Join Me - Danny Wallace

Join Me - Danny Wallace

Author: 

Danny Wallace

Publish Date: 

2003

Blurb on the Back:

They didn't know what they were joining...

They didn't know why they were joining...

But joining they were.

Danny Wallace was bored. Just to see what would happen, he placed a whimsical small ad in a local London paper. It said, simply ‘Join Me’. Within a month, he was receiving letters and e-mails from intrigued strangers all over the country, eager to sign up.

Teachers, mechanics, sales reps, vicars, schoolchildren, pensioners – all pledged allegiance to his cause. None knew what that cause was.

Soon he was proclaimed Leader. Increasingly obsessed and possibly power crazed, he risked losing his sanity and his loyal girlfriend. But who could deny the attraction of a global following of thousands of devoted joinees?

A modern day Pied Piper, he traveled the world.

From Inverness to Amsterdam, Swindon, Paris, Zurich,Crete and Oslo. He became a minor celebrity in Belgium. He had a brush with a criminal mastermind in Devon. He made hundreds of old men all over the world very happy.

A book about dreams, ambitions and the responsibility that comes with power, JOIN ME is the true story of a man who created a cult by accident, and is proof that whilst some men were born to lead, others really haven't got a clue...

Review:

(Note this is a repost from the 11 April 2013)

So you may have noticed in my last blog I mentioned a chap by the name of Danny Wallace (Not the Footballer). In Join Me, Danny largely by accident starts a cult (or as he prefers it to be known a "collective") by entering a small advert into a local London paper. the ad simply said "JOIN ME" and asked any one wanting to join to send a passport sized photo of themselves to Danny. He never gave any explanation of what they where joining, mainly because he didn't have the faintest idea what the purpose was.

As people respond and the members start to grow Danny struggles to keep things secret from his long suffering girlfriend, Hanne, who has had enough of his "stupid boy projects" after his exploits with Dave Gorman in a previous book ("Are you Dave Gorman" still to be reviewed by me.)

More importantly however he finally isn't able to avoid what the purpose of his cult/collective is for and as a result he is finally backed into a corner and forced to invent a reason. Instead of using his ever growing power for evil however, he decides that its purpose should be to do random good deeds on a Friday which eventually lead to them adopting the moniker of "The Karma Army"

Join Me is a nicely paced and humorous book and Danny tells the story in a straight forward but entertaining style. He is also very openly critical of where he went wrong. The Karma Army is still going strong which is testament to the good work that Danny wanted to promote. I would say however that like America Unchained, once read it doesn't have much re-read value but still a very uplifting book to read.

9 out 10

Now just a short wee note. Posts from me will be a bit sporadic I work a condensed week so your more likely to see me active on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday than the rest of the week also any comments you have would be most appreciated.

For now this book is about to be replaced. Not sure by what yet but the Changing Mat looks the odds on favorite.

Hope you have fun

Deejay

Yes Man - Danny Wallace

Yes Man - Danny Wallace

Author: 

Danny Wallace

Publication Date: 

July 2005

Blurb on the Back:

'I, Danny Wallace, being of sound mind and body, do hereby write this manifesto for my life. I swear I will be more open to opportunity. I swear I will live my life taking every available chance. I will say Yes to every favour, request, suggestion and invitation. I WILL SWEAR TO SAY YES WHERE ONCE I WOULD SAY NO.'

Danny Wallace had been saying No. Far too much. No to his friends, no to his colleagues, no to the pub and no to himself. And his life was dull, dumped by his girlfriend and on a road to nowhere. It was only when a mystery man on a late-night bus uttered three magical words that his whole world started to change...

... 'SAY YES MORE'.

And Danny did.

In the months that followed, he won £25,000, he met Buddhist monks, alien obsessives and the world's only hypnotic dog. He became a minister, an inventor, a minor television personality and an accidental peace activist. He ended up in Singapore, In Amsterdam and in a small mining town in South Wales, he lost £25,000.

