, playwright and prophet, Shaw was both respected and idolised for his wide-ranging and alternative views. So much so that it seems everyone wanted to talk to him and this selection gives a fascinating insight into the preoccupations of the age as he collects far more than his fair share of 'characters'. Shaw's wit and sharp tongue shine through as his compassion and wisdom are carefully concealed by an abrupt, prickly and miserly self-protective persona.
(bwl 52 July 2009) |
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Defending the Rock: How Gibraltar Defeated Hitler by Nicholas Rankin |
Failure to take Gibraltar was often cited by Axis generals as being critical in their eventual defeat. Its capture would have excluded the British from the Mediterranean with the inevitable loss of North Africa and routes to India. So with Fascist Spain, Nazi Germany, Vichy France and the nascent Italian Empire all seeking its demise the fact it survived came down as much to political intriguing between their competing interests as to its fortress-like appearance.
(bwl 99 Winter 2021) |
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Detective Stories from The Strand Magazine by Jack Adrian (editor) |
Famous for championing Sherlock Holmes, The Strand was also home for writers such as Huxley, Christie and Chesterton, all keen to prove their worth as writers of detective fiction. For variety, ingeniousness and style this anthology is hard to beat. Dénouements are flourished like magicians' hankies and a real sense of time and place pervades - and then, to round it off, a couple of lesser-known Holmes stories thrown in at the end. Lovely stuff!
(bwl 27 December 2004) |
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Devil's Chariots: The Birth and Secret Battles of the First Tanks by John Glanfield |
The day the first lumbering tanks spluttered and clanked their way into no-man's land must have seemed an impossible dream to those responsible for their development. From fantastic ideas for 'armoured landships' and portable infantry shields right up to the finished product, developers had to fight hostility, disbelief, new technology and an army which for the most part didn't want them. Post-war however (and having proved their point) the troublesome designers were soon sent packing.
(bwl 59 Winter 2011) |
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Dictionary of Idiocy & Other Matters of Opinion by Steven Bayley |
I'm a great fan of trivia and snippets of information and this book is full of them - trouble is I feel I've been sold it under false pretences. The categories are arbitrary, the opinions take the form of quotes and 'Idiot' is defined in the original sense of a free-thinker. Padded out with notes on individuals more quoted than read, include a similar exercise by Flaubert as an appendix and you've created the ideal stocking-filler.
(bwl 37 December 2006) |
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Divorcing Jack by Colin Bateman |
Fast-moving, fast-talking thriller set in a desperate Northern Irish landscape of betrayal, routine murder and bribery. The main character is an alcoholic reporter (surprise, surprise..) who enjoys a full range of human frailties and who, for the most part, I found frustrating and irritating. For a thriller I thought the 'How?' was fairly weak but where it really scored was the 'Why?' and it was this that kept me reading to the wee small hours.
(bwl 27 December 2004) |
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Dr Johnson's Dictionary: The Extraordinary Story of the Book That Defined the World by Henry Hitchings |
How one man found himself taking on the task of defining a language is a story worth the telling and this book does it justice. However, arranging the small-ish chapters under alphabetical headings that are themselves dictionary entries does seem to be taking the conceit a bit far! The enormity of the task Johnson set himself became more apparent as work progressed but the eventual impact of the finished work must have made it worthwhile.
(bwl 46 June 2008) |
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Dry Store Room No. 1: The Secret Life of the Natural History Museum by Richard Fortey |
A former palaeontologist himself at the museum, Fortey provides both a tour of the hidden galleries and collections of the Natural History Museum as well as a gossip-filled portrait of the many eccentrics, loners and geniuses who have worked there. Whilst acknowledging and embracing the changing role of the institution, he still makes the case for the less obviously commercial but still vital scientific endeavours driven by these misfits in their isolated, Ghormenghast-like galleries.
(bwl 73 Summer 2014) |
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Duveen: The Story of the Most Spectacular Art Dealer of All Time by S N Behrman |
Well there's a bold claim but one I doubt many could dispute. America's wealth but no art and Europe's art but no wealth might be its base but Duveen uniquely elevated dealing from the mercantile to the personal, deciding who might be his client, what they should buy and when they might appreciate it. He cultivated his unique reputation and methods so that 'his' artworks were appreciated in the manner (and price!) he deemed appropriate.
(bwl 105 Summer 2022) |
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Empire of the Clouds: When Britain's Aircraft Ruled the World by James Hamilton-Brown |
This story of post-war British aviation pits scientific and technical innovation allied to the personal 'can-do' attitudes of incredibly brave test pilots against a cost-cutting treasury, entrenched bureaucracy and self-serving, inefficient companies. Inevitably the latter prevailed and Britain not only surrendered the lead in military aviation but, with a few notable exceptions, effectively ducked out of the race altogether. A fascinating 'Boys Own' tale of derring-do laid low by the icy grip of austerity Britain.
(bwl 102 Autumn 2021) |
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English Graphic by Tom Lubbock |
As a non-artist or art historian I have no idea whether the examples of English graphic art that Tom Lubbock selected for this book of essays are worthy of the attention, but he is an engaging and interesting writer who is able to weave a fascinating tale around all of his subjects. Stained glass, chalk carvings, cartoons, book frontispieces, illustrated manuscripts and book illustrations, it's a real feast for both the mind and the eye.
(bwl 94 Autumn 2019) |
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Evolution's Workshop - God and Science on the Galapagos Islands by Edward J Larson |
It is fascinating to consider the effects that a small string of isolated and practically waterless islands have had on both religion and science - and that is just what this book does. It is the story of the islands seen through the eyes of those that landed there, from pirates and colonists to scientists, tourists and visionaries. It also chronicles the scientific expeditions and the reactions they provoked, from Darwin to the present day.
(bwl 26 October 2004) |
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Existential Pleasures of Engineering, The by Samuel C Florman |
This intriguing book hopes to overturn the notion of engineers as either earnest nerds or the driving force of a soul-less society. The author looks at significant moments in the historical development of engineering, notably those points when the engineer ceased to be perceived as a creative entity and became the bogeyman of the anti-technology movement, arguing that this is an misunderstanding of one of mankind's fundamental attributes. But engineers to replace politicians? Could work!
(bwl 12 January 2002) |
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Fighter Boys - Saving Britain 1940 by Patrick Bishop |
Strong on personal narratives and reminiscences, this illuminating account looks at the chain of events and planning that ensured Fighter Command was able to survive the Battle of Britain. From the experiences of the First World War, the struggle to establish a fledgling independent service in the inter-war period, the democratisation and establishment of flying training for reservists and finally the (often tragically brief) experiences of combat over Britain, this is history by personal testament.
(bwl 48 November 2008) |
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Fighter Pilot by Paul Richey |
Published anonymously in 1941 this is a personal journal of the air-war over France in a period known as the 'Phoney War'. There was little 'phoney' about it for the aircrew on both sides though as they endured the gradual escalation of tensions, contacts and combats until the eventual invasion of France. However it's the personal aspects of everyday life that make it so engrossing and one of the most absorbing military memoirs I've read.
(bwl 84 Spring 2017) |
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Flashman by George Macdonald Fraser |
I loved Flashman as a youth, so I was a little concerned that a later reading might somehow diminish the memories I had of him. I needn't have worried though. Flashies brutally honest assessment of his own and others' characters allied to his great luck, cowardice and a finely-honed sense of self-preservation mean that his place is safe in the pantheon of great literary characters. And some wonderful footnotes for the discerning connoisseur as well . . .
(bwl 62 Autumn 2011) |
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Floating Brothel by Sian Rees |
In this fascinating book, the author takes a footnote in history and from it teases the human stories behind the fact. The second fleet to Australia specifically addressed the need for female convicts by emptying the gaols of London. By tracing court records, journals, naval reports and other primary sources, Rees populates the ship with real characters. Not so much a brothel as a group of women struggling against the odds and (mostly) succeeding.
(bwl 28 February 2005) |
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Football Against the Enemy by Simon Kuper |
Football's cultural pervasiveness makes it an obvious, though ultimately unpredictable, weapon. This book is an exploration of football as a political force, sometimes emerging spontaneously as when the Dutch beat Germany and sometimes as a cynical tool used by Cold War Soviets or Argentina of the military junta. It explores football's relationship to crime, oppression and even religious intolerance but it also looks at football's redemptive powers as a means of resistance and self expression.
*The enemy it seems is whoever you disagree with . . .
(bwl 57 Summer 2010) |
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Foreign Devils on the Silk Road: The Search For The Lost Treasure Of Central Asia by Peter Hopkirk |
As suggested by the title this is both a series of exciting archaeological adventures into the most inhospitable and remote areas of the world in order to rescue priceless artefacts AND a shocking tale of cultural destruction carried out by privateers during a period of weak central rule. The stripped and gutted temples of the Taklaman and Gobi deserts, a fascinating melting pot of cultural influences, are still a source of anger in the region.
(bwl 106 Autumn 2022) |
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Freakonomics - A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven Levitt |
Now this book is annoyingly far too easy to read. In looking at concealed links and effects of many everyday actions and beliefs the authors come up with some fascinating and interesting facts and trends that challenge many commonly held assumptions. Are drug dealers rich? Does it matter if your child goes to a 'school of choice'? Do police initiatives really cut crime? Entertaining and informative? Yes - but much more 'Informative' bias please!
(bwl 48 November 2008) |
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Frigates - An Account of the Lighter Warships of the Napoleonic Wars by James Henderson |
'Lack of Frigates!' was Nelson's lament because these quick, nimble ships were vital for reconnaissance and guarding trade routes. Although too small to fight in the set-piece battles there were numerous celebrated actions around the world where three or four ships would tussle for local supremacy ('Master and Commander' * portrays a typical frigate action). What could be a dry narrative is actually an engrossing sailor's-eye view of skill, daring and courage on the high seas.
*Editor's note: the first of Patrick O'Brian's famous Aubrey/Maturin novels
(bwl 32 November 2005) |
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Futebol: The Brazilian Way of Life
by Alex Bellos |
The Brazilians felt that 'Football ' was too anglicised so they invented their own name - and game! Don't worry though if you don't like football, this is a fascinating journey through a country's culture and psyche that asks why it is that this particular part of the world manages to gauge its national well-being on the performance of eleven men on a sports field - producing a totally absorbing and entertaining read in the process.
(bwl 52 July 2009) |
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Gallipoli by Robert Rhodes James |
I cannot imagine there is a better book available about this ill-starred campaign. Which is a big claim to make but when an author can explain the political, military and personal accounts as clearly and lucidly as James does then it's hard to imagine how it could be bettered. The Turkish dead were neither recovered nor buried - Ataturk insisting their bones serve as their memorial. This deeply moving account might also serve such a purpose.
(bwl 30 June 2005) |
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Geisha - The Secret History of a Vanishing World by Lesley Downer |
In modern Japanese society the Geisha seems like a highly specialised and evolved species so highly adapted to one ecological niche that it's doomed to extinction. However the authors comprehensive examination of the origins and development of the modern geisha reveal surprisingly robust roots! The history is fascinating but it is matched by the accounts, thoughts, attitudes and beliefs revealed by the modern inhabitants of the 'Flower and Willow World'. An absorbing and sympathetic work.
(bwl 22 February 2004) |
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Get Carter by Ted Lewis |
There's a real American feel to this gritty tale of a remorseless hit-man tracking down the murderer of his brother. The first person narrative invites you into the mind of violence in a casual but direct manner and you find yourself on 'his side' - even if that side has little to commend it over the 'other side'! As far removed from Agatha Christie as you can get but it's a compelling read for all that.
(bwl 78 Autumn 2015) |
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God Is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens |
Any critique of faith will stir and frustrate in equal measure and this example, well-written and engaging though it is, is no different. If you believe in a god then the quotes and examples from various holy books, whilst uncomfortable, can probably be dismissed or excused whilst leaving a core faith intact. If you don't believe, then Hitchens is determinedly pointing out the obvious to those with "La-la-I can't hear you" fingers in their ears.
(bwl 47 September 2008) |
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Gone Primitive - Savage Intellects, Modern Lives by Marianna Torgovnick |
This exploration of Civilisation's fascination with the primitive starts off well by looking at the preconceptions of early ethnographers and a deconstruction of the Tarzan myth, dipping only slightly when looking at the history of primitive 'art' but faltered for me when looking at attitudes to the primitive in literature (especially DH Lawrence). Never mind, I enjoyed the discussion around Freud and his collection of antiquities so it all ended on a plus for me!
(bwl 33 February 2006) |
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Good and Faithful Servant - The Unauthorized Biography of Bernard Ingham by Robert Harris |
Bernard Ingham was one of those people that rose to prominence without anyone really knowing how or why. This entertaining biography explains how a socialist firebrand and instinctive
'Tory-baiter' became Mrs. Thatcher's most trusted aide and far more valuable to her than most of her ministers. It is also illuminating in view of his recent attacks on the role of Alistair Campbell, who surely must have learned many lessons from this most faithful of servants.
