- Paperback: 384 pages
- Publisher: Ebury Press (3 July 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 009188800X
- ISBN-13: 978-0091888008
- Product Dimensions: 21.4 x 13.6 x 3.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (78 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
447,489 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #73 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Other Religions > Contemporary Cults
Join Me
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More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
How could you refuse the polite invitation of begoggled Danny Wallace in Join Me? You don't know what you could be missing out on. It's all about living for the moment in this quirky, seemingly pointless yet addictive narrative. Finding himself with too much time on his hands after quitting his BBC job, Danny revels in "sitting around in his pants" and generally taking a break from the responsibilities of working life. Danny attends the funeral of his great uncle Gallus and finds out that he had set up a commune of like-minded people to escape Swiss small town small-mindedness in the 1940s. Intrigued by this idea, on his return to London Danny places a cryptic advert in the classified ads paper Loot and gets some surprising results.
His Norwegian radio-producer girlfriend Hanne is bemused and infuriated that this has become more than a transient interest; it takes over his life--and hers. The number of "joinees"--people replying to his ad--escalates as word gets out about this new "happy cult", but without a clue about what he wants to achieve, or do with all his newfound friends, Danny has to think fast as dissent rises in the ranks. Now the reluctant leader of a troop of random hopefuls, he maintains their interest with obscure e-mails and watches as his joinees meet and bond.
Whatever he had created, it was bigger than he had anticipated. From an initially puerile idea, it had grown into something of a social experiment--why were people willing to take the risk? What was lacking in their lives that they thought they might get out of contacting a stranger? Taking risks, no matter how big or small, is the essential crux of the matter here and of course, nothing ventured, nothing gained. --Angela Boodoo
Nicholas Barber, Independent on Sunday
Danny Wallace does things few people would and writes about them in ways that few people could. He’s as funny as Bill Bryson used to be.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Murder: Let's nip it in the bud!,
This review is from: Join Me: The True Story of a Man Who Started a Cult by Accident (Paperback)
It appears I have actually been living in a cave, because the oddly successful Join Me campaign passed me by entirely in 2002 (and onwards). And also, I did read Are You Dave Gorman before this. That book was pointless, yet life-affirming - and it had something important to say about friendship, and being nice to people. Nothing you could quite pin down, though.Danny Wallace's first solo book, detailing his quest to get 1000 people to "Join him", is hilarious. Like Are You Dave Gorman, it's occasionally a little convenient and hard-to-believe at best. But life imitates art, and strange things really do happen. Also, unlike said novel, Join Me has a definite message, and Danny's collective isn't a "bored man's experiment" at all. It merely started as one. It's basically a religion, minus all the trappings of sermons and scripture, with just a single aim: make people happy by being nice to them. It's starkly simple stuff, and the sense throughout the novel that Danny truly doesn't see the scale of what he's done is rather humbling. Hundreds join him out of sheer curiosity and trust. Hundreds do good deeds, finally feeling they have the excuse and right to. After reading this, you'll be truly hard-pressed not to sign up. If anything, the book makes the human race seem a warmer, more lovable breed than before. An absolutely touching, sweet (and more importantly), funny story.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Join. No, buy the book first, no - join first, no...,
By
This review is from: Join Me (Paperback)
Join Me is testament to how a crazy idea can bring people together for the good of others. It proves undeniably that the majority of people wish to help each other and sometimes they just need the smallest of excuses to do it. With a cast of odd characters the story goes from a silly idea by an exceptionally bored man to the whole scheme going wildy out of control to the heady heights of appearing on Belgium's top-rated TV show. This is most certainly a book with it's heart in the right place. Every joinee has learnt from the experience. Whether it's that a small, random act of kindness can have a big effect on the recipient, that strangers truly are friends we've not yet met, or perhaps just that it's not a good idea to look at pictures of peoples flats on the internet - and then mention it in casual conversation. Did I mention that the book is very funny? -- and by the way... It's not a cult, it's a collective. Only 2% of the vote? Damn.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Absolutely Fantastic Read!,
This review is from: Join Me (Paperback)
I have been aware of Danny Wallace's existence since the first BBC showing of "Are you Dave Gorman?", I have watched the series again and again, devoured the book many times and watched 'Dave Gorman's Important Astrological Experiment'. So because I found him a)extremely funny and b) really quite sexy I bookmarked his website to follow what he did next. Which is when I came across Join Me.I came across the idea while I was bored one afternoon and emailed to say I wanted to join him. The responce was to send a passport photo and await instructions. You see this is where I am kicking myself, I never did, after reading 'Are you Dave Gorman'I was I admit, extremely nervous of as to where it might lead. About a year later I found he was writing a book about the experience, I ordered the book to find out what I had missed, safe in the knowledge that Mr Wallace would have wrote an extremely good book no matter what the outcome of the collective. So let me tell you - I was not wrong. This book is brilliantly funny. It tells of why Danny set up the collective, what happened as he tried to get more people and the way the idea snow balled almost out of his control. The amazing lengths both the Leader and the Joinees have gone to are frankly astounding. You have to buy this book, it fantastically laugh out loud funny and inspiring all at the same time. So buy, laugh and if you haven't already - Join Him!
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