Customer Reviews

Bad Wisdom: The Lighthouse at the Top of the World

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is all at once:

A document of hate aimed towards the corporate take over of music, an analysis of the last 60 years of popular culture, a shody but effective handbook for aspiring zen masters, a vicious and pornographic account of justifiable excess, a call to arms against the tyranny of MTV, a hope inspiring reply to those who would say mankind has failed, and a return to fear and loathing.

Two very contrasting accounts of one brave journey. They should teach this in school.

This is quite literally the best book I've ever read (above King Lear, Wuthering Heights, Howards End, A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man - I did English at uni). High praise, you might say: how can that possibly be merited? What sets it apart from all the others?

Well for a start the structure is unique: it's apparently the accounts from two friends when three of them set out to take a picture of Elvis to the North Pole, "to release the divine Presley-esque vibes" onto a troubled world. These accounts however come at a chunk at a time and hence merge, twist and inter-twine in a fascinating manner. More importantly the two versions of what occurs are extremely divergent: Bill (Drummond, formerly of the KLF) tells a fairly straightforward report, mixed in with his passionate, iconoclastic, and sometimes bizarre theories and life-history. But Z (aka Mark Manning, formerly of Zodiac Mindwarp) takes this to the Nth level and vents fervent, vile, sexual fantasies and mindboggling descriptive passages upon the gentle reader.

It's as though Bill's version is heightened by a million times by LSD, pornography and the most lushly literate prose I've ever encountered. E.g. "Angel-white light and electric sunflowers cascade like slow-motion cheery blossom; the warm lightning of absolute comprehension runs through my veins like a morphine speed train; a hummming generator of enlightenment lights up every single nerve-ending in my body".

In all this is Z's evil sexual fantasies which take some stomach. However they are deliberately completely over the top, in a knowing postmodern way. In fact the very act of them keeping "logs" recording the journey emphasises the fact that they are writing their own versions of "reality", that this is a fictional account: Bill several times admits to lying to the reader. This deconstructs the act of writing and calls into question "literature". Naturally there are numerous in-jokes and running allusions to the Magi; and there's also Gimpo, sometime roadie for Zodiac Mindwarp who acts as the straight man for Z's imagination. His encounter with Oscar Wilde is one of the funniest things I've ever read. As is the execution scene with the Viking Bikers. As is the bit when they take ecstasy... and so on.

But this book is the funniest, best written, sickest, most OTT and passionate book I know. It's not for the faint-hearted but if you are not easily offended, BUY THIS!!

Two grown men, half a clue and the King of Rock & Roll. Just a few of the elements that make up this compelling journey to the frozen wastelands. I read the first edition of this released a few years ago and throughly enjoyed it. It must be said that some of the language may repel some, but if you bear with it you will be more than satisfied.

Three wise men seek world peace and understanding in a journey to the lighthouse on the top of the world. Profound and insightful this is a joy to read!

The costing of this item seems a little much but given this imprint is now unavailable and it's hard to come by it might be worth shelling out the cash for what is a fine book.
Drummonds factual interpretation of the journey discussed is complemented by the rabid fantasy of mr Mindwarp...sorry Manning's wild and crazy mind..theres little more to add to what others have already said a great modern work that hopefullY will obtain further discovery over time.

Only gimpo, drummond & manning are capable of this it totaly astonishes me that this ever happened but it did. a complete work of genius drummond and manning co-author this one amazing title, i can only say buy it!! Its a combination of fact and fiction but completly undescribable. If you are curious or a fan of the KLF I strongly reccomend this title.

My goodness. I have NO idea how or why I originally bought this. I know it was in 96, in a bookshop in Guildford, where I was a student.

I managed to read it in one night. Why? Because I couldn't stop.

I had recently found that I could read for pleasure, rather than for homework and had spent the previous 12 months devouring everything and anything in my path. Friends had reccomended various modern classics (Hunter S Thompson, Kerouac and the like) and I found that the strict structure taught in schools was not only wrong, but flawed. I found that words, correctly ordered could be beautiful, regardless of their content.

This, however, threw me for six. As you can tell from the other write-ups, we have a journey of 3 friends, and two accounts. The journey is ridiculous and they know it. So what? Both writers are at the peak of their game, the sheer bloody beauty of the written word, and the difference in styles is nothing less than a joy. It even becomes self aware - the writers trying to make sense of their grotesqeuly different imaginings of events that occur between them - was it their upbringing, their taste in art, what?

On top of that, there is a story. Or rather two stories. A horrible, libellous, pornographicly disturbing and violent teenagers fantasy view of the world, brilliantly rendered onto the page and a more measured report, with self-effacing enquiry.

It still is, after 16 years, my favourite book because of what it meant to me then, what it taught me about literature and how it explores the thin line between fantasy and reality which we all truly live in.

Bad Wisdom is an account of a trip to the North Pole to plant a statue of Elvis, to spread cosmic love along the world's lay lines. It's written by Bill Drummond and Mark Manning although its hard to differentiate between the two authors, and the non- linear style makes it even more difficult to follow. There are passages of beautiful prosaic descriptions of the countryside and customs of the places they pass through which then turn into ultra violent fantasies generally involving sex with lesbian school girls/vampires/nuns/gestapo guards and lots of defecation, drinking, ejaculation and violent insertions.

It is both stomach turning in it's brutality and simultaneously funny and touching. It's awesome

All the earlier reviews have got it 100% spot on.
5 Stars + no less. It may well be the best book I have ever read. Not much more
to be said.

Some parts may be a little uncomfortable reading for some readers, but these sections are either tongue in cheek or drug crazed so don't be offended!!!