(bwl 18 April 2003) |
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Googlewhack! Adventure by Dave Gorman |
Tales of a comic's adventures following a crazy bet (another one!). A googlewhack consists of two words entered into Google that only produce one hit and Dave Gorman's self-imposed task is to construct a chain of ten whacks by meeting the page author and persuading them to find the next whack in the process. Good-natured, contrived but saved by the genuine reactions of the people he meets. Sadly I remain whackless after weeks of trying . . .
(bwl 41 August 2007) |
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Gotta Get Theroux This: My Life and Strange Times in Television by Louis Theroux |
With its title taken from some t-shirt bootleg merchandise, Louis Theroux continues his autobiography in the same curious, awkward and self-deprecating style as his documentaries. Anxiety seems to be a keyword throughout his life, but allied both to a willingness to take chances and a fascination with people it also allows for a deal of thoughtfulness and meditation, continuing contact with many of his subjects for years after broadcast. A genuinely interesting and insightful read.
(bwl 102 Autumn 2021) |
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Grayson Perry: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl by Wendy Jones |
The basis of the book was a series of recordings made by the author well before Perry's Turner Prize, but it was this event that presumably made it publishable. Which is undoubtedly 'a good thing' as the account of his childhood and youth, his struggles with difficult family dynamics, his transvestism and emerging sexuality as well as his complex and rich imaginative world make for a very readable and honest account of his formative years.
(bwl 92 Spring 2019) |
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Gypsy Jem Mace: First Heavyweight Champion of the World by Jeremy Poolman |
This book introduced me to one of the most fascinating characters you could ever hope to meet, a fiddle-playing boxer of immense strength and courage who straddled the old world of bare-knuckle bouts and modern boxing. However, I'm not sure this is the book to really learn about him. The author (and descendent) relates his own life in parallel with Jem's and many scenes of his life read almost as fictional recreations. Very frustrating!
(bwl 62 Autumn 2011) |
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Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad |
Despite being a fan of 'Apocalypse Now!', this is the first time I'd read the novella itself. Comparing and contrasting the two is inevitable but it says a great deal for Conrad's skills that I was slowly sucked in beyond this superficial response into Marlowe's strangely detached world as he makes his lengthy and tortuous path up-river to meet the enigmatic and mysterious Kurtz. One to revisit and re-read I think, just like the film.
(bwl 55 Winter 2010) |
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I Left my Grandfather's House by Denton Welch |
A short account of the author's walking tour to Devon in the 1930's and prior to the accident that would cripple and, ultimately, kill him. This knowledge lends it great poignancy as his obvious enjoyment of the physical, revelling in not only his own body, but those of others can be seen as the idealised reminiscences of an invalid. It is well written though, with an air of being polished like a much loved memento.
(bwl 29 April 2005) |
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I Think You'll Find It's A Bit More Complicated Than That by Ben Goldacre |
For over ten years Ben Goldacre had a 'Bad Science' column in The Guardian where he explored dubious claims, extraordinary advertisments and questionable medical statistics and this is a compilation of the best of them. They provide a measured and rational response to the blizzard of half-facts and assertions that seem to be thrown around at random these days and make superb bedtime reading as long as exposing cant and hypocrisy doesn't raise your indignation.
(bwl 103 Winter 2022) |
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I, Lucifer by Glen Duncan |
When you've led a rebellion against the Big Guy and suffered millennia of pain as a consequence, you can be forgiven for being slightly suspicious when he offers you a second chance. All you have to do is to live a blameless life for a few months in the body of a mortal. It's a chance for reflection, explanation and justification as well, but who's really pulling the strings? The Devil never sounded as plausible . . .
(bwl 50 March 2009) |
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Imperial Ambitions: Conversations with Noam Chomsky on the Post 9/11 World by Noam Chomsky and David Barsamian |
These transcripts of interviews with Chomsky between 2002 and 2005 have a clarity of thought and expression that make a refreshing change from much of the current political posturing and sabre-rattling. From historical roots to the regular and cynical use of influence and military force, America's current global domination is examined and it's relationship with other nations and organisations discussed. 'America First'? Definitely not a new concept but an intrinsic cornerstone of American political policy.
(bwl 90 Autumn 2018) |
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Imperium by Robert Harris |
The rise of the ambitious young Cicero as remembered by his now aged but still faithful secretary Tiro. The ruthless machinations of the Roman Republic are laid bare in a plausible novelisation of the known facts. And what a cast of memorable characters there are; Crassus, Pompey, Caesar and others, scheming and plotting to bring down the Republic and through sham populist promises and policies, establish themselves as Emperor. It all seems strangely contemporary too...
(bwl 98 Autumn 2020) |
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In Hitler's Bunker - A boy soldier's eyewitness account of the Fuhrer's last days by Armin D Lehman |
An extraordinary personal account of the last weeks of Hitler's life. Selected from his doomed Hitler Youth unit and given the job of courier in Hitler's bunker, the author found himself traversing a shattered Berlin with senseless orders for non-existent units. The disintegration of the Nazi hierarchy matches the crumbling of the young man's ideology as his revered leaders fall apart before the inevitable Russian advance. He later became an American citizen and peace campaigner.
(bwl 48 November 2008) |
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In Search of Lost Gods - A Guide to British Folklore by Ralph Whitlock |
With its separate sections on Legends, Superstitions, Games, Festivals and Sacred Sites, this book reminded me of those Readers' Digest 'dip-into' coffee-table tomes rather than one to be read from cover to cover. Which is a pity, because what comes out of such a reading is an intriguing revelation of the lingering but coherent cultural legacy of pre-Christian beliefs and attitudes that underlies much of everyday life (And not a hint of 'New Age-ism' either.....!!)
(bwl 28 February 2005) |
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In Youth is Pleasure by Denton Welch |
A novel in which not a great deal happens, but what does is recorded and recounted in a compelling way. Orvil Pym is plucked from school to spend the summer with his father and two older brothers. Sensitive, confused and the subject of stirring feelings and emotions, Orvil explores the world of people and relationships in a thorough but dispassionate manner.
(bwl 63 Winter 2011) |
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Intelligence in War - Knowledge of the Enemy from Napoleon to Al-Qaeda by John Keegan |
'Military Intelligence' is an oxymoron, according to the old joke, but here a range of campaigns is dissected in order to assess the value, real or perceived, of knowledge of the enemy. From Nelson's desperate lack of scouting frigates in the Mediterranean via the American Civil war to more modern conflict, it is soon apparent that knowledge isn't everything and even sometimes knowing what the enemy is going to do won't prevent them doing it.
(bwl 32 November 2005) |
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Inventing the Victorians by Matthew Sweet |
It often seems that the Victorians are used as a byword for negative and restrictive practices, whether repressed sexuality, hypocrisy, cruelty, working conditions, ostentatious sentimentality or even chintzy décor. But how true and accurate a picture is this of the age? And how much do these assumptions reflect upon our own? This entertaining and well-researched book shows our predecessors in a different light and dispels the 'modestly covered piano leg' myth once and for all.
(bwl 66 Autumn 2012) |
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Isaac's Storm - A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History by Erik Larson |
America's greatest natural disaster destroyed much of Galveston in 1900 killing far in excess of 6,000 people. More devastating by far than Hurricane Katrina, this is the story of the hurricane reconstructed from eyewitness accounts and told from the viewpoint of Isaac Cline, local meteorologist and survivor. Convinced that such a storm could never occur Isaac ignored many of the warning signs and paid a heavy personal price. A richly evocative and highly readable reconstruction.
(bwl 33 February 2006) |
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Isms and Ologies: 453 Difficult Doctrines You've Always Pretended to Understand, by Arthur Goldwag |
This could easily present as a slightly tacky Christmas stocking-filler. Luckily it's not. It's actually a highly absorbing and enlightening bed-time, smallest room, bus journey type of reference book which produces a pleasing number of mental 'Oohs' and 'Aahs' and the odd 'Fancy that!' to boot. I know I will be reading this more than once and Harry Potter and Muggletonianism fans may be interested to know that the very last Muggletonian died in 1979!
(bwl 63 Winter 2011) |
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John Wayne - The Politics of Celebrity by Garry Wills |
Less a conventional biography than a study in the development of a cultural icon showing how Wayne developed his career from B-movie cowboy to the mythic embodiment of the American male ideal. The focus is placed on his symbiotic (and turbulent) relationships with two directors - John Ford and Howard Hawks, but you are left to ponder how Wayne could safely lambaste those who avoided Vietnam, having himself successfully ducked out of World War Two.
(bwl 13 April 2002) |
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Keystone: The Life and Clowns of Mack Sennett by Simon Louvish |
A name from the earliest, chaotic days of the movies, I was never really sure what he was - Director? Actor? Clown? All of the above but Sennett made (and lost) his fortune as the founder of Keystone Studios, discovering and developing so many silent era stars that 'Start with Sennett, get rich somewhere else!' became a Hollywood cliché. Caught by the Wall Street crash and the rise of cartoons his reign was brief but colourful.
(bwl 76 Spring 2015) |
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Killing Dragons - The Conquest of the Alps by Fergus Fleming |
Dragons on the tops of mountains kept them safe until the age of scientific enquiry and the sudden realisation that an unmapped corner of the globe lay just a few days journey away from London. Cue the formation of the British Alpine Club and a desperate scramble to claim the summit of every peak in sight. A wonderful tale of eccentrics, fanatics and gentlemen climbers all strung together with rope the thickness of a washing line.
(bwl 39 April 2007) |
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L!ve TV!: Telly Brats and Topless Darts - The Uncut Story of Tabloid TV by Chris Horrie |
Watching L!VE TV would have left you wondering how it had ever emerged from the primordial TV slime and why anyone would pay for it. Delving deeper would have revealed the real cut-throat story of cable against satellite, Murdoch newspapers against the Mirror group and even, on the station itself, trendy 'Yoof' against Page 3 values. L!ve TV was a desperate foot in the door and it's the desperation that makes such an entertaining read.
(bwl 51 May 2009) |
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Left Foot Forward - A Year in the Life of a Journeyman Footballer by Garry Nelson |
It's not all Posh 'n' Becks in professional football as this book shows only too well. It charts a year in the life of a Division 1 striker hit by injury, indecision and anxiety as he fights to keep his place in the squad. A fascinating and intelligent analysis of the modern game from a player who spent fourteen years looking out into the 'promised land' of the Premiership but never quite making it himself.
(bwl 24 June 2004) |
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Left Foot in the Grave - A view from the bottom of the football league by Garry Nelson |
The account of an 'almost but not quite' top level player lured in the twilight of his career to bottom-placed Torquay United. Initially enthused by his player/coach role the events of the following season show the disparity between a club's expectations and ambitions and the desperate reality as players are injured, suspended, transferred, play badly, or just fail to impress. When to finish last is to face oblivion just surviving can be counted a triumph . . .
(bwl 25 August 2004) |
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Leonardo da Vinci - The First Scientist by Michael White |
Although the title takes the form of a statement, the book is ostensibly a question - Was Leonardo not only a great artist but the first scientist? For the most part it's a very readable biography that picks up the main threads of a fascinating life and shows just how diverse and free-thinking he was. For the record I find Leonardo's anatomical enquiries and firm insistence on the 'scientific method' pretty convincing and vote 'Yes'!
(bwl 47 September 2008) |
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Letters From A Flying Officer by Rothesay Stuart Wortley |
Originally a tract to impress the importance of aviation on inter-war British youth, this series of letters from father to son describes life in the RFC throughout the Great War. However, although ostensibly fiction, it is obvious that the recollections are those of the author and his friends and they provide a superb and highly engrossing account of the lives and attitudes of early military aviators as well as chillingly predicting the future London blitz.
(bwl 54 November 2009) |
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Lillie Langtry - Manners, Masks, Morals by Laura Beatty |
A fascinating biography of a fascinating woman. Lillie's conscious pursuit of fame led to the only available route to the top - that of courtesan. Laura Beatty concentrates on Lillie's 'playing of the game', manipulating her own image, bending then ultimately breaking Edwardian society's unwritten rules. She is obviously impressed by Lillie's stoic philosophy and her single-minded determination to do her best - as either actress, race-horse owner or King's mistress. Sympathetic, enjoyable and well-written.
(bwl 16 December 2002) |
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Long After Midnight At The Nino Bien: The Tango and Argentina by Brian Winter |
To understand the psyche of a country, learning it's national dance might seem a step in the right direction. That's what one young American thought as he spent a few years 'finding himself' in Argentina, the willing pupil of ageing yet legendary dancers who inhabit the world of the local dance hall. There are no great revelations or exciting escapades, just enjoyable impressions of a romantic young man immersing himself in dance and local colour.
(bwl 59 Winter 2011) |
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Love's Executioner and Other Tales of Psychotherapy by Irvin D Yalom |
This is essentially a collection of ten case studies that show the process of psychotherapy - some are successful, others of limited benefit and a few fail in their objectives. However they are fascinating in as much as they focus on the failings of the therapist as much as the client (How do you help an individual if you find their condition repulsive?). Irvin Yalom is refreshing in his honesty and perceptive in his insights.
