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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
38 of 42 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Raw Spirit is three-books-in-one. I like single malt whiskies a lot and bought the book in anticipation of reading a well-written, informative and amusing tour of the Scottish distilleries and their products. I was not disappointed; Iain Banks' travels to all of the major (and many of the minor) distilleries are well-described, informative and (to the extent that his views on the whiskies sampled agree entirely with my own) accurate. Unfortunately the distilleries, their whiskies and the beautiful (and beautifully-described) countryside around them take up less than half of the book. The remainder consists of (a) anecdotes concerning Mr. Banks' friends, family, youthful (and often not-so-youthful) pranks, and cars, and (b) rants on the Iraqi war, the current state of British vs U.S. politics and the wisdom of legalising drugs. The former, although largely irrelevant to a book on whisky, are clearly of interest to fans of Mr. Banks and his novels, but would have been better kept for an autobiography. The latter, however, are totally inappropriate in this book. I happen to agree with most of what Mr. Banks says, particularly on the derogation of British sovereignty to U.S. (a.k.a. neo-con) hegemony, but these are complex issues and totally out of place in this book where the superficial "rant-and-rave" treatment they get can only be a distraction. This is a book that started with an excellent idea but was highjacked by a self-indulgent author, a publisher's deadline and current events, leaving only a taste of what it could and should have been.
34 of 38 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Other reviewers have pointed out that this is a real mish-mash of a book and I would go along with that. If you are buying this book with a view to having a ready-made guide to whisky-making in Scotland, don't. On this level it fails miserably and the reader would be far better buying one of the many cheaper pocket guides to whisky that are on the market. Banks describes the whisky making process in about half a dozen pages in the middle of an unrelated chapter, while the details of his whisky tasting sessions are strewn at irregular intervals throughout the book. The lack of an index makes it difficult to locate his views on a particular whisky. All in all, the parts of this book dealing with whisky amount to about 30 - 40 pages mixed inside a 350 page book.
So what else do you get for your money? Well, you get a little autobiographical detail about Banks. As a fan of (most) of his other books I found this quite interesting. Others not familiar with Banks himself may not find this information as entertaining.
You also get various random anecdotes about Banks' friends which sometimes verge on the self-indulgent. There are several tales that I'm sure are of interest to them and them alone.
You also get Banks' commentary on contemporary events. Chiefly, you get his views on the war in Iraq. Briefly, Banks was against it and becomes extremely repetitive when referring to it.
You also get a LOT of incredibly dull stuff about cars, but that is nothing compared to the mind-numbing tedium that accompanies his seemingly endless details about Scottish roads. This book has page after page of utterly pointless information about just about every road north of Glasgow and in these sections is, quite frankly, unreadable.
In summary - as a book about whisky it is less than adequate, as an autobiography it is patchy, as social commentary it is repetitive, as a trevelogue it is dull, dull, dull.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
How can Iain Banks have assembled such a tedious book? I'm almost of an age with him; I too used to fool about with cannabis, I'm a Scot like him and I hate the Iraq war and the politicians that got us into it. And over the years, I've grown to love malts. And I even Like Iain Banks' books.
I'm going to love this, right? Nooooo!
It reeks of a book written in a hurry for a cheque. Did he ever re-read it once written? There's maybe a good 50 page pamphlet in there; please please don't make me re-read all those tedious sections with his so-entertaining pals and his so-fantastic cars. Iain, sober up!
I'm going to love this, right? Nooooo!
It reeks of a book written in a hurry for a cheque. Did he ever re-read it once written? There's maybe a good 50 page pamphlet in there; please please don't make me re-read all those tedious sections with his so-entertaining pals and his so-fantastic cars. Iain, sober up!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
great soujourn
Ian Banks has a lovely style and the presentation of the countryside, the politics, the food etc as well as the distilleries is great
Published 8 days ago by mkenny273
Worth dipping into if you can get it cheap
Don't like Iain Banks; don't like his fiction either.DO like whisky. He's informative and enthusiastic about malts, which makes you eager to try some (more). Read more
Published 10 months ago by Chas. Dickens
A very, very strange book
I've read most of Iain Banks' books, and I am generally a fan. But it baffles me that a man with the creative imagination to produce books like Excession, The Bridge etc. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Stephen Hudson
Dreadful Book
First of all any whisky drinker buying this book under the assumption that it about whisky will be sorely disappointed. Read more
Published 17 months ago by D. Lilley
Deceptively accurate guide to Scottish single malts
I know there are many grumbling negative reviews of this book, but I liked it a lot.
I think it's important to read this book with an open mind. Read more
I think it's important to read this book with an open mind. Read more
Published 18 months ago by jannert
Interesting intro to whisky with a bit too much irrelevance
Over Christmas I picked this up out of curiosity fuelled by my own slowly-accelerating education on the world of Scotch. Read more
Published 21 months ago by bronz
Banks really can't do non-fiction
This should be back of the net stuff. I love Iain Banks's fiction; The Bridge would easily make my all-time top ten. I love malt whisky. And I love Scotland too. Read more
Published on 14 Dec 2009 by A. Warmington
Banter, Scotland and Whisky
I read this whilst on holiday in Tuscany (which may have been an influence) and I loved the book, because it wasn't travelogue or just about whisky, but because it was all those... Read more
Published on 2 Aug 2009 by Peter Casebow
Gift for a friend
Ordered this book from Amazon the transaction was completed with their usual excellent service. This book was a present for a friend and was received well in time.
Published on 11 July 2009 by Mrs. A. J. Hinton
whisky trail
great book and great local info about scotland whisky industry
,places and some select hotels
,places and some select hotels
Published on 8 May 2009 by Mr. R. Davis
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