Banana Skins looks at the downfalls of the rich and famous with over 370 pages of brilliant info and photos

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #436083 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-11
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Synopsis
History is filled with stories of the famous crashing to earth, whether through an ill-judged statement, an overweening arrogance, a lust for power or money, or simply a stroke of bad luck. Today, more than ever, the world of the successful is littered with 'banana skins' lying in wait for the unwary, as film stars, politicians, soldiers, scientists, business tycoons, royalty, criminals, sports idols and others make that fatal decision, gaffe or slip. It covers 220 fascinating entries. Packed in a gift size, it is highly illustrated in colour. It is ideal travel and present book. It tells the stories behind the stories. "The Hidden Secrets" - this beautifully illustrated book charts the hidden secrets behind some of the biggest 'banana skins' of all time - the riveting stories of 200 figures who fell from grace - some for ever, some for a while, some evoke sympathy, a great many do not.

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Customer Reviews

Banana Skins slips down a treat
Banana Skins is a cracking read - lots of fun to read about the greatest slip ups in history (as well as some really disastrous ones like in Pearl Harbour...). It strikes a good balance between the recent celeby PR disasters like Posh and Becks taking the News of the World to court and Paris Hilton's sex video (!), and political ones like Jonathan Aitken and David Blunkett, as well as classics like Gerald Ratner and 'Watergate' and historical mistakes like the Trojian Horse and Hitler. There's also lots of cock ups that I hadn't heard of before so lots to keep you enterained. Good coffee table/conversation starting stuff.

Personally I blame the Editor.....
This book is ok I guess.

I quite enjoy this sort of thing....short sharp intersting facts bundled together. However, to me this book is flawed in a few ways, and it did make reading it less enjoyable than anticipated.

Firstly, it REALLY annoys me when an author keeps inserting personal interjections. I didn't buy this book to read about you or your family, or who your dad knew and mixed with in the 50's or 60's. This should be IMPERSONAL. I believe someone has already commented on this review site also about your political views. Not that I either agree or disagree with them. This book isn't about you ! And your Editor should have been responsible for pointing this out !

(I guess I really should have known where this was heading by the Author's Note in which he proudly shows off his trainset....and makes sure it is evident that the photo is a Lichfield.)

Secondly, although there are some very interesting Banana Skins in the book, I can't help feeling that some are very loosely cobbled together in order to bulk out the book.

What didn't help is that I had just finished a similarly formatted book, the excellent "The Rough Guide to Conspiracy Theories by James McConnachie and Robin Tudge", which although a different subject is a far superior example of this style of writing.

The author's banana skin
This is a highly entertaining and thought provoking book. It is well worth reading but...
...after a while I did find the author's political bias somewhat wearing. More worryingly, I think it clouds his judgement at times. That said, anything that can link archery to the insanity of trench warfare has got to be good.