Product Description

'Mankind clearly peaked about 40 years ago. It's been downhill ever since. For all this talk of our dazzling modern age, the two biggest advances of the past decade are Wi-Fi and Nando's. That's the best we can do'. In his latest laugh-out-loud collection of misanthropic scribblings, hideous Q-list celebrity failure Charlie Brooker tackles everything from the misery of nightclubs to the death of Michael Jackson, making room for Sir Alan Sugar, potato crisps, global financial meltdown, conspiracy theories and Hole in the Wall along the way. The collapse of civilisation has never felt this funny (unless you're a sociopath, in which case it's been an uninterrupted laugh riot since the days of the Somme). This book is guaranteed to brighten your life, put a spring in your step, and lie to you on its back cover.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #74 in Books
• Published on: 2009-10-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 416 pages

About the Author
Charlie Brooker has worked as a writer, journalist, cartoonist and television and radio presenter. Recent television credits include: You Have Been Watching, Screenwipe, which won a Royal Television Society award, and Newswipe. Charlie also wrote and produced Dead Set, a BAFTA-nominated satirical horror drama for Channel 4. Other TV writing credits include the 11 O'Clock Show and the Brass Eye Paedophilia Special. Charlie is well-known for his weekly columns in The Guardian and recently won The Press Awards' columnist of the year 2009

Customer Reviews

Damn Good
"The Hell of It All" continues where "Dawn of the Dumb" left off, collecting Brooker's columns in the Guardian from Aug 07 to Aug 09. The chapters are divided between his Screen Burn columns where he talks about tv shows, and his G2 columns where he talks about other stuff. I love Brooker's work especially his writing but always forget his columns are up on the Guardian website each week so seeing a 388 page book appear is always a surprise and a pleasure as I know I've got 2 years of Brooker's views to read first time. So seeing "The Hell of It All" appear suddenly on the Amazon website, I had to order a copy. And is it any good? Of course it is.

Brooker's views on tv are always funny and spot on, like his article on Bruce Parry in "Tribes" where he reimagines an episode based in Glasgow, or his potshots on BB housemates. There's also a fairly mundane article on his fear of spiders until at the end he adds a note saying he had to write this one as his first submission was vetoed as too gloomy for a Monday morning - the article posits the question "Why don't you blow your own head off?". The article is also included in full.

His best work comes in the form of the G2 articles where his descriptions of not caring about anything in the article titled "The Black Hole" are, dare I say it, profound, while the travel piece where he stays in an opulent Las Vegas during the beginning of the economic crisis contains a spot on description of Vegas. There's also a brilliantly funny article on Gordon Brown's dreary time as prime minister, a paragraph of which I loved so much I've typed it out below:

"Here is a man apparently allergic to luck. Nothing goes right for the Brown minister. He can't even pop onto YouTube and attempt a smile without everyone laughing and calling him creepy. And they're right. The smiles were creepy: they made him look like the long-dead corpse of a gameshow host resurrected by a crazed scientist in some satirical horror movie. It's Saturday night, live from Television Centre! The theme tune plays on a church organ. Your children shriek when he bounds on to the screen. As he descends the glittering staircase, one decomposing arm drops off at the shoulder socket, hitting the studio floor with a damp thud. Oblivious, he steps over it to approach camera one, gazing down the lens with frozen eyes, intermittently twitching that smile. Your screen cracks. Hot plasma leaks out. This broadcast is over." (p.351)

Charlie Brooker's written another amazing book where you actually prefer to read about tv than watch it. And great timing too as a fine remedy to all the putrid celeb biographies and cookbooks out any day now. Very funny, very readable, highly recommended.

Dependable as ever
Charlton Brooker remains one of the best social commentators in the country, mixing truth, humour and a nice line in ranting. If you know Charlie just from his various "Wipe" programmes or the slightly disappointing "You Have Been Watching", you're missing out. Guardian readers are treated to his biting wit in his regular column. This (fairly hefty) tome comprises a large selection of them, following the equally excellent "Screen Burn" and "Dawn of the Dumb".

This is perfect for dipping into, and the excellent "chapters" make you yearn for the talented Mr Brooker to turn his hand at a "proper" book. One slight negative against this is that the publishers (Faber and Faber) have elected to release this as a hardback with a RRP of £12.99. Admittedly, in the days of the net and Amazon, paying full retail price is not something many people do too often, but this a little jarring. Let's not forget that these are republished articles, and would be far more at home in a paberback format (like the previous volumes).

Anyway, cross out that Jeremy Clarkson book from your Christmas list and stick "The Hell of it All" on there instead. You know it makes sense.

Splenetic hilarity
Having read Brooker's first two books, I looked forward to this. I thoroughly enjoyed it and it's more of the same.

His originality with written violence is astonishing. I have no idea where the rage comes from - probably cultural inanity - only that it's very funny indeed.

This is just as quotable as "Screen Burn" and "Dawn Of The Dumb," and taken from the same newspaper columns. Highly recommended.

Sherlock Holmes and the Underpants of Death