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Began as a fascinating exploration of the pulling of various strings to manipulate senses into contrarian experiences for people trying things, and somehow partway through turned into a love letter from the author to the Italian Futurists. Not helped by my continual confusing of Prof. Charles Spence with Prof. Richard Wiseman. I’m vaguely disgusted that…
The history of Soho’s Colony Room Club – a gathering place of Bohemians, artists, and free thinkers – established in 1948 by the redoubtable Muriel Belcher and closed in 2008. In that time it was home to a rollcall of Britain’s alternative art establishment, and as with many of London’s private clubs the source of…
Randall from XKCD has collected a bunch of thought-scoping exercises here about how to solve fairly basic problems (such as how to dig a hole) and then extrapolated to some less-basic ones (such as building a lava moat around your house) in such a way that gets you considering the notion of problem-solving by indirect…
For the first time, comedy LEGEND Billy Connolly has put “pen to paper” to record some of his dizzying array of stories collected over the years and meted out to audiences in packed houses across the globe. You can’t begrudge the man for wanting to share. Trouble is, as a huge fan and someone who’s…
Wonderfully written insight into the approaches & attitudes of James O’Brien in being a liberal talkback radio host, and the sorts of thoughts and beliefs he has as he encounters the sorts of callers he has on a daily basis. Ultimately I took his message as one of hope – hope that by asking people…
A collection of autobiographical stories by the founder of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society which falls just short of being interesting – I’d sort of hoped for more depth on the founding of the society beyond the usual story about how “a few friends bought a cask, then decided to do it again”… and I…
Generously written biography of the singer from Kidderminster who caught the eye of Jimmy Page, who would go on to become a golden god of the rock firmament. There’s so much more to the Robert Plant story than just Led Zeppelin, and this book admirably captures that – whilst of course a big part of…
I’ve seen the comedy show which this book was based on 1.4 times (long story – but the 0.4 was a manful effort at putting on a performance despite the best efforts of the performer’s gastrointestinal tract). Andrew O’Neill can be described as many things – but “passionate about heavy metal” is definitely foremost in…
2nd instalment in the Dave vs. the Monsters trilogy – fresh from saving the world, this instalment sees Dave revelling in his newfound adulation in Vegas, when The Horde make themselves known once again. You’re not gonna learn anything reading these books – but they are bloody good fun.
M’colleague Billy went to the launch of this book, which he said was “the most Stewart Lee thing ever” – consisting of the author standing on a riverboat bookshop on a West London canal, reading excerpts from the book through a PA system to the gathered crowd on the shore. I find Stewart Lee’s columns…