- Paperback: 192 pages
- Publisher: Fourth Estate; New Ed edition (4 Feb 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1841155675
- ISBN-13: 978-1841155678
- Product Dimensions: 19 x 12.7 x 1.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
246,977 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #37 in Books > Travel & Holiday > Countries & Regions > Canada > Victoria
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Itinerant philosopher Christopher Ross' debut book Tunnel Visions--a deftly observant sideways glance at human nature when in transit or, more often, not--sprung from 16 months working as a Station Assistant for London Underground. Or Platform 6, northbound Victoria Line, at Oxford Circus station, to be precise. A series of notes from the Underground, it provides a placatory centre of calm and rationale in our increasingly eddying lives as Ross, previously a corporate lawyer, oriental carpet smuggler and Japanese soap actor, takes the McJob to find a personal space in which to ruminate. After the surreal procedures of the training school, he is allocated his own patch, of which he grows quickly proprietorial. In a collection of precise tableaux, he neither leans upon nor ignores the inevitable anecdotal luggage that accumulates, but relates it with philosophical detachment and, when necessary, an engaged moral probity. He observes the archetypal gaits of his commuters, sings harmonies with a busking act, witnesses the spit and polish applied for a visit by John Prescott, and a man emerge from a train tunnel after being told at the previous station that it would be quicker to walk. Green grapes, he learns, are more deadly than banana skins, though not as lethal as suicidal "one-unders" (or "track pizza", in unforgiving New York parlance). A captured mosquito turns out to be unknown in Britain, an ugly, beswaddled baby turns out to be a monkey, and a dog on a lead a domesticated fox. Nothing is what it seems, but only if you look.
Like the best travel literature, Tunnel Visions chooses internal rather than external landscapes, and describes them with a steady calm eye. From the autopilot of the Victoria Line trains to the sheep-like, but never sheepish, autopilot of his gaggles of passengers, the wisdom, and man-hours, Ross invests in this woefully under-resourced utility rewards with the best view from the other side of the Tube tracks since John Wain's novel The Smaller Sky, now sadly out-of-print. In the end the pessimism ground Ross down, but the Oxford Circus' loss was literature's gain, with this terrific, humane, utterly original legacy.--David Vincent --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
‘This is one of the most original and surprising books that I have read for years: a reflection on city life by an unusual mind that proves just how extraordinary the ordinary can be.’ Christopher Matthew, Daily Mail (Critics Choice)
‘Ross has produced a truly brilliant book.’ Gary Younge, Guardian
‘Very funny…a parable of our times.’ Iain Sinclair, Daily Telegraph
‘…this unique, utterly original little philosophical tome. This is pop philosophy in its best sense: a kind of subterranean “Sophie’s World”, but more adult, darker-edged, its modest wisdom harder won.’ Literary Review
"Ross is good-natured, undemonstrative and sane. His musings are peppered with good gags and anecdotes. There is an honesty and lack of pretension in his writing . . . Ross is a people's philosopher and if he sometimes states the obvious it is because too often we forget the value of these truisms." Martin Fletcher, Independent
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
In the bleakest days of winter I sit in my house staring out at the overcast greyness, feeling sorry for myself. But after reading Christopher Ross' first book Tunnel Visions, I'll never complain again. I thought I had it bad. But imagine a job which comes with a cheap polyester uniform and a pair of Doc Marten boots, where the biggest thrill is skiving off all day in a broom cupboard. It's a job in which your colleagues get jealous when someone commits suicide right in front of you, as it would ensure them paid leave for counselling. You never even see the darkest winter sky, as you're 200 feet underground, in a vile crowded tunnel, which stinks of bad air. Worse still, the place is filled with bitter, angry people who you're supposed to help out.
Such a place does exist. It's called The London Underground, and the job is a SA - Station Assistant. Even after reading his book, I'm still not quite sure what drove Ross underground. He had been a high flying lawyer, a traveller, a fine rug dealer in the Middle East. He'd even studied an ancient style of sword fighting in Japan. In the opening pages Ross explains that he needed a job which would give him a lot of time to think. Most of us would get rid of the TV or start going for long walks, but an underground philosopher requires far more challenging surroundings.
