Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1137 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-25
• Binding: Paperback
• 576 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Jeremy Clarkson, the opinionated motoring journalist, has something to say on just about everything, not just cars, in this collection of his columns from both Top Gear Magazine and The Sunday Times.

Whether you love or loathe him, Born to be Riled makes for an entertaining and lively read as Clarkson vents his anger and frustration at, among other things, Sunday drivers, caravans and politicians. Even places are not safe from his poisonous tongue, with Surrey, Birmingham and Norfolk being on the receiving end of some particularly venomous rants.

Clarkson's views on cars and motoring make for interesting reading but do tend to speak to the more initiated enthusiast than the casual driver and analogies and comparisons are often lost on all but the most technically minded car fanatic.

However, Clarkson writes with joyous wit and even when his arguments seem a little shaky, you can't help but find yourself nodding in agreement or realising that he is riled by all the things in life that you are--being stuck behind a caravan on a country back road or the drink-driving laws in this country. In much the same way as Bill Bryson chronicles life's daily woes and pitfalls with a scathing sense of humour, so Clarkson speaks for a silent majority who are secretly incensed by a million and one things everyday of their lives, but are just a little too British to say anything.

In this book, Clarkson has become the common man's champion and when he is fighting for the cause with this much humour and wit, long may he remain in that position. --Jonathan Weir

Book Jacket
Born To Be Riled is a motoring milestone, the best of Jeremy Clarkson's writing in Top Gear Magazine and the Sunday Times. Only the most outrageous diatribes, the sharpest observations and the funniest experiences are included here in this souped-up, turbocharged collection of columns from Britain's most famous motoring journalist. Sit beside him in the passenger seat as he crucifies shoddy cars, stand with him on the soapbox as he lays into the anti-car bureaucrats, and hitch a ride around the world on his filming trips. If this book were a car, it would be a 600 brake horsepower Aston Martin Vantage. Or something else big and noisy.

Synopsis
Jeremy Clarkson, it has to be said, sometimes finds the world a maddening place. And nowhere more so than from behind the wheel of a car, where you can see any number of people acting like lunatics while in control (or not) of a ton of metal. In "Born to be Riled", Clarkson takes a look at the world through his windscreeen, shakes his head at what he sees - and then puts the boot in. Among other things, he explains: why Surrey is worse than Wales; how crossing your legs in America can lead to arrest; the reason cable TV salesmen must be punched; and, that divorce can be blamed on the birth of Jesus. Raving politicians, pointless celebrities, ridiculous 'personalities' and the Germans all get it in the neck, together with the stupid, the daft and ludicrous in a tour de force of comic writing guaranteed to have Clarkson's postman wheezing under sackfuls of letters from the easily offended.

Customer Reviews

Really disappointing
I'm a huge fan of Top Gear and think its one of most entertaining programmes on television and Jeremy Clarkson is a complete legend. However, when I read this book, I was really disppointed as many of entries are pretty much the same! Half the book is a long rant about Vauxhall Vectras, drink driving laws and 'slow' drivers. Frankly, I just got really bored and really struggled to finish it. Also much of the content is now so old and irrelevant, its pointless. If it were half the size it would be brilliant but unfortunately it's not.

Material 15 years out of date
I bought this for my husband for Christmas and, despite him liking Clarkson, this book is an irritation because its once-topical content is completely out of date. When contemplating buying it I checked the publication date to make sure it was recent - so it would feel current, and so it was less likely he'd already read it. The date of publication was listed as Jan 2007 - seemed pretty safe. I assumed the hardback would have been about a year earlier. It's currently number 26 in the Amazon 'Humour' chart, but when I bought it in mid December I think it was higher in the chart, again giving the impression of something current. I only read the most recent Amazon reviews, which were written in 2007 - if I'd read ALL the reviews and checked the dates they were written I would have seen that some of them were written several years ago, but usually you're looking for people's impressions and not proof of the book's age!
When my husband received the book and started to read it he was a little peeved to discover that the book refers to lots of events which took place during the 90s, such as discussing car launches for cars which aren't even made any more, having been discontinued and replaced! He checked the inside front cover and found that the book was FIRST published in 1999, but seems to have been compiled from newspaper articles which went back much further than that, to the early 90s.
To reprint it now in paperback as if it's a new book is cynical, greedy, misleading and wrong. People will obviously buy it thinking the material is new or at least reasonably in date! No doubt it's been bought widely by people who like Clarkson and people buying Xmas presents for people who like Clarkson, thinking they know what they're getting. Soooo.... lots of disappointed and irritated buyers, and more cash to line Clarkson's pockets and those of his publishers. I'll think twice before buying another book by him.

A good read but has aged badly.
If like me you read Clarkson to be amused by his ranting then you won't be disappointed. Sadly as articles are often put in contex of current issues the book hasn't aged well. Often articles are irrelivent and his remarks on the cars often dated due to the release of new novels.

For a first Clarkson book I would recomend one of the newer ones, but for seasoned Clarkson fans the book will make you laugh and all to often nod along with Clarksons rants.