2008-06-07 "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 read perhaps half 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.

Whereas the content of a peperback is normally exactly the same as the hardback that preceeded it, be aware that the paperback does not include the excellent colour plates of all of the cars. As with the hardback, you don't get 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", from which to try to read one chapter before bed, or from dipping into on some other basis. Within those terms it succeeds.