(bwl 18 April 2003) |
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Lunar Men: The Friends Who Made the Future by Jenny Uglow |
The Lunar Men were a Birmingham-based group of friends who shared a common interest in science and innovation. All well and good, but when the group includes Darwin Senior, Josiah Wedgwood and James Watt and the ideas they shared helped shape the modern world then it's bound to be a Christmas cake of a book, rich, moist and very full. If anything the suspicion remains that the source material was just a bit too rich!
(bwl 51 May 2009) |
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Made in America by Bill Bryson |
I'm a little tepid as regarding Bill Bryson's travel books but I'm a big fan when he gets onto the subject of language. Whereas in Mother Tongue he looked at the roots and development of English in England, here he concentrates on the American variety with its native American borrowings, archaic survivals and the regional influences of early settlers. One correction though, 'slobberchops'* may have died out in America but not yet in our house!
*Editor's Note: For those of you unfamiliar with the word 'slobberchops', here is the definition from the website www.urbandictionary.com
An old British word, still used in some areas, esp. Ireland: 1) One who dribbles 2) A messy eater 3) A lecherous man. The example they give suited to all three is 'Grandad is a right slobberchops'.
(bwl 34 April 2006) |
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Mama Black Widow by Iceberg Slim |
A Chicago pimp of the 1940's gives authentic voice to the deprivation, bigotry and despair of a whole underclass. Charting the inevitable destruction of a black plantation family's move to the city, this makes raw, uncomfortable but memorable reading. Like a Greek tragedy the malignant influence of the eponymous mother ultimately destroys them all, including the narrator, her drag queen son Otis. The dialogue may grate but the overall effect is to shock and disturb.
(bwl 15 October 2002) |
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Mammoth Book of Native Americans by Jon E Lewis (editor) |
Concentrating on the experiences of the indigenous peoples of North America (South America and Canadian experiences are ignored) this is, in effect, the story of a three century long period of 'ethnic cleansing' that saw populations drop from 18 million to 230,000. The historical reportage is fascinating but depressing, shocking the reader with its violence and callousness. Despite this it remains compelling and humanity still has its place, chiefly in the fascinating range of appendices.
(bwl 26 October 2004) |
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Mammoth Book of Pulp Fiction by Maxim Jabowski (editor) |
My sweet, dear old Nan liked her Micky Spillane and now I can see why. These stories are harder-boiled than tough old steak and the reader is swept along on top of an unsavoury froth of thudding bodies, destructive dames and casual use of extreme violence. There are no heroes, just narrators, but they keep you turning the pages in a 'what happened next?' frenzy. This is a gripping book, but not ideal bedtime reading.
(bwl 25 August 2004) |
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Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens |
This was a tough read. Not that it was all bad, but it felt like someone copying Dickens and getting it all slightly wrong. The working-class side-kick was annoying, the plot meandered, the coincidences overly contrived (feel for the family that lost a child every time they appeared) and the character plot-twist at the end stretched credulity. Some good stuff too of course but it's never a good sign to be relived when you've finished.
(bwl 87 Winter 2018) |
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Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian |
This is one of three Captain Aubrey novels I've devoured in the last month and if I had another to hand then I'd be reading it now. Not only entertaining but an education of the best possible sort, the characters nestle comfortably in their era and the story proceeds at its own pace. O'Brien is not a battles and action writer (possibly his weakest parts) but readers are soon willingly immersed in a living world.
(bwl 35 July 2006) |
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Mauve - How One Man Invented a Colour that Changed the World by Simon Garfield |
Man-made and chemical dyes are a huge industry and one invented here, in Britain, by William Perkin in 1856. He became both rich and famous but the technology he developed was ignored in Britain only to flourish in the giant dye-works of Germany's Ruhr Valley. More than just a biography this covers the science, the characters and the social changes affected by these discoveries and shows an early example of British ingenuity being exploited abroad.
(bwl 24 June 2004) |
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Me Cheeta - The Autobiography by James Lever |
Cheeta, companion of Tarzan and rival to Jane, was in the perfect position to record the less glamorous side of the Hollywood dream-world. From capture in Africa to retirement home in Florida, Cheeta' has seen and done it all. The central relationship with Johnny Weissmuller is tender with its depiction of Johnny's physical decline, but it's the typical 'Hollywood Memoir' style and scathing asides, allied to a distinctly twisted and ape-centric worldview, that provide the humour.
(bwl 66 Autumn 2012) |
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Memoirs of an Erotic Bookseller, The by Armand Coppens |
Although published in the 60s, there's little 'free love' ethos to be found in these engaging memoirs as the only love on display is in the pursuit and capture of rare, beautifully bound copies of esoteric erotica. The author's Gallic roots are evident in philosophical musings that punctuate the text, exemplified by a discussion on free-will by participants at an orgy. The cast of bizarre and faintly ludicrous characters makes for an enjoyable read.
(bwl 29 April 2005) |
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Midnight All Day by Hanif Kureshi |
The cover illustration on my edition is grey, slightly disorientating and very stylish. Which is exactly how I found this collection of short stories around the themes of unrequited or impossible emotion. I avoid the word 'love' because it's not always that easy - characters are complex, their actions not always laudable and sometimes the visceral wrench of yearning seems to be an end in itself. No happy endings - but you'd feel cheated if there were.
(bwl 34 April 2006) |
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Millions of Women are Waiting to Meet You: A Story of Life, Love and Internet Dating by Sean Thomas |
I admit I was a bit put off by this at first. An internet dating assignment to a journalist and I started to fear a 'knowing' and slightly snickering attitude from the author. Which, to be fair, was probably what he intended to do. However he finds himself engaging in to a series of relationships that force him to re-visit and re-evaluate his own emotional past with candour and possibly a touch too much honesty.
(bwl 62 Autumn 2011) |
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Moab is My Washpot by Stephen Fry |
A very 'Stephen Fry' sort of book which reads as though he's ". . . tucking you up, sweet thing, for a little dose of Stephen . . .". Which is fine if, like me, you like his voice and diction. His boyhood does seem more extreme than most though and he does seem a bit heavy on the self-loathing. How true the former is and how warranted the latter I couldn't say but I certainly enjoyed the read.
(bwl 59 Winter 2011) |
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Monogamy by Adam Phillips |
Phillips, the psychoanalyst of 'small' things, here turns his gaze on the topic of monogamy, on which he places great significance. His collection of aphorisms expose the complexity in the choices we make, the expectations we have and the fears that underlie them. Deceptively simple, his comments are loaded with insight. I'm still grappling with much of the content but that which I do comprehend certainly resonates. A slim, but weighty volume that demands re-reading.
(bwl 29 April 2005) |
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Monuments Men by Robert M Edsel |
Comprising a handful of museum curators, historians and archivists the 'Monuments Men' were tasked with identifying and preserving as much of Europe's artistic heritage from the ravages of war as possible. Pitted against the onrushing Russians and a Nazi 'scorched earth' policy, their efforts to find, recover and preserve the huge stockpiles of stolen art deserves wider knowledge. A far less well-known cultural example of 'so much being owed by so many to so few...'
(bwl 58 Autumn 2010) |
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Mortality by Christopher Hitchens |
Christopher Hitchens was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in June 2010 and died in December 2011. Between these dates he continued his writing, including these meditations and thoughts on the process of his disease and its inevitable outcome. This is not, however, the story of a 'battle' but a thoughtful examination of the changes that occurred in himself and others as his illness progresses. Cancer claimed Hitchens' voice but he never lost the ability to write.
(bwl 90 Autumn 2018) |
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Mud, Blood and Poppycock: Britain and the Great War by Gordon Corrigan |
If you base your understanding of the First World War generals on 'Oh What A Lovely War!' and 'Blackadder' then the author would like to take issue with what he sees as gross distortions and misunderstandings of what the war was about and how it was fought. Far from being dim, old butchers they emerge as efficient and dedicated individuals struggling with issues never before faced by a British army in the field. Truly eye-opening.
(bwl 59 Winter 2011) |
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Muhammed Ali: His Life and Times by Thomas Hauser |
Ali's life told by those that worked, lived, fought and were employed by him and undoubtedly the best biography of a sporting figure I've ever read. Always a divisive figure, time allows a true appreciation of his turbulent life - the black consciousness movement, conversion to Islam, and his stand on the Vietnam War. That a single sportsman, however good, could act as such a social lightning-rod makes for a complex and a truly remarkable story.
(bwl 76 Spring 2015) |
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My Elvis Blackout by Simon Crump |
Using the myth and enigma of Elvis as its central motif, this slim volume of vignettes reads like the dream-journal of a feverish junkie. Altogether bizarre, grotesque and frequently (it must be said) rather annoying, I often wondered what the point of it all was whilst eagerly turning the pages for the next scene of despair, misery and gallows humour. A fetid but fascinating nightmare that addresses the author's demons more than those of Elvis.
(bwl 31 September 2005) |
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My Goodness - A Cynic's Short-lived Search for Sainthood by Joe Queenan |
The premise of this book is that we all admire 'goodness' but that actually defining what constitutes a 'good' life is problematic. Although obviously conceived as the theme for a book, rather than a serious exploration of the subject, it still proves to be both provoking and amusing. His check list approach includes Random Acts of Kindness (RAKs), ecologically-sound living and new age values (amongst others), but his cynicism eventually finds flaws in them all.
(bwl 26 October 2004) |
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Naked at the Albert Hall by Tracey Thorn |
Loving singing but dreading performing, Tracey Thorn, reluctant but successful singer with "Everything But The Girl", meditates on her craft. Along the way she chats to fellow performers, muses on accents, stage-fright, sirens, the 'distinctive voice' and the universal human urge to open our lungs and burst forth into song. Full of anecdotes and insights Tracey has produced a conversational, thoughtful and revealing book that would deserve a place in any library of modern music.
(bwl 88 Spring 2018) |
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Napoleon & Josephine - A Love Story by Theo Aronson |
Two outsiders, a Corsican and a Martinique 'Creole', find in each other a rock in tempestuous times. Despite lovers, totally opposite personalities and a passion that ebbed and flowed, they came to recognise each other as soul mates, divorced by need of an heir and separated by reason of exile and Josephine's unexpected death. The inevitable mingling of the political with the personal and the evolution of a remarkable relationship makes for a fascinating read.
(bwl 41 August 2007) |
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Nautical Chic by Amber Jane Butchart |
From Gaultier to smocks, sou'westers to blazers this work explores just how pervasive nautical themes and tropes have been in the world of fashion. The author examines a number of broad key styles (Officer, Sailor, Fisherman, Sportsman and Pirate) and the themes they've inspired. Copiously and beautifully illustrated from historic and contemporary sources throughout it's one of those superior forms of coffee table books that's both an interesting read and a delight to the eyes!
(bwl 100 Spring 2021) |
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Newton and the Counterfeiter by Thomas Levenson |
When William Chaloner began his extraordinary life as a counterfeiter of the King's (rather suspect) currency he probably never envisioned his bravado taking him almost to the position of running the Mint itself. A self-proclaimed 'expert', he hoped to remove the current incumbent after questioning and deriding his abilities. Unfortunately for Chaloner the new incumbent was Isaac Newton, forced by finances into a public position and not in the mood to have his abilities questioned.
(bwl 61 Summer 2011) |
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Night Walking: A Nocturnal History of London by Matthew Beaumont |
There are so many parts of this that I enjoyed, but sadly quite a few I found slightly tedious. The history part I loved, the rules and regulations, assumptions about class and gender, inefficiencies of the nightwatchman all that stuff, great, loved it. But the literary references, the influence of the night on figures such as Blake, DeQuincy and others (excluding Dickens, who really was a night-time Londoner) it almost felt like a separate book.
(bwl 92 Spring 2017) |
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Nightmare! - The Race to Become London's Mayor by Mark D'Arcy |
and Rory MacLean
If you feel politics are boring then read this book! The tension between the requirement for an independent 'character' to lead London and an obedient Party member to follow the dictates of central office proves too great to overcome and a procession of philanderers, egotists, newt-lovers, glory-hunters and a Lib-Dem candidate provide a great cast of characters in this most intriguing of political dog-fights (and there's enough egg left on faces for a Mayor's banquet!).
(bwl 32 November 2005) |
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Ninety Degrees North - The Quest for the North Pole by Fergus Fleming |
This gripping book showed me all I need to discover the North Pole: 1) a fanatical, charismatic and self-important leader 2) a ship stuck in pack-ice for a number of years 3) lack of food 4) treacherous Eskimo guides 5) multiple amputations of fingers and toes 6) scurvy 7) an inability to determine exactly where you or the Pole actually are (useful when claiming success) and 8) a refusal to learn from others. Easy!
(bwl 24 June 2004) |
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Off The Planet - Surviving five perilous months aboard the space station MIR by Jerry M Linenger |
Space travel is like war with much boredom followed by frantic activity. Major fires, air full of anti-freeze, supply ships crashing into the hull and an alarm system in constant action and all this in what was in effect a thin-skinned floating junk room. Jerry writes like the all-American patriot/hero he is but the passion seems to flow from the frustrated efforts of the Russian crew to deal with their own ground-control and failing equipment.
