- Paperback: 400 pages
- Publisher: Picador; Irish ed edition (4 Nov 2011)
- ISBN-10: 1447212622
- ISBN-13: 978-1447212621
- Product Dimensions: 21.4 x 13.4 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,027,023 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
A Point of View
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
'Provocative and informed' --Choice magazine
`This new anthology finds the veteran wit...reflecting on everything from wheelie bins to plastic surgery.' --Cambridgeshire Journal
`With an opinion on everything, Clive James is an expert conversationalist and critic...A Point of View includes smart and hilarious observations on topics such as Harry Potter, wheelie bins, plastic surgery, global warming, cycling and more...this is James at his entertaining best.' --Daily Express Weekend Books
'The talks read as well on the page as they sounded on the radio and, precisely because of the shortness of the pieces and the vague brief, the wanderings of James's mighty magpie mind become, in book form, an accidental autobiography. You learn as much about James the man in these pages as you do in any of his other book . . . he points out that a society "wouldn't be free if it weren't full of things we didn't like". Freedom costs but it costs a lot less than the alternatives. It also nurtures great souls and free spirits such as James.' --Bryan Appleyard, Sunday Times --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
`This new anthology finds the veteran wit...reflecting on everything from wheelie bins to plastic surgery.' --Cambridgeshire Journal
`With an opinion on everything, Clive James is an expert conversationalist and critic...A Point of View includes smart and hilarious observations on topics such as Harry Potter, wheelie bins, plastic surgery, global warming, cycling and more...this is James at his entertaining best.' --Daily Express Weekend Books
'The talks read as well on the page as they sounded on the radio and, precisely because of the shortness of the pieces and the vague brief, the wanderings of James's mighty magpie mind become, in book form, an accidental autobiography. You learn as much about James the man in these pages as you do in any of his other book . . . he points out that a society "wouldn't be free if it weren't full of things we didn't like". Freedom costs but it costs a lot less than the alternatives. It also nurtures great souls and free spirits such as James.' --Bryan Appleyard, Sunday Times --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Product Description
This is the book of the radio series. The BBC Radio 4 series "A Point of View" has been on the air since 2007. Over the years, it's had a variety of presenters - including the national treasure that is Clive James - talking for ten minutes about anything and everything that has captured their imagination, piqued their interest, raised their blood pressure or just downright incensed them that week. Clive James was one of the favourite presenters, and now, for the first time, his original pieces - sixty in total - and all-new postscripts are collected together in one volume. Read along with Clive James as he reflects on everything from wheelie bins to plastic surgery, Elizabeth Hurley to the Olympics, 24 to Damien Hirst, "Harry Potter" to giving up smoking, car parks to Chinese elections, "Britain's Got Talent" to the expenses scandal - and plenty more besides. Essentially a chronicle of life in twenty-first-century "Britain, A Point of View" is informed and informative, thoughtful and thought-provoking - but above all, entertaining. In fact, in short, it's a damn good read.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
When you write something that expresses a point of view you believe in, and you know full well it may not be all that popular, non-PC or politically contentious, there are certain journalists and broadcasters from whom it is well worth learning. Clive James is one of them, and in his book 'A Point of View' he shows you how to do it with grace, style and wit, while delivering a well aimed punch.
However, for me he has one over-riding advantage when compared to say, Christopher Hitchens. In short, I can hear Clive James's voice in my mind saying the words as I read them, and that makes every word of his articles flow beautifully to their inevitable conclusion. However, having expressed his point of view in one of the many articles, what makes the book even more engaging is to then read what James feels about his particular subject or opinion now, with the benefit of hindsight. That addition is a masterstroke, as James can either turn up the volume, or row back a little in the light of subsequent events, and allow you as the reader to re-consider as well.
I've always enjoyed James's way of talking with those antipodean intonations and nuances, without realising how deeply he feels about all sorts of subjects until I heard him on Radio 4. The book is a gem and one of the most engaging and mind-broadening books you'll ever read. And for that, Mr James, we should all be eternally thankful.
However, for me he has one over-riding advantage when compared to say, Christopher Hitchens. In short, I can hear Clive James's voice in my mind saying the words as I read them, and that makes every word of his articles flow beautifully to their inevitable conclusion. However, having expressed his point of view in one of the many articles, what makes the book even more engaging is to then read what James feels about his particular subject or opinion now, with the benefit of hindsight. That addition is a masterstroke, as James can either turn up the volume, or row back a little in the light of subsequent events, and allow you as the reader to re-consider as well.
I've always enjoyed James's way of talking with those antipodean intonations and nuances, without realising how deeply he feels about all sorts of subjects until I heard him on Radio 4. The book is a gem and one of the most engaging and mind-broadening books you'll ever read. And for that, Mr James, we should all be eternally thankful.
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
And while Clive does talk of many things, there is a rough theme running through these essays. He does speak of shoes and ships and cabbages (well, potato crisps) and kings, and in a vaguely oblique way even considers whether pigs have wings (scepticism is a virtue). The theme is the problems which arise when individual desires clash in an open society. And the extent to which such a society in very subtle ways demands conformity of its citizens. From why Maggie Thatcher thought there was no such thing as society to the difficulties in producing potato crisps which are not made from golf balls.
Well that's what I think - but you would be well advised to read it for yourself. Because you would be hard pressed to find a better point of view elsewhere.
Well that's what I think - but you would be well advised to read it for yourself. Because you would be hard pressed to find a better point of view elsewhere.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I enjoyed hearing these 'Points of View' when they were broadcast on Radio 4 and its been great to re-visit them. There are 60 scripts/essays - each about 6 pages long - and so it makes a great book for dipping into.
Clive isn't very well at the moment - he has leaukemia and is being treated at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge. But this book is a testament to the great talent that he is/was.
He's now taken up TV criticsm again and his column appears in 'The Daily Telegraph' every Saturday.
His early writing is also worth looking at - the first few volumes of 'Unreliable Memoirs' and his early (say pre-1990) poetry which you can find in 'Other Passports.' After about 1990 his poetry becomes much less accessible. Also, avoid his collections of essays unless you have a PhD in Eng Lit!
Keep up the good work Clive.
Clive isn't very well at the moment - he has leaukemia and is being treated at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge. But this book is a testament to the great talent that he is/was.
He's now taken up TV criticsm again and his column appears in 'The Daily Telegraph' every Saturday.
His early writing is also worth looking at - the first few volumes of 'Unreliable Memoirs' and his early (say pre-1990) poetry which you can find in 'Other Passports.' After about 1990 his poetry becomes much less accessible. Also, avoid his collections of essays unless you have a PhD in Eng Lit!
Keep up the good work Clive.
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
