Fantastic reading
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This book then, Born to be Riled, is absolutely fantastic.
I have to say, this book is one of the best in the Clarkson series. I read the paperback version of this one, but also own the hardback version due to someone's error on eBay. Don't worry, though, I did get Clarkson's Motorworld hardback book which I actually ordered but got to keep B.T.B.R as well (haha, eBay loser!)
This book is unutterably fantastic. It includes all of Clarkson's usual wit, sarcasm and exaggeration.
His sense of humour is out of this world funny.
I still maintain he should become a guest on Mock the Week.
From cover to cover there'll be a smile on your face from ear to ear that'll cut your face clean in half.
If you're looking for a book to take on holiday, or read while sitting on the loo...or to read anywhere, anytime in fact, then look no further.
Great read.
5 STAR *****
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Really disappointing
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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.
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Material 15 years out of date
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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Christmas and, despite him liking Clarkson, this book is an irritation because its once-topical content is completely out of date.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.
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A good read but has aged badly.
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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.
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Another side to Jeremy Clarkson
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A collection of Clarkson's writings, which reveal a little more than his usual drab observations. Here, Clarkson opens up about his feelings for other men with some subtle details and his homo-erotic car fixation suggests he is more than the blatant sexist he presents himself as on television. It's pleasing that he realises his own inadequacies and implores us to love his rogue-ish right-wing persona, but he just lacks the literary talent to really pull it off. A game effort, but ultimately a disappointment.
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