(bwl 46 June 2008) |
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On Kissing, Tickling and Being Bored by Adam Phillips |
Psychoanalytic musing on the mundane things in everyday life. In similar vein as Freud's examination of jokes and verbal slips, this collection of essays ferments with the author's enthusiasm. Prior knowledge of the subject is desirable, but not essential because either way you'll need to re-read it several times to fully grasp what he's saying. Heavy with insight and speculation but leavened with anecdote. Do not try reading after half a bottle of wine. Otherwise recommended.
(bwl 12 January 2002) |
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One Hit Wonderland by Tony Hawks |
When you're chuckling aloud and delaying a family outing because you have to find out what happened when Norman Wisdom and the Pitkins tried playing their new single at half-time during an Albanian football match, when no-one realises who they are, a junior presentation is overrunning, the sound-system is down and Norman can't remember the lyrics (and all because Tony Hawks has another bet to win) then you know you've found the perfect summer read!
(bwl 20 September 2003) |
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Orality & Literacy - The Technologizing of the Word by Walter J Ong |
Has the development of written language changed, not only the way we record knowledge, but the way we think? Are pre-literate societies not primitive but profoundly different? This study shows that when memory is the basis of knowledge then formulas, lists, mnemonics and other mental structures engender a very human set of thought processes. When the written word introduces the notion of permanence then knowledge (and thought) is revolutionised. In a nutshell 'writing restructures consciousness'.
(bwl 35 July 2006) |
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Our Kind - The Evolution of Human Life and Culture by Marvin Harris |
500 pages and 112 chapters make this the ultimate bedside book. From the human foot, the distribution of hair and meat hunger of hunter-gatherers to the longevity of the female, human sacrifice, the origins of the yuppie (well it was first published in 1989...). Harris is especially good at differentiating between cultural and biological evolution to provide a dispassionate view of how we got here and where we might be going. A really enjoyable read.
(bwl 15 October 2002) |
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Over To You by Roald Dahl |
A haunting, disturbing and unsettling book. These short stories with their focus on mortality and loneliness were written during the war by a serving pilot who had survived a bad crash and seem to be Dahl's way of recording his own fears and night-time terrors. I can only imagine the shock of recognition that must have hit any reader who shared those experiences. I couldn't put this down and read it in a single sitting.
(bwl 43 December 2007) |
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Paths of Glory: The French Army 1914-18 by Anthony Clapton |
Having a military establishment rocked by scandals and low in public esteem with a philosophy based on the irresistible force of a massed bayonet charge, it's no wonder the French soldier suffered badly in the early days of the Great War. Through the early battles, inefficient support, the carnage of Verdun and eventual mutiny, this fascinating work examines the heroic struggles, eventual victory and long-term consequences to an army almost bled-dry in its greatest struggle.
(bwl 82 Autumn 2016) |
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Periodic Tales: The Curious Lives of the Elements by Hugh Aldersey-Williams |
What a lovely mix of history, biography, chemistry and general knowledge. The author's childhood obsession with the periodic table and his (inevitably incomplete) collection of elements spill out in this collection of anecdotes clustered around the individual elements like electrons around a nucleus. Although chemistry is at its core, with its stories of discovery, usage and associated myths, this shouldn't put off the general reader even if they did get a grade 'E' Chemistry O-Level.
(bwl 96 Spring 2020) |
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Persian Fire: The First World Empire and The Battle for the West by Tom Holland |
Before immersing myself in this wonderful historical narrative, I have to admit, I hadn't realised quite how impressive a creature the Persian Empire was, nor quite how arrogant, cocksure and, to be honest, slightly barmy the Greek city states must have appeared. However it also proves how military technological superiority allied to a favourable choice of battlefield (and possibly also being slightly barmy) can also change the course of history. A book to really savour.
(bwl 61 Summer 2011) |
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Peter Blake by Marina Vaizey |
Being a bit late to the creative world I was slightly perturbed to discover my use of found objects - circus sideshows, sign-writing, decrepit window frames and Mexican wrestling - was old hat and that Peter Blake had been there, done that and moved on over half a century back. Very much an introduction to his work, for me this beginners' guide is a fascinating but slightly deflating introduction to the wonderful world of Peter Blake.
(bwl 78 Autumn 2015) |
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Photo Icons: The Story Behind the Pictures 1827-1991 by Hans-Michael Koetzie |
The Taschen label specialises in books on photographs and this chronological study of 36 of the most iconic and historic of images is nothing if not informative! Each image is examined in its historic context, the photographer's methods and motives are discussed, other images from the same session are compared and contrasted and all in all the reader is left with a much clearer understanding of the historic importance of each of the selected photographs.
(bwl 69 Summer 2013) |
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Playing to the Gallery by Grayson Perry |
I'm assuming that this book is the printed version of the author's 2013 Reith lectures. Or possibly the other way round. In either case the 'outsider, now insider' explanation of how the art world works is light in touch, very readable, copiously (and brightly) illustrated and conversational in style, whilst still making serious points. For example on when is a photograph 'art'? Generally when it's bigger than two metres and priced higher than five figures.
(bwl 92 Spring 2019) |
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Popski's Private Army by Vladimir Peniakoff |
The history of Britain's smallest fighting unit of WW II is fascinating for what it also says about the personality of the author. 'Popski' was a Belgian of Russian parents, in his 40s, working in Cairo when war broke out. That he could persuade the British to let him create an independent 'behind the lines' reconnaissance unit and also be 'delighted' when his hand was blown off shows some of the man's character and complexity.
(bwl 45 April 2008) |
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Pretty Vacant: A History of Punk by Phil Strongman |
I'm not sure if there's anything particularly radical or groundbreaking to be found here other than a decent effort in covering all the key bases and players, an achievement in itself considering punks diverse cultural impact. However with the attention inevitably on a New York Dolls - Ramones - Sex Pistols - Clash lineage it does feel inevitably that a little more about other bands would have been welcome. That said, pretty vacant, pretty decent . . .
(bwl 99 Winter 2021) |
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Private Vices, Public Virtues Bawdry in London from Elizabethan Times to the Regency by E J Burford and Joy Wotton |
Having just finished this book I was surprised to see the 'Harlots' TV show. Did they base it on this book? It certainly covers the same subject matter, if not the time span. The story of women trying to run their own businesses in an unsavoury field where the protection of powerful men was a necessity but never a guarantee and the foibles of the rich and famous were there to be sated and titillated.
(bwl 98 Autumn 2020) |
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Provided You Don't Kiss Me: 20 years with Brian Clough by Duncan Hamilton |
It was daunting for a rookie sport reporter on a local paper to suddenly find themself the main mouthpiece for Brian Clough, but what an opportunity! Volatile, opinionated and acerbic the supremely self-confident and successful Clough made few friends in the FA and the footballing establishment. With youth, enthusiasm and his partner Brian Taylor, Clough was an unstoppable force, but with their acrimonious split and his descent into alcoholism the tragic arc was sadly completed.
(bwl 68 Spring 2013) |
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Quest for Kim: In Search of Kipling's Great Game by Peter Hopkins |
I've never read Kipling's novel 'Kim', which you might think would be a problem when it comes to reading a work that sets out to visit the places and retrace the routes contained in the novel. Strangely enough it isn't as the author follows the story through the country, historical events and the colourful characters, providing just enough of each to keep the reader fascinated and intrigued. Expect a review of Kim itself next issue!
(bwl 92 Spring 2019) |
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Quirkology: The Curious Science of Everyday Lives by Richard Wiseman |
I'd love to know how the author managed to create a career conducting the experiments detailed in this book. As a psychologist all human behaviour is fair game I suppose - the rituals in picking numbers for the National Lottery, the effect of your date of birth on your life, finding the world's funniest joke - but, however strange the question, fascinating insights and truly interesting responses invariably follow. And then of course you'll insist on sharing . . .
(bwl 71 Winter 2014) |
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Raging Bull: My Story by Jake La Motta |
Both brutal and honest, Raging Bull is a more than fair description of La Motta's life as well as his boxing technique. In fact the ring career proved to be just an extension of his streethood persona and only someone both stubborn and unpredictable could have defied the Mafia for as long as he did. Not surprisingly perhaps it proved to be his closest friends who suffered most from his jealous, explosive and violent temperament.
(bwl 52 July 2009) |
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Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe - A Celebration by Byron Preiss (editor) |
This attempt to capture the essence of the world's best-known 'gumshoe' through the minds of 'some of the world's leading mystery authors' allows them to explore their own preoccupations, with sometimes little more than a nod to Chandler. The plots of the stories may work quite nicely as individual entities but constant 'reinterpretation' means Marlowe himself comes across as a fractured and incomprehensible individual. Enjoyable hokum but a reminder of how great the original was.
(bwl 27 December 2004) |
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Release the Beast: A Drag Queen's Guide To Life by Bimini Bon Boulash |
There's a great memoir to come from the drag community with a range of anecdotes and insights to inspire and amuse. Sadly I'm not sure this is it. There are enjoyable sections but what wears the reading patience a little thin is the reliance on lists – Queer Films; Tips on Coming Out; Fashion Icons; Fashion Designers etc. which felt too much like padding and a desperate attempt to reach the word count. A pity.
(bwl 106 Autumn 2022) |
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Restless by William Boyd |
Grandmother isn't all she seems. Her identity was taken from a blitz victim and she's been on the run since 1942, hunted as a foreign double-agent after a covert operation in America went badly wrong. But now she needs her astonished daughter's help to discover the truth before she too finally suffers the fate of her old wartime colleagues. Her drip-feeding of information hooks both reader and daughter and strange habits begin to make sense.
(bwl 49 January 2009) |
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Retired: What happens to Footballers when the Game's Up by Alan Gernon |
The life of a footballer may be an enviable one but with high rates of depression, divorce, addictions and bankruptcies the life of a retired footballer seems anything but. Having had most of their youth focussed on the game, and with thoughts of other interests regarded as a 'lack of commitment', case studies illustrate the trauma that follows either injury or retirement and the ease with which the sport can replace then forget about them.
(bwl 94 Autumn 2019) |
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River Out of Eden - A Darwinian View of Life by Richard Dawkins |
One of the excellent 'Science Masters' series, this is an attempt to explain how evolution actually works. The river referred to in the title is the DNA streaming through the ages, splitting and dividing as it goes and although it is slightly disconcerting to come to regard yourself merely as a tool for its replication (no higher purpose here!) I can heartily recommend this as a fascinating, easily accessible and very entertaining read.
(bwl 34 April 2006) |
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Round Ireland with a Fridge by Tony Hawks |
This amiable romp of a book manages to be both amusing and engaging without much obvious effort. Although ostensibly about completing a bet, the quest is less interesting than the characters and situations met along the way. In fact the author's unerring ability to publicise his trip on Irish radio and in the newspapers pretty much guarantees its success and ensures a steady flow of 'characters' willing to lend a hand (and an anecdote or two!).
(bwl 35 July 2006) |
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Rude Kids - The Unfeasible Story of Viz by Chris Donald |
You have to marvel at the combination of luck, self-belief and cockiness that led to the publishing phenomena of the 1980s . . . and then marvel that it managed to survive in its original anarchic format for as long as it did. The author of this opinionated, forthright and entertaining history doesn't always come across as the most sympathetic of individuals, but this is to his credit and adds to the fascination and honesty of the account.
(bwl 50 March 2009) |
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Samurai William: The Adventurer Who Unlocked Japan by Giles Milton |
William Adams washed up in Japan aboard a disease-ridden and semi-derelict Dutch ship. However, being both resourceful and adaptable, he took to this strange and fabled new world and soon found himself being used as a powerful counter-weight to the influential Portuguese Catholics. Too valuable to lose, he became advisor, samurai and window on the outside world, eventually assisting with an embryonic English Trading Factory whose records provide much of the detail to this fascinating history.
(bwl 71 Winter 2014) |
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Seahenge: A Quest for Life and Death in Bronze Age Britain by Francis Pryor |
You have to admire the author who takes a headline-grabbing news-story and places it in context of his own archaeological passions. Not that these aren't fascinating and informative, but half way through you do have to remind yourself why you bought the book in the first place! By the end though you can see his point and the emergence of the wooden henge on the Norfolk coast takes it's rightful place in the historic record.
(bwl 56 Spring 2010) |
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Self-Made Man: One Woman's Journey Into Manhood and Back by Norah Vincent |
The author bravely goes where few women would want to - undercover for a year living as her male alter-ego 'Ned'. From manly woman to effeminate man, it sounds like a typical tabloid 'shocker' but is it more substantial than that? That the strain of maintaining the deception caused severe depression and hospitalisation suggest it is. Thoughtful, touching and often humorous, her insights into gender identity are as pertinent to women as they are to men.
