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The Most Amazing Places to Visit in Britain
by alexdave
I absolutely love hiking with my boyfriend and our dogs and love finding lovely and exciting places to visit.
When I say exciting, I don't mean exciting as rollercoaster exciting! I mean lovely views, ancient monument exciting!
I reguarly scour the internet, Amazon and Ebay, for guides to places to visit and when I saw ... this one I thought it would be worth a look. I bought this second hand and so spent a fraction of it's retail price of £14.99. Had I paid the retail price I think I would have been a little disappointed. Reasons for this is becasue there was little detail on the amazing places they had found.
I feel the author had put too many places in this book and maybe it would have been better to have done the country in sections to be able to go into more detail about each place.
Saying this it still gives you some really good ideas as to what to do and where to go when visiting areas and even helps to make decision as to which part of the country to visit!
Being from Readers Digest I felt I could trust the book and the information it gave was very accurate.
It is in a hard back cover (Soft back may be available now) so taking it with you was a no no really. It was also a pain to pack it into bag for holidays as it was so big and cumbersome. Also as the book covers the whole country it is a bit pointless taing it with you if you are visiting a particular area as it is a waste of space and weight!
Really this book is nice to read at home on the sofa and get ideas about where to go and what to see, then buy a bit more pratical guide to actually take with you!
All in all a nice book but maybe could be split down into more books to include more information.
This is a book in a set of "Most amazing..." from readers digest and I am interested to see the others so this book can't be that bad!!
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Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour - Kate Fox
by kingbeerex
Initially, I was fairly skeptical of this book. As an Anthropology graduate, I was not expecting much from a 'pop-lit' book. But this, in a nutshell, is a well-written book, balancing well between pop-lit and academia.
As a proud Welshman, I'm often annoyed about the blurring between the distinction of 'English' and 'British'. ... Fox sets out however by noting that although much of her research could be applied for all of these islands, it's most applicable to the English nation. That's me pacified, then.
But this book is not about Englishness. It's about what makes people English. About the small nuances, the general customs, the social oddities. It's written in the way of an outsider looking in, and that adds a certain comic value to it.
There were plenty of times where I'd put the book down either through laughing, or through wondering out loud: "Do I really do that?". The thing is, I do. We do. And it's the way that Fox makes 'Englishness' and 'English' customs seem so ridiculous that makes you realise that we're not different to anyone else. We're the same with utterly bizarre social customs- for example why do we automatically say sorry when someone bumps into us? Why is there such a strange custom for ordering at the bar- that is, leaning with money fairly obviously on display when you haven't been served?
This book really makes one look at one's self and society, and wonder.
Truly recommended.
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Are You Dave Gorman? - Dave Gorman & Danny Wallace
by Michmcc79
This book has been around for a while now but its something I can read over and over again. I first spotted it in a book shop one day when I had a long train journey ahead of me. I was bored of chick flicks, horrors scare me and I certainly wasn't up to reading any non fiction which involved me thinking too much after a heavy night ... before! When I picked it up, I thought it sounded stupid, ridiculous and totally unbelievable - everything I stand for!
In that 5 hour journey, I read the book from cover to cover! I was totally engaged from the start, loving the fact there were 2 authors - Dave Gorman and Danny Wallace. Both write very differently, Dannys humour being perhaps a little dryer and Daves enthusiasm and wit made the perfect partnership.
In short, these two guys were flatmates, and after one too many drinks one night, they made a bet. Dave thought he could find more Dave Gormans in the world (this was before the days of facebook!) and Danny thought this was ridiculous! So, to prove a point Dave drags Danny up to Scotland to find another Dave Gorman that he knows about. Both were still inebriated whilst on the train but they did it! They found him!
The whole thing just escalates from there...world travel ensues and people changing their name by deed poll are the lengths Dave went to to win this bet!
The way it is written is hilarious. Their style of writing makes me feel I am sat in the pub with them and they are just telling me some funny tales. Its so clever aswell, Dave regularly finding links that are totally ironic!
I have read it many times since then, and I know I will never give this book away. Any book that makes you laugh out loud on a train full of people is a keeper in my opinion!
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