Yes Man is the story of what can happen when you decide to say YES to absolutely everything, but how do you do it without anyone noticing? And what happens when someone finds out? As Danny discovered, life can become a whole lot more interesting... And will never be the same again.

Review: 

(note this is a repost from 11 April 2013)

Yup ladies and gentlemen, two reviews for the same author in one night but that's just how they came out of my cupboard. I'm going to leave books for a night or so after this and do a couple of Cd's and Podcasts.

Anyway on with the review. Technically can be seen as the "Sequel" to Join Me as it finds Danny on a low ebb after the events of Join Me. He's no longer with Hanne, ignoring family and friends and worst of all not even heading to the pub for a pint. He's gotten used to the word No, and as a result he is going nowhere.

That all changes when he meets a random person on the bus who has three words of advice "Say Yes More" And Danny does for the next year he tries to say yes to everything (with the occasional tweak so he does give all his money to Nigerian kings.) It leads him on a journey that sees him go all around the globe. However there is an evil nemesis in the background... Someone who knows that Danny just can't say no to anything.

The story is at time frantic but never the less it is laugh out loud funny in some parts, touching in others and most of all it makes you think what opportunities you are missing out on just by saying no to something.

say Yes to this book and as a result I said yes to go and see the movie that was made based on it even though it had Jim Carrey in it who is an actor I just don't enjoy watching. Sure the movie wasn't that great but at least i tried something I normally wouldn't have done.

A positive thinking book that is up there with Lucky man by Michael J Fox.

10 out of 10.

America Unchained - Dave Gorman

America Unchained - Dave Gorman

Author: 

Dave Gorman

Publish Date: 

April 2008

Blurb on the Cover:

The plan was simple. Go to America. Buy a second-hand car. Drive coast-to-coast without giving any money to The Man TM. What Could Possibly go wrong?

Dismayed by the onslaught of faceless American chains muscling  in where local businesses had once thrived, Dave Gorman set off in search of the true, independent heart of the U S of A. He would re-fuel at dusty gas stations and stock up on supplies from Mom and Pop's grocery store. At least that was the idea. But when did you last see an independent gas station?

Gamely, Dave beds down in a Colorado trailer park, sleeps in an Oregon forest treehouse and even spends thanksgiving with a Mexican family in Kansas. But when his classic coast-to-coast trip mutates into an odyssey of near epic proportions and he finds himself  threatened at gun point in Mississippi, Dave starts to worry about whats going to break down next. The Car... Or him?

Note: this review is a repost from the 6 April 2013.

Well we bought an activity mat and some fuzzy touch cubes today so that means I need to oust something else from my back catalog. So next in line is Comedian, TV and radio presenter Dave Gorman's Book America Unchained. Now I have followed Dave Gorman's ever since I seen him and his friend and fellow writer/presenter/comic Danny Wallace on the  BBC 2 show "Are you Dave Gorman?" (Since turned into a book which will be reviewed at a later date!) I find his writing style very amicable and easy to pick up and the diary like nature of the journey makes it very easy to get involved in the story.

Discarding the first few chapters which basically give the explanation that you find in the Blurb, Dave heads to LA to find an old style US Car (A Ford Torino)and to embark on his Journey east armed with his director/camera person Steph.

It's impossible to outline the story without ruining the book so I won't bother but suffice to say there is comedy moments, moments that will make you shudder and even some that will move you. it really is hard not to be moved as the style of the book is just one long chat by Dave. it feels that he could be telling you the story in the pub over a pint.

The thing is it reaches a point where you absolutely want him to succeed in his quest and the times when things are flagging or his resolve is waning, you want to urge him on to complete his task.

The reread value is where the book is let down, not quality as such but because it is a true story with a beginning a middle and an end. once you know how it ends there is little point going back to it, but reading it for the first time the trip through the book is totally worth it.

4 outta 5 on this one.

Peace

Deejay