(bwl 57 Summer 2010) |
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Setting the East Ablaze: Lenin's Dream of an Empire in Asia by Peter Hopkirk |
The young, fervent communist Russia, struggling with both internal and external resistance, looked east for a fertile source of converts and expansion. Whilst Mongolia became the second country to embrace communism the prize would have been India, but claims from competing Muslim, Chinese, White Russian and local warlords ensured years of horrific bloodshed, deprivation and devastation. Sadly attitudes to the evident cheapness of human life and the willingness to destroy reverberate down to the present.
(bwl 105 Summer 2022) |
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Sex, Art and American Culture by Camille Paglia |
Whatever her current academic standing might be, I really enjoyed this confrontational, no-nonsense and up-front collection of writings. Seemingly happy to take on anyone and everyone in her take on gender issues, the author also seems to have an ego to match her pen - which is no mean feat and something she happily admits herself. This collection of articles combines maximum feather-ruffling, plain-talking and insightful comment with an obvious love of American popular culture.
(bwl 40 June 2007) |
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Sexual Personae - Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson by Camille Paglia |
The author's opening chapters explain her view of essential tensions within the human psyche. These tensions, put crudely are between the civilised and the pagan, order and chaos, growth and decay, male and female. Art, as an expression of humanity, forms a tangible part of the ebb and flow of this struggle. Artists, authors, trends and movements from the dawn of time to the last century are dissected and defined in this impressive magnum opus.
(bwl 21 November 2003) |
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Shakespeare: The World as a Stage by Bill Bryson |
Shakespeare holds an almost mythical status in the nation's psyche and as a result, large numbers of myths have emerged around him and his authorship. Bill Bryson takes an engaging look at what is known about Shakespeare himself and shows that - contrary to belief - we actually know more about his life than many of his contemporaries (even if the record is still tantalisingly incomplete) and that the 'real' author of Shakespeare's works was Shakespeare himself!
(bwl 56 Spring 2010) |
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Sharpe's Havoc by Bernard Cornwell |
This is my first Sharpe experience - in either novel or television form - and very enjoyable it was too. A page-turning plot, nicely drawn characters and the well-worked integration of historical fact make for a good read. This particular episode was set during the early French invasion of Portugal and had me turning to the reference books to learn more about the fall of Lisbon and the subsequent course of the campaign. I'll be reading more!
(bwl 40 June 2007) |
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Sightlines - A Stadium Odyssey by Simon Inglis |
There's nothing as enjoyable as a book by an author who's passionate about their subject, how you suddenly get caught up in their enthusiasms and (for a while) share them. Actually the passion for stadiums is an easy one to understand - there's something almost reverential about the arena space itself (none more so than Centre Court a day before the championships). Stadia, arenas, domes, pitches - each unique and each with a story to tell.
(bwl 25 August 2004) |
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Soldaten - On Fighting, Killing and Dying: The Secret Tapes of German POWs by Sonke Neitzel and Harald Welzer |
German POWs' conversations were routinely recorded by British intelligence officers and, with the transcripts being recently de-classified, these provide a new primary source for both a historian and a social psychologist. Examining the soldiers own views of their experiences and attitudes and how being a 'soldier' changes behaviour, it's a compelling and yet very difficult read, horrific in many parts and sadly lacking any sign of those redemptive flashes of humanity beloved of the movies.
(bwl 102 Autumn 2021) |
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Sotheby's - The Inside Story by Peter Watson |
Tipped off by a former employee with copious documentation, the author set out to discover the truth behind accusations that Sotheby's colluded with the illegal transportation of art and antiquities. By using a range of 'sting' operations he was able to prove that Italian grave robbers, desecrators of Hindu shrines and dealers in stolen paintings all had one thing in common - their eventual sale at Sotheby's. This is the full story behind the television documentary.
(bwl 45 April 2008) |
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Speak For England by James Hawes |
If modern Britain leaves you with the feeling that something's been lost then this comic novel will appeal. Survivors of a Comet airplane crash carve out their own little England in the jungles of New Guinea but are aghast at the state of Britain when finally rescued. It's not long before the spin-doctoring PM is booted out and the survivors' forthright 'Headmaster' takes his place. But are those old-fashioned values as harmless as they seem?
(bwl 40 June 2007) |
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Spike & Co: Inside the House of Fun with Milligan, Sykes, Galton & Simpson by Graham McCann |
This book is full of 'Well I never knew that!' moments. For example I never realised how important Eric Sykes was to post-war comedy. I never knew he and Spike Milligan set up Associated London Scripts together and I never realised that apart from discovering new writers like Johnny Speight, almost every significant 60s radio or television comedy show was part of their output. I do now though and a fascinating story it is too.
(bwl 62 Autumn 2011) |
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Spineless Wonders - The Joys of Formication (sic! Formication means a sensation of insects crawling on the skin) by Richard C Conniff |
This fairly typical example of a journalist's book provides a range of very readable essays loosely grouped around a central theme - in this case invertebrates. And very interesting it is too with chapters from spiders to slugs and fleas to flies. The essays are a mix of history, biology, anecdote and fact with at least a couple of 'Fancy thats!' and 'Well I nevers!' in each chapter, which is all you could ask for really.
(bwl 36 September 2006) |
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Spitfire: The Biography by Jonathan Glancey |
Any book devoted to the development and evolution of a machine is in danger of being little more than an encyclopaedia entry. Luckily the author is an unrepentant fan with Spitfires in the family and Airfix kits hanging from the ceiling, so it's as much about the pilots and mythology as about technical aspects. Being fair when comparing and contrasting the Spitfire with it's major rivals, he also keeps a check on any excessive sentimentality.
(bwl 53 September 2009) |
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Stan and Ollie: The Roots of Comedy by Simon Louvish |
An evocative trip through the early days of cinema through the lives of my favourite Golden Age comedians. Stan and Ollie were both experienced silent actors before getting together - Stan a potential lead and Ollie a ubiquitous 'heavy'. It's Stan who comes across as the more complex and interesting character - son of a well-known comedian, understudy to Chaplin, consummate gag-writer, director and eccentric wife collector! A story of fascinating people told by a real fan.
(bwl 63 Winter 2011) |
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Starter for 10 by David Nicholls |
My lasting impression of this novel was that it was written with the film in mind. It bounces along ok with the usual 'gawky young male not able to cope with more assured females' plotline mixed with some 'gawky young male not able to cope with male friends or relationship with mother' sub plots, but I felt as though I'd read it before. It took me several weeks to finish - other books just seemed more interesting . . .
(bwl 43 December 2007) |
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Suggs and the City: My journeys through disappearing London by By Suggs |
In a conversational and amiable literary tour, Madness frontman Suggs takes a nostalgic look at those characterful bits of London yet to be developed, destroyed or sanitised. Being a fairly colourful character himself he can often call on his own anecdotes to illustrate the point (his breaking into the Groucho Club being a notable example) but sadly the text is punctuated with disclaimers that 'such and such' no longer exists. Get it while you can .
(bwl 75 Winter 2015) |
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Supergrasses & Informers: Informal History of Undercover Police Work by James Morton |
Although looking like a 'Sunday Tabloid Shock Exposé', this is actually an interesting historic look at the inevitable reliance on informers by the Police. Written by a solicitor and going back to the Bow Street Runners, key cases are examined for the effect that collusion and confession has upon the legal system, leading inevitably to the miscarriages of justice caused by the 70s' 'Supergrass' trials. A candid and interesting book that belies its sensationalist presentation.
(bwl 52 July 2009) |
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Switch Bitch by Roald Dahl |
Four stories of lust, revenge and spite, two of which feature Uncle Oswald, Dahl's sexual anti-hero (who suffers a nasty comeuppance in one of the tales). These are acidic stories which, like a sharp white wine, are delicious in moderation but not something you would want to drink every day. However they are ideal material for the famous Dahl 'twist in the tail' which he uses to deadly effect and being nice is no defence!
(bwl 43 December 2007) |
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Tars: The Men Who Made Britain Rule The Waves by Tim Clayton |
Britain's naval ascendancy in the 19th century was in large part due to the quality of its sailors and it's the ordinary sailor, rating and officer who provide the focus of this fascinating book. By following closely the lives, careers and fortunes of just two crews, linked by their Captain, Augustus Hervey, the author turns history into a gripping narrative and their stories provide ample opportunity for broader examination of life before the sail.
(bwl 66 Autumn 2012) |
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That Was Satire That Was - The Satire Boom of the 1960s by Humphrey Carpenter |
I was born just in time for the satire boom of the 60s - by eight days as it happens because it seems it all started with Beyond the Fringe at the Edinburgh Festival in August 1960. Taking in TWTWTW*, the birth of Private Eye and the rise and fall of The Establishment Club, this is an engaging, fascinating and very readable account of the personalities, politics and ideologies behind the story. Well worth a read.
*Editor's note: For those not around in the 60s, TWTWTW stands for That Was The Week That Was, a satirical programme on TV.
(bwl 36 September 2006) |
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The Adventure of English - The Biography of a Language by Melvyn Bragg |
The English language as biography, with its hopes, fears and struggles all recorded and retold. Early days and Viking intrusions, the leaden blanket of Norman French, the assertion of independence and a desire to see the world, the offspring and rivals, cyber-speak and the future, it's all there folks! If you're a sucker for etymology then this is one to add to your list. Enjoyable and lively with a hefty dollop of anecdotes and examples.
(bwl 47 September 2008) |
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The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Source Of Life by Richard Dawkins |
This is a reverse take on the usual evolutionary story where the rise of mankind takes place as a seemingly inevitable progression from the starting point of life. Instead working backwards and looking at points where different and often larger groups join our own story provides the reader with a far greater sense of the grandeur of life and our place within it. This illuminating journey ends, of course, with the origins of life itself.
(bwl 55 Winter 2010) |
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The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton |
Take a range of subjects relating to travel – anticipation; the sublime; the exotic and others. Find a writer with relevant works and location (for example Countryside and City, Wordsworth and the Lake District) then let the author visit, read and whimsically ponder in what turns out to be an engaging, thoughtful and insightful manner. I really enjoyed this and it has certainly encouraged me to go further with my own reading, especially John Ruskin!
(bwl 106 Autumn 2022) |
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The Ascent of Rum Doodle by W E Bowman |
Thrill to an epic tale of derring-do as a doughty brotherhood of British climbers pit their wits against the unconquered Mt. Rum Doodle. A naive and self-deceptive official expedition account, Rum Doodle is stylistically roped firmly between Diary of a Nobody and Ripping Yarns with a hint of Milligan lurking in the mountain mists. Imagined heroism becomes absurdity as we gaze pensively into the middle distance at the awesome crag and wonder "Will it go?"
(bwl 64 Spring 2012) |
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The Beautiful Game? - Searching for the Soul of Football by David Conn |
In this detailed analysis of the modern game the author brings the insight of a financial investigative journalist to the business of football. This is the book's strength, as he can lay bare the absurdity of much of its financial basis, but also its weakness, as the relentless barrage of figures, shocking though they are, can wear the reader down. It remains an eloquent testimony to the greed of owners and the resilience of supporters.
(bwl 30 June 2005) |
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The Book of General Ignorance by John Lloyd |
and John Mitchinson
"Everything you think you know is wrong!" is the watchword of this entertaining romp through misconception and second-hand knowledge. If you've seen the BBC programme QI, you know exactly what to expect and reading it you can almost imagine Stephen Fry's voice floating through your head. As a result you're willing to believe almost anything, although I had some problems with definitions, rather than facts, but that just kept me sharp and on the lookout!
(bwl 41 August 2007) |
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The Box : How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger by Marc Levinson |
A boring title for a fascinating book. Transport visionary Malcolm Maclean should be as well known as Bill Gates for the effect he had on our lives but his epic struggle to develop the container against hostile port authorities, unions, shipping lines and bureaucracy is almost forgotten. To turn an entire industry around from 'On the Waterfront', tramp steamers and the London docks to todays 'just in time' system makes for a surprisingly engrossing read.
(bwl 99 Winter 2021) |
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The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureshi |
Recipe for this tasty and enjoyable meal of a book: First take a mix of less than attractive, but certainly individual, characters. Add areas of confusion and concern such as race, sex and power. Have them struggle with and against each other in an attempt to form some sort of equilibrium in their lives. Set it in the early seventies with a background of punk and the National Front, then sit back and enjoy the results!
(bwl 23 April 2004) |
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The Call of The Weird - Travels in American Subcultures by Louis Theroux |
In a surprisingly philosophical look at the nature of 'weirdness', Theroux revisits many of the individuals that featured in earlier television specials. The fact he maintained contact with many of them, even if he found the views they held repugnant, seems to be evidence of an empathetic rather than voyeuristic attitude on his part, a feeling reinforced when considering his own actions and motives. Behind weirdness is a complex person and that's what interests Theroux.
