Is it Just Me or is Everything Shit?: The Encyclopedia of Modern Life [Hardcover]

There are perky self-help books and then theirs is IS IT JUST ME OR IS EVERYTHING SHIT?, an A-Z rant about the naffness of modern life that's so relentlessly bitter it's actually rather uplifting. Dissing everything from Keane ("Tom Chaplin's face has no edges") to cardboard-tasting paninis to the overuse of Manolo Blahniks as a metaphor it's, dare we say it, more piercing than a Manolo heel (MARIE CLAIRE )

Bilious old-codgering taken to the highest possible level as authors vent anger over the crassness and mediocrity of modern life cf. "juice drinks", Otis Ferry, Kabbalah, foot spas, Sam Taylor-Wood and pubs playing "mellow dance grooves". Excellent entry (TIME OUT )

A life-affirming guide to the modern world (ESQUIRE )

One of the many things that irritates these guys is rave reviews: so I'll just say it's very funny and recommend you to buy it. Unless of course you're a big fan of the Daily Mail (Stewart Prebble, author of Grumpy Old Men )

'A life-affirming guide to the modern world'

'Extremely good ... an encyclopedia of annoying things, such as George Bush, gadget bores, penis-enlargement emails, paninis and David Bowie's teeth'

* An irreverent and hilarious reference guide to all the people, ideas and institutions that pollute our lives. Because you don't have to be old to be grumpy.

If you hate: loft living; bar-clubs; Tony Blair; chick lit; global warming sceptics; Keane; loyalty cards; IKEA; Kabbalah; bling and Richard Curtis... ... then you need IS IT JUST ME OR IS EVERYTHING SHIT? - an encylopedic attack on modern culture and the standard reference work for everyone who believes everything is shit. Which it is. This book is for the large percentage of the population interested in saying NO to the phoney ideas, cretinous people, useless products and doublespeak that increasingly dominate our lives. This book is designed for everyone who thinks they may have mislaid their soul in a Coffee Republic. Never before has there been a book so completely full of shit. This very funny, well-informed, belligerent rant of a book adds up to an excoriating broadside against consumer capitalism that the authors hope will sell loads of copies.

Steve Lowe and Alan McArthur write about music and politics for various newspapers. They have a sneaking suspicion that everything is shit. This is their first book.