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Hang the DJ: An Alternative Book of Music Lists by Angus Cargill (Editor)
Ah, the music list... balm to pop obsessives (see Nick Hornby's High Fidelity), makeweight of copy-starved magazine editors, and staple of self-indulgent writers (see 31 Songs, also by Nick Hornby). The contributors to this volume fall mainly into the latter category. No fewer than thirty five of them supply their musical top tens, ranging from the fanatical to the frivolous, via the frankly frightening. Full review...
Sod That!: 103 Things Not To Do Before You Die by Sam Jordison
Without sounding like a braggart, I have done some pleasant things in life. I've caught the first bus up to Machu Picchu, and shared the sunrise with only the llamas. I've eaten strange things while on a full fortnight tour of Iceland. But closer to home, were I to have a list, there would be many things left on it – I've been nowhere near Bath, or York; I've never seen the film ET, which for a man of my age is something of a claim to fame. Full review...
History Without the Boring Bits by Ian Crofton
I was never one for history, and in fact left the dregs of a history teacher in tatters when I scraped through with a D. Still, history is an odd thing – written by the winners of course, and annoyingly biased in my mind towards the plain. There's no real reason to remember the order of Henry VIII's six wives, but we can only relish the one credited with polydactylism, a third nipple and whatnot (the second one, in fact – whoever that was). Full review...
Is This Bottle Corked? The Secret Life of Wine by Kathleen Burk and Michael Bywater
Now, I'm the first person to admit I am not a wine buff. I know a lot more now than I did before my current relationship, but she is right to say I have a very masculine (ie dead weak) sense of smell. Added to that a blunt sense of taste and I'm left saying I know what I like when I drink it, and that's it. Full review...
Joined-up Thinking: How to Connect Everything to Everything Else by Stevyn Colgan
I am in this book. And so therefore are you. So why don't I like it quite as much as I should?
To be more honest, neither of us are in this book, although we could well be. It is a trivia collection based on attesting the feeling that everything is linked to everything and everyone else, if only you know how. Thus the chapters introduce us to item A, which is linked to item B, which relates to C, whose story is incomplete without D, and so on and lo and behold, before you know it you're back at A, having had no idea where we were going. Full review...
Uglier Than A Monkey's Armpit by Dr Robert Vanderplank
Now I've always been one for delivering a nice meaty insult. And if you think otherwise then you're just a #####ing ******** of a !!!!!!!!!!, with a &%&%&% for a $$$$$$. But I've been brought up with the usual British malaise when it comes to learning foreign languages, and so beyond knowing that Leche! is a bit meaty in Spanish, I could not help to cuss and swear like whatever other languages might have for trooper. Full review...
The Book of Idle Pleasures by Tom Hodgkinson
We've all heard the clichés about modern life. You know – technology was meant to free us from drudgery. Instead we've become its slaves and work longer hours than ever. We're overloaded with means of communication but few of us know our neighbours, etc, etc. On hearing these, most of us shrug and carry on with our busy, busy lives. But now and then, something reminds us of who and what we are. This delightful, unassuming book is one of those things. Full review...
Ouch! Extreme Feats of Human Endurance by Georgina Phillips
Everything from Shackleton to Ellen MacArthur, by way of the Japanese word for fried rice-field grasshopper, and 32 hour long after dinner speeches. Ouch! contains fascinating trivia on every page that children will love to repeat back to you at length. Full review...
Any Question Answered by AQA 63336
Did you know that if you have a question, any question, you can text AQA on 63336 and their team of dedicated researchers will find the answer and text it back to you? It will cost you just £1 and AQA have now answered over nine million questions. That's a lot of questions and the answers didn't just disappear into the ether. AQA have them all stored away. Full review...