(bwl 46 June 2008) |
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The Changing Face of the Football Business by Sean Hamil (editor with others) |
A collection of conference papers that goes some way to answering the question: "What happened to the beautiful game?". Money, egos and big business took the faithful supporter - a consumer locked-in by loyalty to a dubious and exploitative product - for granted. But a glimmer of hope emerges with the rise of supporter run clubs where members act together and exercise collective shareholder influence. If Wimbledon FC had only read this a year ago.....
(bwl 19 June 2003) |
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The Child that Books Built by Francis Spufford |
A personal account of how the literature of his youth affected the development and attitudes of one particular individual; I enjoyed the intention of the book but less so the style. How he could recall his childhood reactions to various books in such detail is beyond me and that, linked to his integration of his sister's tragic life into the narrative, left me feeling that an interesting venture hadn't quite come off. A Curate's egg.
(bwl 22 February 2004) |
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The Churchill Factor: How One Man Made History by Boris Johnson |
History - always the inevitable outcome of impersonal and imponderable forces or can a single man affect its course? In this particular case, the author argues, most decidedly the latter. Covering all aspects of Churchill's life and career, it's a lively and informative read with Johnson's enthusiasm and admiration for his subject's capacity for work, journalistic background, outsider status and self-determination shining through. Might we see Boris sporting a bow-tie and chomping on cigars soon?
(bwl 80 Spring 2016) |
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The Cloudspotter's Guide by Gavin Pretor-Pinney |
I knew a rain cloud when I saw it but thanks to this book I can now use a whole range of Latin terms to describe it, estimate its height and identify famous examples in literature, art and mythology. I am now also aware that contrails (aircraft trails) may be more environmentally damaging than the fuel being burned. This is a handbook written by an enthusiast and far more enjoyable than my old Scout cloud chart!
(bwl 44 February 2008) |
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The Club of Queer Trades by G K Chesterton |
Basil Grant ex-High Court Judge ('Poor fellow went mad...') and enthusiastic anti-detective (instinct over intellect) investigates a number of intriguing and baffling situations. In doing so he delights in discovering a hatful of brand-new professions (Professional Detainer, Organiser of Repartee and the Adventure & Romance Agency, for example) all bound together by membership of the eponymous Club of Queer Trades. This is a light-hearted and amusing meander through the Edwardian alleys of more famous detectives.
(bwl 21 November 2003) |
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The Command of the Ocean - A Naval History of Britain 1649-1815 by N A M Rodger |
The second of Rodger's trilogy of naval histories, this is one of the most impressive, comprehensive and yet readable works I've had the chance to enjoy. From Cromwell to Nelson, the author defines each epoch in three ways - as Social, Operational and Organizational history. So it's not just about battles, it's about attitudes, politics, design and innovation. More importantly it's how they all came together to provide Britain with the means of achieving utter dominion over the oceans.
(bwl 50 March 2009) |
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The Consolations of Philosophy by Alain de Botton |
Six famous philosophers partner six human conditions, each taking their specialist subject. Mix background material, biography, anecdotes, everyday examples and quirky illustration to provide a possible answer to the age old question "What use is philosophy?". By presenting philosophers as people with ideas as opposed to complex theoreticians, De Botton has produced an ideal beginners bedside guide to the human condition. Ever bleaker episodes, like Montaigne on inadequacy, have their lighter side. Informative and entertaining.
(bwl 14 July 2002) |
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The Cowboy Way - A Year in the Life of a Montana Ranch Hand by David McCumber |
From this readable but slightly detached account (cowboys keep themselves to themselves) I now know that ranch hands require phenomenal bodging skills, an ability to work with an enormous range of machinery, the willingness to work all hours to complete repetitive tasks (never mind families or days off) and the ability to shrug off extreme weather conditions. Not many horses or illuminating insights though - the author seemed more absorbed with the ranching than the writing.
(bwl 36 September 2006) |
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The Devil and Dr Barnes - The Life of Albert C. Barnes the Irascible Art Collector by Howard Greenfeld |
I don't know much about art, but I do recognise an eccentric! Wealthy art-lover with a hatred of elitism, Dr Barnes created one of the world's greatest collections almost as a snub to the middle classes he despised. Champion of the underclass, democrat and egalitarian, Barnes was also tyrannical, splenetic, volatile and cruel. True friend to a few, neighbour from hell with a poison-pen to everyone else. A complex man worthy of this excellent biography.
(bwl 17 February 2003) |
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The Devil Problem and Other True Stories by David Remick |
A collection of nineteen thoughtful and detailed profiles of people I've never heard of or know little about. The fact that each profile was intriguing enough to hold my attention is testimony both to Remick's choice of subject and his skill as a writer. These are complex individuals who, in some way, are either agents of change or represent challenges to established ideals. Remick wisely allows them space to speak for (and sometimes condemn) themselves.
(bwl 30 June 2005) |
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The Dinosaur Hunters: A True Story of Scientific Rivalry and the Discovery of the Prehistoric World by Deborah Cadbury |
Gideon Mantell was an obsessive, passionate and dedicated enthusiast who, despite being a full-time country GP and family man, did much to establish the modern sciences of geology and palaeontology. That you have probably never heard of him is due to the machinations of Robert Owen, his brilliant and ambitious compatriot. Radical theories were no match for ruthlessness and this book charts the fortunes of both men - one to ruin, one to the top.
(bwl 24 June 2004) |
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The Discreet Interventions of Verdon James by Julian Roach |
Verdon James, bright but suspect; unfocused yet determined; keen to serve but medically unsound; Bertie Wooster with Jeeve's brain. Above all loyal - to friends, country and ideals. Verdon nudges things that need nudging and these stories follow him from undergraduate to octogenarian and his final determined act of loyalty to a lover murdered under cover of the Blitz. An evocative and intriguing book, despite the odd jarring note both in the history and the characterisation.
(bwl 50 March 2009) |
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The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby |
This book comprises the remarkable reflections of a man 'locked in' to his body as the result of a massive stroke. His thoughts were dictated by the only method of communication available to him - flicking his left eye-lid. A remarkable and humbling achievement yet, although in no way self-pitying, is reminiscent of an extended gallows-note - a last letter in which to sum up feelings about life, love and family. Poignant, dignified and very sobering.
(bwl 25 August 2004) |
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The Erotic Potential of my Wife by David Foenkins |
Knowing, amusing and definitely Gallic this novel is so French-farcical that I could almost see the Cage Aux Folles screenplay. The reader conspires with a reformed but inveterate collector as he seemingly conquers his almost autistic urges in order to win his wife and lead a 'normal' life. Resolve eventually crumbles as he admires his wife's legs whilst cleaning their windows, but ever-more desperate attempts to engineer and 'collect' these moments leads to much confusion . . .
(bwl 61 Summer 2011) |
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The Film Club: No School. No Work ... Just Three Films a Week by David Gilmour |
How badly must your son be failing at school for you to take him out and home-school him with three films a week? Great to pick movies your child has to watch especially as mine would refuse any I suggested on principle, but this is so much more a book about the dynamics of a complicated father/son, complex coming-of-age relationship than the life-lessons in the movies themselves, making me mightily relieved to be relatively shallow.
(bwl 87 Winter 2018) |
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The Football Men: Up Close With The Giants Of The Game by Simon Kuper |
Those involved in football are used to mouthing platitudes rather than engaging in discussion, but when you can slip under that shield, even for a brief interview, the results can be illuminating. Being multilingual gave the author the edge when tracking down both players and managers and the short profiles all seek to throw a light on what it is that makes these individuals tick. Lively and very engaging even, I suspect, for non-football lovers!
(bwl 78 Autumn 2015) |
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The Frank Muir Book - An Irreverent Companion to Social History by Frank Muir |
Five years in the writing and with chapters covering all the arts, education and food this engaging and witty book deserves to be considered the 'Grumpy Old Man's' bible. Using quotes from a huge range of both familiar and obscure sources, a window is opened on the world of disaffection and it seems that throughout history individuals have been unhappy with the way things are, the way they were and the way they are going!
(bwl 40 June 2007) |
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The Future of the Past - How the Information Age Threatens to Destroy our Cultural Heritage by Alexander Stille |
Just as we are able to use new technology to further our understanding of the past so population pressure, the black market, pollution, different cultural concepts and attitudes to history (with the western notion not always prevalent) conspire to erode and destroy the physical remains. This book comprises a series of essays that look at various aspects of our relationship to the past. Often fascinating, but some of the essays could be far more focussed.
(bwl 35 July 2006) |
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The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins |
No sitting on the fence with a title like that and Dawkins 'does what he says on the tin', by addressing the claims of religion and dispatching them one by one. Which is fine but I suspect most readers at the very least treat religion as a cultural comfort blanket and this book eventually comes across as a touch of Supper-Nanny 'tough love'. Next he'll have a go at Father Christmas and the Tooth Fairy . . .
(bwl 42 October 2007) |
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The Great Filth: Disease, Death and the Victorian City by Stephen Halliday |
The huge unplanned growth of the Victorian city led to an explosion of disease, illness and early death against which enlightened doctors, scientists, midwives, public servants and engineers fought a desperate battle. However the battle was also fought against politicians and businessmen who were determined that the state be kept out of society and trade. As nothing changes hard-held beliefs like personal inconvenience, it took the Great Stink of 1858 to finally change their minds.
(bwl 102 Autumn 2021) |
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The Hobbit by J R R Tolkien |
Reading for the first time, I can say I enjoyed The Hobbit, could see its importance but despaired at having to plough through turgid chunks (riddle-contests and a multitude of similarly named dwarfs) to get to the good bits, (the quest, Smaug the Dragon, Gollum and a big battle at the end!). I tried reading it to the children, who fell asleep; so my feeling is that it's a children's book best read by adults.
(bwl 23 April 2004) |
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The Idler Guide to Ancient Philosophy by Mark Vernon |
Everything you needed to know about classical Greek philosophy and philosophers in one handy, readable and easily digestible package. Ideal for those who like to shout the answers at bemused University Challenge students or to question the odd know-it-all at dinner parties, it also comes with its own one-minute guide to the different schools of philosophy should you need to sort your Stoics from your Cynics. All in all a concise, amusing and intriguing primer.
(bwl 82 Autumn 2016) |
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The Japan Diaries of Richard Gordon Smith by Victoria Manthorpe (editor) |
What really strikes you about these diaries are the lavish illustrations - postcards, paintings, prints and photographs - liberally scattered throughout. Smith's comments are fascinating too, looking at Japan as he does through the eyes of a Home Counties squire. Hunting, shooting and fishing are core passions, but his curiosity and passions encompass the full range of a Japanese culture. Equally fascinating are the cultural attitudes and beliefs of the British displayed by Smith himself.
(bwl 22 February 2004) |
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The Jung Cult: Origins of a Charismatic Movement by Richard Noll |
The development of Jung's own beliefs famously led to the split with his mentor Freud but Noll suggests the driving influences for Jung were primarily German philosophy and cultural forces, most notably that of Nietzsche, recent German unification and pan-nationalism, the influence of Wagner and Germanic pagan revivalism. Adding Jung's sealed, mainly feminine, inner-circle, a series of personal 'revelations' and a carefully prepared image and legacy makes a persuasive case for Noll's 'charismatic sect' allegations.
(bwl 54 November 2009) |
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The League of Regrettable Superheroes: Half-Baked Heroes from Comic Book History by Jon Morris |
We all know about Superman, Batman and the rest of them, but spare a thought for Dr Hormone, Bee-Man, Rainbow Boy and Doll Man, superheroes whose powers were, well a bit rubbish really. You couldn't fault their enthusiasm though and despite having short shelf-lives in their respective publications their back-stories provide either a fascinating commentary on the ills of their society or a good chuckle at their bizarre attempts to address it. Or both.
(bwl 87 Winter 2018) |
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The London Encycolpedia by Ben Weinreb, Christopher Hibbert, Julia Keay and John Keay |
I haven't actually read this book through. At over 1,000 pages of dense, small typeface I would be surprising if very many have, but if you are fascinated by the places, history and organisations of London (and have a strong enough bookshelf) this just might become the cornerstone of your collection. Comprehensive but concise, the entries are enough to answer any immediate query but also to point you in the direction of further research. Perfect!
(bwl 94 Autumn 2019) |
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The Making of Raging Bull by Mike Evans |
You've read the original autobiography, enjoyed the award-winning film but you are still fascinated by the story. The next step has to be to read the book of adapting the autobiography to make the film! Which is actually a very illuminating look at the issues and challenges facing actors and directors and the difficulties for writers in adapting an autobiography into a film script. I could have happily done without the numerous encyclopaedic appendices though.
(bwl 56 Spring 2010) |
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The Man who Broke Napoleon's Codes - The Story of George Scovell by Mark Urban |
This is the story of the 19th century's very own Enigma code breaker. Major Scovell served in the Peninsular War and successfully broke the French 'Great Cipher', allowing Wellington to prevent the combining of two mighty French armies into an irresistible force. Wellington's reputation and the need to hide the fact that the code was broken led to Scovell's role being played down and his vital contribution ignored. Fresh insights, revelations and a riveting read!
