Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3190 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-04
• Binding: Hardcover
• 400 pages

Daily Mirror
'A dazzling hero of political incorrectness.'

Synopsis
Jeremy Clarkson knows there's more to life than cars. There is, after all, a whole world out there just waiting to be discovered. So, before he gets on to torque steer and active suspension, he'd like to take a little time to consider the bigger picture. Don't worry, we'll get to the car bit in the end, but before we do, we'll learn about: the unfortunate collapse of the British empire; why Galapagos tortoises are all mental; France, reduced to the size of a small coconut; why Jeremy Paxman and the bass guitarist of AC/DC aren't so very different; the problems of being English; and God's most stupid creation. Then there are the cars: Whether it's the poxiest little runabout or an exotic, firebreathing supercar, no one else writes about cars like Jeremy. Unmoved by official claims and uninterested in press junkets, anything on four wheels is approached without fear or favour. What emerges from the ashes is not always pretty. But it is, invariably, very, very funny.

From the Back Cover
NO ONE WRITES ABOUT CARS LIKE CLARKSON. TRY THIS: 'Pile up to a corner, change down on the ridiculously narrow-gated gearbox, brake hard. Already your clutch leg is aching from the effort. Now turn the wheel. There's power assistance, but not much. Your arms are straining to hold the front in line, so you apply some power to unstick the back end. Grrrr, goes the 4.7 litre V8. Wheeeeeeeee goes the supercharger. And eeeeeeeeeeeeeee go the tyres as they lose traction.' OR THIS: 'I reserve my special level of hatred, my mental Defcon 4, for people who drive up the A44 at 40mph. I don't think we should be allowed to kill people who drive too slowly. It's never right to take life. But I do think we should be allowed to torture them a bit. Saw their legs off maybe, or shove a powerful air hose up their jacksies. Forty may have been acceptable in 1870, but it's simply unnaceptable now. If all the world did 40, it wouldn't work any more.'

Customer Reviews

It was a disapointment
I think this guy is great on TV and has had a great book. This a a weak follow up. He has built up a good fan base and has now let money run his mind.
Get back to what made you big Mr Clarkson, You have to admit this book is not it. And what is the picture of the Bunny for.??

"To everyone except John Prescott"
Jezza's dedication, above, is a little unfair, in that he and the redoubtable Mr "two-jags" Prescott at least share a passion for cars. I like Clarkson's refreshinging un-PC attitude, although not his complancency about CO2 (although he may yet turn out to be right) and enjoy his columns on cars, and on more general matters, in The Sunday Times.

But is this a good book? Mr wife bought me it for Christmas, bouyed up no doubt by my positive reaction to "The World according to Clarkson" the year before, but I have only read a few of the fifty or so "chapters". Why?

Well, I can remember most of them from when I first read them, 2003 - 2006, for a start. At the same time, some of the contemporary references were so fleeting that they conjure forth no recollection at all. For example: in October 2003 "BBC bosses" decided to replace DJ Sara Cox with someone. Jezza suggested it was "The Queen". I have no recollection at all what that was about - have you?

In any case, Clarkson's humour about cars is perhaps a little intense when presented in such a format.

That having been said, the full colour plates of the cars are excellent - you didn't get that in the Sunday Times. What you don't get, oddly, is the number of "stars" Clarkson awarded to each car in that paper. How much would that have cost?

This is a book for the "lavatory reference section", or from which to try to read one chapter before bed. Within those terms, but those only, is succeeds.

Peter Pan, anyone?
The little public schoolboy who has never grown up, still playing in the mud with his Dinky toys.