Dave Gorman

These days, everyone is trying to tell us something, and as a result, we have trained ourselves to filter out the things that don’t interest us (click onto another website, fast forward through the adverts, change the channel). Dave Gorman casts his witty eye over the dross and nonsense that comes to us via the internet and certain news media, and asks what’s really going on? And why do we accept so much junk as just a normal part of life?

As ever, Gorman is entertaining and amusing, and show more this is a really easy book to read (I read it in one day, on a long flight). But as well as all the humour – and yes, I laughed out loud several times – he does make some serious points. There are 40 chapters, so far too many to describe, but he talks about why a particular newspaper (it’s the Daily Mail, surprise surprise) doesn’t seem to know what ‘matching’ means in it’s numerous articles about couples, or parents and children wearing matching outfits; why television hosts always ask the same questions; why does the internet think Julia Roberts is Jesus? and so on. He also looks at some of the seedier parts of the internet, such as mass spamming on Twitter, people being paid to advertise on Twitter (but surreptitiously, so that others are not supposed to realise that they’re advertising) etc.

Most of the chapters are a few pages long – a few are just one page – so it’s an easy, quick read, which will not only have you laughing, but also nodding along in agreement. Definitely recommended. show less

I’ll start with a confession: I suspect that I am exactly the kind of person to whom this sort of book would appeal.

While I don’t believe I’d ever do anything quite so extreme to avoid the commitment of writing a novel, I am, nonetheless, a procrastinator at heart. And there is something about books of this genre that makes that little voice in my head pop up and exclaim, “What a cool idea!!” Trying to meet fifty-three other people with the same name as you? Count me in. show more Travelling around a small country with a large fridge appliance? I’m there. Playing tennis against every member of an obscure Eastern European nation’s football team? Why not? Saying ‘yes’ to everything for a year? What an interesting sociological experiment! These are all ridiculous adventures that have led to equally ridiculous but highly entertaining books.

So when I picked up Dave Gorman’s Googlewhack! Adventure, I knew from the start that it was likely to be something I’d enjoy. I wasn’t wrong. Yes, Dave seems to have taken procrastination to new heights, and if he hadn’t got a publishing deal out of it all then I would be seriously worried about the likely fragile nature of both his mental health and his bank account. But what stops this from being a cringe-worthy and pity-inducing book is his ability to take us inside his head at each encounter with another Googlewhack, and to help us understand the occasionally bizarre thought processes which drive this obsessive quest.

Travelling all over the world, including numerous flights back and forth across the North Atlantic, Dave meets his Googlewhacks and has a brief insight into the different lives of ordinary (and in some cases not so ordinary) people. I could feel the fun and excitement when he played Yankee Grab at a family’s Christmas party in Boston. I could feel his squirming sense of discomfort as he sat opposite an 81-year-old Creationist in San Diego. And I could feel his utmost despair in Austin, Texas when within minutes his chain of Googlewhacks disintegrates, prompting him to go out on the town and drink himself into a stupor – one which also involves waking up to discover a tattoo of a fake Texan drivers’ license permanently imprinted on his left arm.

Dave might be a chronic procrastinator, but fortunately for us he is also a masterful storyteller. If you’re looking for a fun, light-hearted read, enjoy vicarious travel, and aren’t averse to a dose of silliness every now and then, give this book a go: it might be the most fun you can have without leaving your chair. show less

Recently I was lucky enough to see Dave Gorman live at my local theatre. His current tour, 'Dave Gorman gets straight to the point...the PowerPoint', is a treat for anyone who enjoys chasing down oddities to their logically absurd conclusions, and I thoroughly enjoyed the show. Afterwards he was selling and signing some of his books, so obviously I had to buy one.

What's it about?

Loosely, the idea suggested by the title: there is just too much noise and stuff masquerading as information and show more intruding into our lives. This false or unnecessary information emanates largely from the Internet, though TV and newspapers have more than their fair share of irritations too, and we are often or even mostly overwhelmed by this flood of stuff and so stop exercising sensible judgement about its value.

Really it's just an excuse for Gorman to do his thing: to critique absurdity in order to make people laugh.

What's it like?

Appropriately, this feels like a book that could only exist in a world saturated by social media and sound bites. (I mean, obviously that's true because of the subject matter, but bear with me!) Gorman's chapters read like blog posts, anecdotal investigations of various oddities that just happen to have caught his attention. If I share a few of the chapter titles it should give you a good sense of his foci:

If It Isn't One of Your Greatest Hits Don't Put It on a Greatest Hits Album.
'Music From & Inspired by the Motion Picture' Can Sod Off Too
What's the Point of a Link If It Isn't Actually Linked?
There's No Need to Invent a New Word for Something Just Because It Happened on Twitter

In keeping with this slightly haphazard focus, chapters range in length from several pages to a mere page, depending on whether the complaint in question is deemed worthy of further investigation or is simply being flagged up as a ridiculous situation. This makes it a great book to dip in and out of quickly - perhaps during those moments you might normally devote to Twitter or Facebook?

Don't read this critique of modern life looking for solutions, as Gorman concludes that 'Can we do anything about it? Probably not.' And fair enough. This is a lazy Sunday afternoon book, not a life-changing creed.

Final thoughts

If you enjoy Dave Gorman's brand of comedy, or share his irritation with the illogicalities of much of the modern world, then it's likely you'll enjoy this. Really, I think most people would be hard-pressed to disagree with him when he suggests that it's a bit odd for the word 'women' in a random article to link to Dyson hoovers, or for the word 'dinner' in another article to link to denture adhesive.

Gorman on Amazon's Search Inside this book feature: "If you search for a badger glove puppet on Amazon, one of the things it's going to try and tempt you with is a book that I wrote about an American Road Trip...Is that a useful thing to show someone who's searched for 'badger glove puppet'? I don't think so."

In fact, it's probably worth reading the whole book just to reach the chapter where Gorman explores The Daily Mail's slightly shaky concept of 'matching' in relation to celebs and fashion. In it he points out that not only is this a cynical ploy designed to grab the reader's attention by pretending there's some sort of actual story happening, but it's also a diversionary tactic to stop readers' considering how truly creepy such 'stories' really are (since fundamentally they are all really 'Man Stalks Woman and Takes Pictures of Her With Her Child / Lover'). I defy anyone to read that chapter without agreeing that, yes, such 'stories' are odd, and a definite case of TMI...or perhaps of nothingness posing as Information.

Ultimately, this book neatly affirms the spirit behind its epigraph: 'There are many things of which a wise man might wish to be ignorant'.

Epigraph credited to Ralph Waldorf Emerson show less

I’ve been a fan of Dave Gorman for a long time – his tv shows and stage shows (I’m lucky enough to have been him live) are always witty and entertaining, and his books are always a good source of amusement. In this book, he basically travels around England playing games with strangers. He plays traditional games such as Cluedo, Ping Pong, Darts and Poker, and some other games which were – to me at least – unknown, such as Khett, Kubb, Smite and erm…Rod Hull’s Emu Game (I know show more who Rod Hull and Emu are obviously. I did not know that there was such a game. And neither did Dave!)

Gorman is an affable and engaging narrator and while the book is not constantly hilarious, it is amusing and made me laugh out loud on a number of occasions. There is at least one episode which took both myself and Dave Gorman himself by complete surprise, and when you’ve finished the book I am sure you will know which one I mean.

Overall, a lovely read which I would definitely recommend. Also, I now would love to find a local Smite team to join! show less