(bwl 27 December 2004) |
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The Man Who Was Thursday by G K Chesterton |
But the real question is who (or what) is the monstrous 'Sunday' who toys with those around him? The plan to penetrate the secretive Inner Circle of the Anarchist Council seems doomed and suspicion grows in the group that all is not well. Confusion, misunderstanding and desperation begin to cloud the cool logic of the detective and the plot then veers to the fantastic. Anarchists wear top-hats, policemen are poets and readers are firmly gripped!
(bwl 37 December 2006) |
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The Map that Changed the World by Simon Winchester |
I love it when a forgotten human story ties in with a great scientific advance. The labours of the canal-digger William Smith to create the world's first scientific geological map certainly fit that category. Defying the belief that the layers were the work of God, Smith's life's-work was on the science of stratigraphy but his great achievements were at first snubbed then stolen by the Royal Geological Society before recognition arrived in his dotage.
(bwl 44 February 2008) |
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The Most Dangerous Enemy: A History of the Battle of Britain by Stephen Bungay |
Difficult though it might be to produce both a gripping page-turner and a definitive historical account, I think the author might just have managed it with this volume. Although threaded with personal narratives from both sides of the conflict, it is in the dispassionate and comparative examination of the tactics, abilities, command structures and, most importantly, losses and replacement statistics that prove fascinating reading with so many myths and assumptions turned squarely on their heads.
(bwl 91 Winter 2019) |
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The Mummy Congress - Science, Obsession and the Everlasting Dead by Heather Pringle |
There's something fascinating about a preserved body, no matter how it manages to survive the ravages of time. Taking the Congress as the starting point (THE place for mummy scientists to meet and party) the book uncovers just what's exciting the experts in a range of fields - the prepared mummies of Egypt, South America and communist Russia and those naturally preserved by peat, ice, desiccation or Buddhist self-mummification. Humorous, interesting and not a little poignant.
(bwl 36 September 2006) |
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The Mystery Of Things by A C Grayling |
What an interesting and at the same time frustrating book this is! In form I suppose you could liken it to a collection of observations and musings jotted down by a philosophical free-thinker in readiness for future consideration. For my part I would prefer fewer musings and more conclusions. I like someone to do some of the thinking for me, not just to start me off - isn't that what we pay philosophers for anyway?
(bwl 47 September 2008) |
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The Napoleon of Notting Hill by G K Chesterton |
Well-written and engaging, Chesterton's anti-Wellsian future has kings selected by lottery ruling over a country devoid of vigour. When one of the last eccentrics finds himself on the throne he whimsically creates colourful city-states out of the districts of London. Their enforced mock-medievalism and pageantry are all very well, but one idealist takes the rhetoric to heart and sets out against the odds to create a modern Athens in the back streets of Notting Hill.
(bwl 39 April 2007) |
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The Neandertal Enigma - Solving the Mystery of Modern Human Origin by James Shreeve |
Television reconstructions imply the Neandertal question is resolved, but how wrong can you be? Each chapter in this excellent study profiles a different expert in a different field with a different view. Did Neandertals die out or interbreed, have language and an artistic sensibility or grunts and no imagination? Comprehensive and deeply engaging in it's observation of both Neandertals and the conduct of robust scientific debate, Shreeve performs perfectly as educated guide and unbiased observer.
(bwl 17 February 2003) |
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The Oracle by Valerio Massimo Manfredi |
Dying, an old archaeologist re-hides a mysterious, sinister Greek vase - but not before it attracts unwanted attention. From then on things turn nasty . . . A superior pot-boiler in which the General's brutal, corrupt and repressive Greece of the 1970s (much of the action is based on factual accounts) collides with the mythical Greece of the Mycenaean age. Passages of strong writing and revealing scholarship of both recent and ancient history rate a 'recommended' read.
(bwl 35 July 2006) |
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The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by Julian James |
Do we think in a different way to our ancestors? Quite possibly according to Julian James. Modern minds are left-hemisphere dominant and responsible for the feeling of 'I'. However schizophrenia, poetry, music and hypnosis are vestigial remains of the bicameral mind with greater communication between the hemispheres. We rarely experience the 'instinctual' right hemisphere's 'Voice of God' as they did. 'Don't think, do!' was the bronze-age motto. But unfortunately 75 words are not nearly enough.....!
(bwl 16 December 2002) |
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The People's Bible: The Remarkable History of the King James Version by Derek Wilson |
What I found most interesting in this expansive history, was just how expansive it was! The King James Version did not arrive in a cultural vacuum but as part of a chain of ongoing religious, political and social changes marking the change from Tudor to Stuart monarchies. As a work of literature it drew heavily on previous translations, was assembled by teams of talented translators from across the kingdom, becoming both cultural icon and classic.
(bwl 96 Spring 2020) |
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The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens |
Erratic, delightful and infuriating. With a good helping of amusing and confusing. And meandering. Not dissimilar to an Eddie Izzard flight of fancy where you wonder "Where's this going?" only to reach a hilarious conclusion, usually involving Samuel Weller but occasionally the revered and august Pickwick himself. Putting inconsistencies to one side it's a pretty good read, even if it has the air of being made up as it goes along, which no doubt it was.
(bwl 85 Summer 2017) |
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The Pound - A Biography by David Sinclair |
Who knew that some early English coins had small stars on them, were called 'starlings' and were often measured by weight, hence the term 'Pounds Sterling'? Not me and there's more of the same on every page of this illuminating work. Why the Americans ended up with dollars, the strange ratios of pounds, shillings and pence, the origin of the abbreviation £.s.d -this book reflects our national history through the fortunes of one small coin!
(bwl 37 December 2006) |
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The Pythons' Autobiography by The Pythons |
To sum this book up how about 'Python swallowed in small chunks'? Take a significant event ('How did you get to university?') and transcribe the answer from an interview from each of the Pythons in turn - or in Chapman's case from existing documentation, friends or relatives. It works very well too, with the same incidents being recalled or interpreted in a myriad of revealing ways and with a candid and forthright approach from all concerned.
(bwl 46 June 2008) |
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The QI Book of the Dead by John Lloyd |
and John Mitchinson
The best parts of biographies are often the 'Quite Interesting' bits so it's an entertaining and memorable book which provides potted histories of the great and good with that in mind. Thematically it explores how people react and respond to a range of life's misfortunes and challenges, with chapters and biographies illustrating each major crisis in life ... but really I just enjoyed it for its slightly skewed perspective and 'well I never!' moments.
(bwl 71 Winter 2014) |
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The Queen's Conjuror - The Life & Death of Dr Dee by Benjamin Wolley |
An excellent biography of an individual who really walked a fine line. Dr Dee straddled the medieval and the renaissance as an alchemist seeking contact with the spirits by 'scientific' methods. His influence at court preserved him for a time from accusations of witchcraft, but when his star waned he was forced to undertake a fascinating odyssey through the courts of central Europe from which he emerges as an intelligent, learned yet sadly gullible figure.
(bwl 30 June 2005) |
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The Quest for Mars - NASA Scientists and their search for life beyond the Earth by Laurence Bergreen |
This very competent book explores the underlying issues (technical, financial and scientific) behind NASA's exploration of Mars. It also charts the influence of budget cuts as a shrinking NASA seeks to do 'More for Less' to justify its funding in post-Cold War America. The various scientists and their specialist teams are forced to jockey and compete for valuable space on the probes and the peer-group presentation of arguments, data and theories become ferocious intellectual bear-pits!
(bwl 45 January 2008) |
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The Return Of The Economic Naturalist: How Economics Makes Sense of Your World by Robert H Frank |
This collection of newspaper columns inhabits a similar realm to 'Freakonomics' (bwl 48) in that pure economic examinations of everyday problems can provide us with simple, if often counter-intuitive, solutions. Although looking primarily at American issues the examples given and the questions posed are still intriguing and relevant enough to provide a fascinating and informative book in bite-size chunks. Best of all there's not a graph or equation in sight which is always a bonus for some!
(bwl 59 Winter 2011) |
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The Ripple Effect by Dominic Holland |
This engaging but lightweight comic novel starts with speculators buying a struggling local football club (intending to develop the ground for housing, naturally). It continues with a rogue batch of jam-less doughnuts setting off a chain-reaction of coincidence and mishap that ends not only with the survival of the club, but with a bright, rosy future. Recommended for holidays and long journeys, although I thought pools wins in novels were a thing of the past...
(bwl 23 April 2004) |
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The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee by Jared Diamond |
Surprisingly we share 98.4% of our DNA with our closest cousins, the common and pygmy chimpanzees. But what is the significance of that 1.6% difference? The author takes us through millions of years of human evolution with two traits that are our constant companions - xenophobia and the assault upon the environment. Maps of genocide through the ages and evidence of our effects on mass animal extinction from all continents make sober, if thoughtful reading.
(bwl 18 April 2003) |
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The Secret Diary of a U-Boat by and Brooks, Geoffrey Hirschfield, Wolfgang |
Hirschfeld was the radio operator on U-109 during WWII and committed his notes to scraps of paper hidden within old signals logs. These provide the spine to a fascinating and totally absorbing account of life aboard a wartime German submarine. The personal tensions, condensation, depth-charges, boredom and combat are all covered in graphic detail and it shocked me to realise that the old man commander was only in his early twenties at the time.
(bwl 73 Summer 2014) |
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The Secret Family - 24 hours inside the mysterious world of our minds and bodies by David Bodanis |
A deeply absorbing book that follows individual family members as they go about their lives. Every yawn, sight of a lover or lungful of air in a shopping mall is examined in (literally) microscopic detail. Include aspects of psychology, bacteria, chemical reactions and cosmology and the world suddenly becomes a far more interesting place. This is much more engrossing than I thought it would be and an excellent introduction to the world of science.
(bwl 37 December 2006) |
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The Secret Library: A Book-lover's Journey Through Curiosities of History by Oliver Tearle |
Curiosities is the key word in this wunderkabinett of a book, which examines the often overlooked connections between books and the times they were created in. A chronological tale of broad chapter headings (The Classical World, The Victorians etc.) Tearle looks at the stories behind and around both well-known and obscure books, throwing light on the zeitgeist of the age. A romp of a read but serious enough to require a small but decent index.
(bwl 91 Winter 2019) |
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The Simpsons and Philosophy - The D'Oh! Of Homer by William Irwin (editor with others) |
Dismiss this book at your peril! What might look a tacky excuse for cod-philosophising is actually a very useful introduction to major philosophical questions. Aspects of Barthes, Heidegger, Kant and many more are applied to population and environs of Springfield with enlightening results. Eighteen essays cover such topics as hypocrisy, Bart as a Nietzschian ideal, sexual politics, neighbourly love and measuring Homer (Simpson) against Aristotle's definition of 'a good man'. Instructive but great fun too!
(bwl 25 August 2004) |
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The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History by John Ortved |
This is pretty much a book for the real Simpsons fan and is pretty much an oral history of the show from its genesis up to when it was published. In essence it consists of a series of interviews with key figures in the show's history and it's main thesis is that the Simpsons was far more of a collective success story than is often credited. If you are a fan it's a fascinating read...
(bwl 69 Summer 2013) |
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The Somnambulist by Essie Fox |
Inspired by the moody interior of Wilton's Music Hall, this historical novel has a number of familiar scenarios from Victorian gothic: the sleepwalking old lady with a disturbed mind; the young lady companion swept from urban squalor to rural idylls; religion; music hall; dark secrets and forbidden love. It's less 'penny-dreadful' and more 'penny-all right really' which strangely works against it. The set pieces are fine but overall it's not the page-turner I'd hoped for.
(bwl 80 Spring 2016) |
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The Spartans - An Epic History by Paul Cartledge |
Athenian individualism, democracy and intellectual enquiry are symbolic of the admirable in western civilisation, but the contribution of the Spartan ideals of martial prowess, the ordered society and the permanent subjugation of neighbouring peoples is often played down. Even fellow Greeks found them 'mad, bad and dangerous to know' and this study illuminates Sparta's unique formative circumstances and the characters that helped create the Spartan myth. As such it's a recommended primer to fascinating history.
(bwl 31 September 2005) |
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The Spirit of Wimbledon - Living Memories of the Dons from 1922-2003 by Niall Couper |
A book worthy of a readership well beyond its sporting horizons. This wonderful blend of history and eye-witness accounts covers Wimbledon football from its nineteenth-century beginnings, the post-war amateur game, FA cup success, the Premiership, the cynical move to Milton Keynes and the phoenix-like emergence of the supporters' club, AFC Wimbledon. A story packed with local heroes, by no means all of them footballers, the reminiscences of the contributors make this hard to put down.
(bwl 22 February 2004) |
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The Subterranean Railway: How the London Underground was Built and How it Changed the City Forever by Christian Wolmar |
As the only underground railway ever to employ steam trains, their recent re-emergence on the London Underground is a timely reminder (like this excellent book) of the age and history of this unique system. Whilst its complexity and seemingly arbitrary distribution of lines and stations reflect the speculative nature of competing Victorian entrepreneurs, later maps and distinctive logos reflect attempts to unify and reconcile this glorious patchwork of tunnels into the system we know today.
