Tag: Timely

Terry Deary – Rotten Rulers | Review

Title: Rotten Rulers

Author: Terry Deary

Type: Non-Fiction

Page Count: 176

Rating: 4/5

I actually learned a surprising amount from this book. For example, in the AD 900s, the grand vizier of Persia travelled with a library of 117,000 books carried by camels that were trained to walk in alphabetical order. Although he also said that the earth is flat, which I’m hoping was a joke but which either way is a dangerous one to make, especially when educating kids.

So basically, the main vibe that I was left with here was that there were a lot of cool facts and information that would definitely keep a kid entertained, but at the same time I’m not too sure how much we can trust it. It’s a shame, because I’ve always found the information to be spot on in Horrible History books before.

Mostly, though, it’s just a timely reminder that power corrupts and that people are terrible. After all, there are quite a few rotten rulers still knocking around today. Sinister.

Learn more about Rotten Rulers.


Paul Carr – Bringing Nothing to the Party | Review

Title: Bringing Nothing to the Party

Author: Paul Carr

Type: Non-Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 280

Rating: 4*/5

 

Paul Carr - Bringing Nothing to the Party

Paul Carr – Bringing Nothing to the Party

 

This book is a lot of fun, and even though it’s approaching the tenth anniversary since its publication date, it’s still timely and relevant, and a hell of a lot of fun to boot. In fact, it’s rare for a non-fiction book to be this much fun, and it reminded me a little bit of Tony Hawk, Dave Gorman and Danny Wallace. It’s just one man writing about his life, getting up to all sorts of trouble without really meaning to and telling stories about the unexpected consequences.

In a nutshell, it follows the true story of what happened when Paul Carr decided to become an internet entrepreneur in the early days of the social networking boom. He spends a lot of time getting drunk along the way, or accidentally offending venture capitalists and other powerful men who could make or break his business. And yet, in many ways, it’s endearing – even when he treats a woman so badly that she starts a blog about him, effectively annihilating his online reputation, it’s easy to empathise with his predicament.

The interesting thing here is that Carr’s writing style – like a latter-day Jonathon Swift, a recurring joke in the book – makes it easy for the reader to get absorbed into the story. And once you get into it, you’ll find it hard to put down, and whatever you think about the man’s personality, you’ll probably find yourself rooting for him to come out on top. And it’s even a little inspirational, too. Definitely worth spending time on.

 

Paul Carr

Paul Carr

 

Click here to buy Bringing Nothing to the Party.