After learning how to cross a live rail safely, and to always look an abusive member of the public right in the eye, Ross found himself on platform 6 of 'Oxo' (Underground slang for Oxford Circus). The diary of his time spent pacing up and down the 200 feet of concrete, thinking, makes for one of the strangest works of philosophical travel imaginable.
It is a book packed with odds and ends of thought, and gems of peculiar information. We learn that London Underground has a 'private arrangement' with the IRA, and that Newcastle's Metro system has driven away teenage vandals simply by playing classical muzak through the public address system. We learn, too, that the University of the South Bank pays £50 cash to people who bring in ten days' worth of faeces; and that all those broken chocolate machines on Underground platforms have been doctored by station assistants, who reap the crop of lost coins twice a day.
We learn too that at Oxford Circus there's never a dull moment. The central area - called 'the Bullring' to those in the know - has seen its fair share of melodrama. In the space of a few weeks a naked man was captured streaking there; a young chap in the kiosk was found arousing himself over the stock of chocolate bars; and a crazed busker sunk his front teeth into Ross' hand as he made his escape by leaping over the barriers.
Next time you trudge through the Bullring's rush-hour bustle, spare a thought for the ill-paid, ill-dressed Station Assistant. More likely than not he's had a hard day with suicides, streakers, hormonal women late for work, and the constant threat of bombs - not to mention the ever-present danger of human bites.
Tunnel Visions could well find itself with a cult, if not underground following. As you read it, you can't help wondering what other offbeat, uniformed individuals are lurking in the winding passageways, or hiding in the broom cupboards near platform number six.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I was blown away by this book. A review I read said it was like Zen & the Art of Motorcyle Maintenance, only better. It is - both better and like that book because it deals with philosophy which is lived and tested and found to be true. I read philosophy at university and have been able to spot some of the hidden echoes in the text. Frequently what seems like an ordinary passage turns out on re-reading to be deeply profound. It's hard to explain how he has done this. Destined to be a classic.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I knew the author of this book slightly over 15 years ago when he was a tax lawyer. I attended a lecture he gave and concluded, as did several colleagues, that he had one of the most brilliant legal analytical minds I had ever encountered. I was, therefore, intrigued at his new incarnation as writer and philosopher. I found this book atonishingly good and artful in the extreme in the way it uses such simple language to nail philosophies of science and ideas while narrating the frame story of a mundane job on the London Underground - clearly a structural device for the human sub-conscious. A great book by a dazzling mind I believed had disappeared.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Tunnel Visions A Must Read!!!!
I will keep it simple, you must read this book!!! I give it five stars.
Published 20 months ago by thirdmanlime
A book in 12 colours
Even the title, it's cover with the train & people on it & small size makes it feel like it could be one of those quick & easy "reads" that are disproportionately satisfying &... Read more
Published on 28 Oct 2009 by the lazuli
Fantastic mix of memoir, good old story telling and philosophical...
This is a short book, broken into brief paragraphs, some of which tell stories of Ross's time on the London Underground, some tell travel tales from around the world and the rest... Read more
Published on 20 Mar 2008 by J. S. Wight
Great book!
Fascinating and entertaining from beginning to end. The structure of the book is innovative and ensures that attention never lapses. Read more
Published on 6 May 2007 by Butterfly A
Beautiful, philosophical, eminently approachable book
Christopher Ross is astute, perceptive and witty, without laying the latter on too thickly. He invites the reader into the workings of his mind, providing observations and... Read more
Published on 27 Mar 2006 by Semioticghost
interesting.
This book offers an account of the author's time working for the London underground. On this level alone it is both interesting and informative: the ins and outs of his work as a... Read more
Published on 25 Nov 2003 by deadbeat
Life changing
This book made me see life with new eyes. Witty and profound, it ranks as one of the ten most important books I've ever read. Read more
Published on 29 Jun 2003
Awful
While there are parts of this book containing enjoyable accounts of life as a Station Assistant, most of it is turgid and tedious. Read more
Published on 6 April 2003
Tim from London
We've had popular philosophy from Alain de Botton and A C Grayling and now we have it from Christopher Ross...but there the similarity ends. Read more
Published on 20 Nov 2002
Smartass
If you are easily impressed by someone dropping nuggets of useless, but highbrow information into otherwise irrelevant conversation then this is the book for you! Read more
Published on 25 Sep 2002 by Mr. Antonio Cavaldoro
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