(bwl 68 Spring 2013) |
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The Sweet Science by A J Libelling |
Boxing journalism from the age of the ringside flash-bulb, Liebling's articles not only evoke the sight and sounds of the gyms and rings, but also of the characters inhabiting them. But he does this with a very literary style, referencing and comparing contemporary bouts with contests that had taken place centuries beforehand, quoting previous chroniclers of the 'noble art' with a reverence and respect that elevates his own work above that of mere fight commentator.
(bwl 76 Spring 2015) |
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The Sword and the Cross by Fergus Fleming |
Apart from dramatic film backgrounds, ever wondered what it was Foreign Legionnaires were actually doing in those desert forts? Actually they were part of France's visionary North African empire intended to transform the desert with water and railways. Foucauld, (ex-soldier and visionary monk) and Lapperine (soldier and founder of the camel corps) are significant players in a doomed enterprise. 'Let the cockerel scratch in the sand' was Britain's attitude and Flemming again writes fascinating history.
(bwl 32 November 2005) |
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The Things That Nobody Knows: 501 Mysteries of Life the Universe and Everything by William Hartson |
If this book proves anything it's that the areas that we don't understand are the most interesting. Although at first glance it presents as a typical pot-boiler it actually covers a range of specialist subjects including mathematics, quantum mechanics and evolutionary biology and considers questions such as "What is the true value of the Hubble Constant?", before going on to explain the issues and why it's now referred to as the Hubble Parameter! Fancy that . . .
(bwl 75 Winter 2015) |
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The Thoughtful Dresser by Linda Grant |
You might think that a book addressing women's relationship to clothes would be about as interesting as a trip to Debenhams whilst your partner picks shoes for a wedding outfit. Fortunately you'd be wrong. What you actually have is a fascinating social history exploring a complex and complicated story. Add some lengthy interviews and case-studies, overviews of historical developments such as the rise of department stores and you have an entertaining, enlightening and engaging read!
(bwl 88 Spring 2018) |
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The Timewaster Letters by Robin Cooper |
This is an anthology of prank letters written to a wide-range of organisations in the hope of sparking a reaction. It's very funny and you have to admire Robin Cooper's absurdist flights of fancy (especially his plotlines for highly unsuitable children's stories) but it also makes you squirm when putting yourself in the place of company representatives struggling to be polite to an obvious fruitcake. I was more impressed at their restraint than his provocation!
(bwl 33 February 2006) |
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The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce |
An enjoyable and very readable tale reminding me of a geriatric-cross between Kerouac's 'On the Road' and 'Forest Gump'. Harold Fry goes to post a get-well soon card to an old work colleague but then walks past the post-box and decides to deliver it by hand. This confuses his wife, captures the passing interest of the media and various hangers-on and becomes a valuable time of self-assessment and reflection on regret and memory.
(bwl 71 Winter 2014) |
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The Way We Wore - A Life in Threads by Robert Elms |
I'm the same age as the author so his fascinating personal odyssey through the recent history of male fashion should be one I can relate to. Sadly clothes weren't my priority so the importance of the Salatio box-top loafer and the Budgie jacket were lost on me. However I'm grateful to be educated by such a witty and readable guide even if my own rockabilly flirtation is dismissed as 'cool... for a couple of weeks'!
(bwl 45 April 2008) |
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They Flew Through Sand: Notes and Sketches of an RAF Officer in the Western Desert by G W Houghton |
More journalist than combatant, the observations of this young officer were written as the desert war was in full swing and published before it ended. As expected they fully capture his feelings of exhilaration at the wide open expanses of the desert and of his admiration for the pilots whose deeds he documented, but the undercurrent of anxiety is explained by being written at a time when the eventual outcome was by no means certain.
(bwl 54 November 2009) |
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Those Feet - A Sensual History of English Football by David Winner |
If you've ever had the sneaking suspicion that we in Britain have fundamentally different attitudes to football than every other nation - well you're probably right . . . This highly engaging book looks at how the medieval precursor of football was adopted and adapted by Victorian patriarchs anxious to develop both team ethos and sexual repression. The first was important for the preservation of empire, the second to combat the threat of masturbation. It's been downhill ever since . . .
(bwl 30 June 2005) |
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Toast - The Story of a Boy's Hunger by Nigel Slater |
Just as The Child that Books Built (bwl 22) illustrated childhood and grief by association with the author's cultural life raft of literature, 'Toast' illustrates childhood and grief through the author's cultural life raft of food. Both are enjoyable to a large extent from the joy of recognition, which immediately places you on the side of the author. It's an entertaining read all right, but left me wondering what would be next - Autobiography by Toys? ...Songs? ...Role-models ...?
(bwl 28 February 2005) |
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Trafalgar - The Men, The Battle, The Storm by Tim Clayton |
and Phil Craig
(bwl 45 April 2008) |
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Trautmann's Journey From Hitler Youth to FA Cup Legend by Catrine Clau |
Awarded both an OBE and an Iron Cross and recipient of an FA Cup winner's medal whilst breaking his neck during the game itself, Bert Trautmann's story is unique. Although ostensibly a sporting biography the real fascination lies in his youth and the Nazi indoctrination that carried him throughout the war, only questioned when shocked by the offer of tea by his British captors. Trautmann had his devils but this is a true tale of redemption.
(bwl 98 Autumn 2020) |
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Tricks of the Mind by Derren Brown |
Anyone hoping for an exposé of the 'How I do it' variety will be sadly disappointed but those interested in the exploration of a range of memory and mind-training tips and techniques sprinkled with anecdotes and delivered in a flamboyant but ironically self-deprecating style will be more than satisfied. The whole family can all still recite his list of twenty unconnected words backward and forwards so we can confirm that particular technique works at least...!
(bwl 47 September 2008) |
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Trilobite! - Eyewitness to Evolution by Richard Fortey |
It's surprising how interesting one person's obsession can be if they've the enthusiasm and an ability to communicate it. A book on an obscure branch of palaeontology actually had me ferreting around local rock-shops trying to spot a Calymene or a Phacops or two. 300 million years provides a huge evolutionary canvas but only the fragmentary evidence of shells and limbs. The detective work behind the conclusions provides a fascinating glimpse into a long-dead world.
(bwl 28 February 2005) |
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Tulipomania by Mike Dash |
Fascinating historical study of the Tulip and the passions it inspires. Covering its origins in Turkey, its veneration by Sultans, its dubious use as a food in the post-war period and its recent speculative revival in China, the book primarily focuses on the Dutch frenzy of the 1630's. These were not the everyday single-coloured flowers now so common, but delicate and varied blooms streaked by a mosaic virus. A virus which has now been eradicated.
(bwl 12 January 2002) |
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Venture Into the Interior by Laurens Van der Post |
A post-war, government-directed trip to assess potential farmland in Nyasaland is in reality a study of the author's relationship to Africa, himself and the people he meets. The title cannot be accidental and for all his intriguing insights and thoughts, I wondered how his compatriots viewed him - sagacious or self-absorbed, visionary or pompous? A book of journeys rather than travel, you might not always agree with him but you're willing to go the distance.
(bwl 20 September 2003) |
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Virgins of Venice: by Mary Laven |
With the astronomical cost of Venetian wedding dowries, a much cheaper option for 'spare' daughters was for them to marry Christ instead. Subsequent convent life was made slightly more palatable by joining sisters and aunts in one of those rare institutions run and managed by the women themselves. However, legal and religious archives reveal a reputation for good living, political intrigue, less than perfect standards and becoming the inevitable focus of male fantasy and oppression . . .
(bwl 99 Winter 2021) |
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War Reporting for Cowards: Between Iraq and a Hard Place by Chris Ayres |
The rush to 'embed' reporters in military units for the Iraq invasion had some strange results. Reporters were drafted in from all over to suddenly become 'war correspondents' whether they liked it or not! Chris Ayres was one of the latter who found himself caught on the tide of war fever and deposited by sheer chance at a key moment in the opening exchanges just before being 'dis-embedded' and sent home, much to his relief!
(bwl 69 Summer 2013) |
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Warriors of God: Richard the Lionheart, Saladin and the Third Crusade by James Reston Jnr. |
It is almost inevitable that Richard emerges as the more fascinating of these two rivals. Anyone leaving their kingdom under the protection of their aged mother whilst setting out on a holy war with an ex-lover, bitter rival and fellow king is bound to be complex. Richard was a born warrior beset by self-doubt and full of bluster in the face of adversity and the one adversary Saladin was pleased to see the back of.
(bwl 69 Summer 2013) |
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When Elephants Weep - The Emotional Lives of Animals by Jeffrey Masson |
& McCarthy, Susan
Scientists, it seems, refuse to ascribe emotion to animals. They prefer to define it in terms of response to stimuli, regarding anything else as anthropomorphism. The authors argue that as animals ourselves our experiences cannot be regarded as exceptional and back this view with a host of anecdotes and observations on birds, reptiles, fish and mammals. Although by no means a 'scientific' book it is an absorbing read with lots of "Well I never!" moments.
(bwl 20 September 2003) |
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Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden? by Morgan Spurlock |
An out-dated title now, but I did read it before Osama's ultimate demise. It's really more an excuse for a 'typical' American to go out and talk to those involved in the current 'War Against Terror' and to hear their views on Bin-Laden and his influence than a real effort to find Osama himself. Which is fine and quite entertaining as he zig-zags over continents slowly working his way (significantly?) toward the badlands of northern Pakistan.
(bwl 62 Autumn 2011) |
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Why Freud Was Wrong - Sin, Science and Psychoanalysis by Richard Webster |
A big, detailed and fascinating account that re-examines in detail the story of Freud and Psychoanalysis. Whilst admitting to Freud's undoubted genius, Webster attempts what he describes as a 'constructive' review of the case-histories, the relationships and the theories that helped shape the development of psychoanalysis. Central to this is the figure of Freud himself with his complex sexual, religious and messianic feelings. This is accessible, illuminating and fascinating stuff, well researched and persuasively argued.
(bwl 15 October 2002) |
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Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition and Other Confusions of Our Time by Michael Shermer |
My gripe about this book is that it was based on a series of articles and discussions published in other journals. Sometimes this is not a problem but what I was hoping would be a focussed examination of a particular topic was instead an almost random scatter-gun of entertaining, interesting but loosely linked articles. Only near the end did I feel it get to grips with its title but I was already peeved by then.
(bwl 56 Spring 2010) |
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Why We Buy - The Science of Shopping by Paco Underhill |
I really enjoyed this book, all the more so as it enabled me to pinpoint just what it was about our local Lidle store that annoyed me! This is an anthropological study of the modern shopper emerging after years of patient observation and interpretation. Who can forget the previously unknown economic effects of the 'butt-brush' effect for example? As shoppers of varying types we can all relate to the fascinating examples that fill this study.
(bwl 18 April 2003) |
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Wing Leader by 'Johnnie' Johnson, Air Vice-Marshal |
Johnson flew Spitfires from 1940-45 and over time the fear and inexperience of the novice developed into the worries and concerns of the wing leader. Colleagues come and colleagues go, some transferred, some captured, some killed and the emotional price on the survivors is not ignored. The descriptions of flight and of the almost emotional bond between the planes and the men who flew them, combined with an excellent narrative, made for a fascinating read.
(bwl 21 November 2003) |
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Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands by Mary Seacole |
'Mother' Seacole found fame as the black nurse of the Crimea, a front-line bringer of comfort to the wounded and sick. This simple, dignified account of her life covers her childhood years in Jamaica, forays to Panama and finally the Crimean War. An expert in herbal remedies and compassion, she paints a vivid account of the trails and tribulations faced and the love and respect that she earned. An impressive woman and a fascinating read.
(bwl 21 November 2003) |
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Woody Allen: A Biography by Eric Lax |
Written before Woody's split with Mia Farrow this autobiography is able to concentrate more on his influences, early years and cinematic themes than would probably be possible were it written now. As such it is both interesting and insightful for anyone curious about his unique abilities as writer, producer, director and actor in his relationship to cinema in general. Especially so if you received a box set of his DVDs as a welcome present!
(bwl 69 Summer 2013) |
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World War Two Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, the Nazis and the West by Laurence Rees |
The recent opening up of Soviet archives reveals that contemporary eyewitnesses rated Stalin as the most accomplished and efficient of the four western war leaders. Not that he was by any means infallible - the massacre of Polish officers was a major blunder and the German invasion left him in fear of a coup - but after consolidating his power he was then almost constantly underestimated by both Allies and Axis alike to their ultimate cost.
(bwl 56 Spring 2010) |
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Zen and the Art of Stand-up Comedy by Jay Sankey |
It's not that I want to be a stand-up comedian you understand, but I was quite interested to see what the author had to say about the art of trying to make people laugh. And the answer was 'quite a lot' and all of it illustrated from experience. From characterisation, types of joke, opening lines, writing tips and what to do with a microphone the author provides fascinating insight into the minutiae of his craft.
(bwl 94 Autumn 2019) |
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