They...go. They vanish. People. Civilizations. Languages. Philosophies. Works of art disappear, species are extinguished, books are lost, cities drown, things once thought immortal suddenly aren't there. Dunwich is drowned, Pompeii buried, Athena's statue gone from the Parthenon. Whole libraries of knowledge, galleries of secrets. Gone. Lost worlds. Little things, too. Five Boys chocolate. Train compartments. Snuff, galoshes, smog. Your mother's perfume. Your father's tobacco The way Paris used to smell. Our culture, our knowledge and all our lives are shadows cast by what went before. We are defined, not by what we have, but by what we have lost along the way. And so, Lost Worlds: a glossary of the missing, a cabinet of absent curiosities. No mere miscellany, it weaves a web of everything we no longer have. Lost Worlds: the book that falls open at every page.
Lost Worlds: What Have We Lost And Where Did It Go?
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Review
'I can confidently predict that Michael Bywater’s Lost Worlds is going to be an enormous popular success.' -- James Delingpole, Literary Review
‘A magnificent companion...it’s where stand-up comedy meets sit-down thought...you’ll be hugely entertained' -- David Flusfeder, Sunday Telegraph
‘Lost Worlds is a gorgeously written and barking-mad catalogue raisonne of, well, all kinds of stuff that we’ve lost' -- Tatler
‘What makes Bywater so good is the exactitude with which he remembers...It’s Bywater’s intellectual grief that gets me every time' -- Howard Jacobson, Independent
‘Wonderfully original, entertaining and occasionally tear-jerking miscellany about life, loss and the human condition' -- Val Hennessy, Critic’s Choice, Daily Mail
‘A magnificent companion...it’s where stand-up comedy meets sit-down thought...you’ll be hugely entertained' -- David Flusfeder, Sunday Telegraph
‘Lost Worlds is a gorgeously written and barking-mad catalogue raisonne of, well, all kinds of stuff that we’ve lost' -- Tatler
‘What makes Bywater so good is the exactitude with which he remembers...It’s Bywater’s intellectual grief that gets me every time' -- Howard Jacobson, Independent
‘Wonderfully original, entertaining and occasionally tear-jerking miscellany about life, loss and the human condition' -- Val Hennessy, Critic’s Choice, Daily Mail
About the Author
Michael Bywater is a writer and broadcaster, and writes the Lost World column for the Independent on Sunday. He has written two books, The Chronicles of Bargepole, and Godzone: Over the Outback and Into the Drink. He currently teaches at Cambridge.
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First Sentence
From one loser to another: goodbye. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
From one loser to another: goodbye. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 28 people found the following review helpful
By Phoenicopter
Format:Hardcover
Pick this up in a Christmas-stacked bookshop and you might think you were browsing (yet) another of those Schott-like lists, albeit an aparently denser one.
But do not be deceived by the alphabetical arrangement or the deliciously eccentric index; Bywater's book is not just, or even, a lexicon of loss. It is in reality an autobiography, a celebration of the life of Great Britain in the second half of the C20, its certainties, its conventions, its style and aspirations and of a child growing into a man as some of those solidities proved themselves ephemeral. Darkly elegaic at times, luminous and lyrical at others, angry, affectionate, erudite, self-indulgent and, above all, terribly terribly funny.
But do not be deceived by the alphabetical arrangement or the deliciously eccentric index; Bywater's book is not just, or even, a lexicon of loss. It is in reality an autobiography, a celebration of the life of Great Britain in the second half of the C20, its certainties, its conventions, its style and aspirations and of a child growing into a man as some of those solidities proved themselves ephemeral. Darkly elegaic at times, luminous and lyrical at others, angry, affectionate, erudite, self-indulgent and, above all, terribly terribly funny.
(Perhaps garters and Virol will come in the second edition?)
19 of 21 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
This books sums up the author so totally, with its cocktail of cynicism,nostalgia, hope, angst,resentment, dissatisfaction and almost sentimental yearnings for normality...security....homeliness. This book seems to be intensely personal yet accessible to everyone...we can all remember and indentify with things that he discusses...we get reminded of things from our youth that we had forgotten about and learn about new things that are a focal part of someone else's childhood.But the main thing about Lost Worlds..is that it is unbelievably funny, it had me actually having to lie down cause i got a stitch from laughing...some of the stories will be imprinted on yr brain forever...Its a wonderful, unusual and brilliant book and i thoroughly recommend it.
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful
By R. Carter
Format:Paperback
I came to this having greatly liked Michael Bywater's work in The Independent and I wasn’t disappointed: it’s a marvellous book that contains nostalgia but which is informed by a very sharp sense of humour. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve read ‘Ancients, Wisdom of the,’ and each time it makes me laugh again. Wonderful!
Incidentally, theodorawayte is wrong that the Bakelite telephone with its little drawer is missing: it’s right there, in footnote 67, page49, under Bakelite.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating
Ideal to pick up and dip into when you have some time, continues to fascinate. History as it should be taught
Published 3 months ago by Guyburt
2.0 out of 5 stars
Spare us!
Another lament for the passing of time by self-regarding fogey, like Michael Foley's Age of Absurdity and Marcus Berkmann's Shed, a genre appealing to women, who can then feel... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Simon G. Barrett
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Philosophical Masterpiece
Firstly there are a few prerequisites to be got over. You will need to be in your "middle years" and preferably slightly aghast to have got there. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Ian Richardson
5.0 out of 5 stars
Just found it again and funny as ever
I was clearing a flat and found this book I had last read about 4 years ago. I clearly remember hearing Stephen Fry read parts on the Radio and had to have the book after... Read more
Published on 16 May 2010 by Sally Wilton
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lost Worlds
If you are over forty,this is an absolutely first class read. A book to make you smile and laugh out loud,a reminder of how things used to be, and in many cases a realisation of... Read more
Published on 7 Oct 2009 by Peter K. Mullins
1.0 out of 5 stars
Not what it says on the tin
Failed the first chapter test...irritating chattering classes book that no doubt enables amusing dinner party conversations...clearly I am too common to appreciate its wit... Read more
Published on 26 Jan 2008 by John
5.0 out of 5 stars
fantastic!
as i myself am not a literary genius all i can surfice to say is that this book equates to a really big cake placed in front of you that tastes absolutely naughty as hell but has... Read more
Published on 20 Aug 2007 by Ms. C. J. brown
4.0 out of 5 stars
A rare treat!
I hadn't laughed out loud whilst reading a book for quite a while until I got my hands on this. It is funny, poignant, quietly erudite and wickedly witty. Highly recommended.
Published on 8 Feb 2007 by C. A. Gallagher
5.0 out of 5 stars
A treat to read
I'm so glad that good writing, intelligent humour and fascination with the obscure have not vanished into some lost world! Read more
Published on 15 May 2006 by Secret Spi
1.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting content but awful writing style
My brother recommended this book and I must express my bitter disappointment.
The idea and content is good but unfortunately the way the book is written it epitomises how people... Read more
Published on 19 Feb 2006 by "tc_copenhagen"
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