Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure

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Editorial reviews

Daily Mail
'Fresh, funny and very entertaining'

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Independent on Sunday
"very funny"

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OK Magazine
"Following his hilarious search for his far-flung namesakes, this gently but persistently funny book is another to savour"

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Daily Mirror
"Very funny"

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ICE Magazine
"....excellent stuff from a genuinely obsessive bloke and one of the best comedians on the circuit today"

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Scottish Daily Record
"This chronicle of his global search is the best kind of nonsense - totally stupid, incredibly pointless and absolutely hilarious"

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Book Description
Another hi-octane, pointless adventure from 'the Bill Bryson of stand-up'

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Synopsis
If someone called you a 'googlewhack' what would you do? Would you end up playing table tennis with a nine year-old boy in Boston? Would you find yourself in Los Angeles wrangling snakes, or would you go to China to be licked by a performance artist? If your name is Dave Gorman, then all of these things could be true. Fuelled by a lust for life and a desperate desire to do anything except what he's supposed to be doing (writing that novel and growing up), Dave falls under the spell of an obscure internet word game - Googlewhacking. Addicted to the game, and gripped by obsession, Dave travels three times round the world, visiting four continents and the unlikeliest cast of real life eccentrics you'll ever meet in what becomes an epic challenge, a life-changing, globe-trotting Googlewhack adventure.

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From the Publisher
Another hi-octane, pointless adventure from 'the Bill Bryson of stand-up'

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About the Author
Dave Gorman, 31, is a Perrier Award-nominated comedian and writer. His TV work has earned him two BAFTAs for The Mrs Merton Show as well as his own two BBC2 series.

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Customer reviews

review by: date: 2008-04-24 rating:
An entertaining tale about how far a man will go to avoid work...
This was an enjoyable book to read. It's a book that just goes to show how many truly interesting people there are out there on the internet. It's often a book about unbelievable coincidences and how taking a chance can take you all over the Globe. It's also a book about one man's attempt to avoid working, something I can sympathise with!

The pace of the book is good, particularly towards the end where the chapters are often only 2-3 pages long and it becomes a parade of entertaining, unusual and genuinely intriguing people. And it's definitely the people that make this book enjoyable and entertaining, rather than Gorman's need to complete this book. If anything, his constant attempts to engage our sympathy are a down point, if only a minor one.

I would certainly recommend this book to anyone who has enjoyed Gorman's other books. I would also recommend this to anyone after a light and entertaining read. I would definitely not recommend this book to anyone who finds works-shy people even the tiniest bit annoying.

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review by: He's the strongest, he's the quickest, he's the best! date: 2007-12-10 rating:
An epic tale involving a beard, a tattoo and Google.
I read this after thoroughly enjoying "Are you Dave Gorman?" and wasn't disappointed.

I've spoken with some people who felt this was weaker than the book of the previous adventure, and I would have to say that I preferred "Are you Dave Gorman" - but this is still a quality book, and one of the funniest I've ever read.

For those who don't know what this is about; Dave Gorman received an e-mail saying he's a Googlewhack, from a guy in Australia. Thinking this might be an insult, Dave Gorman e-mails the guy only to find out that a Googlewhack is where you enter two words in Google and only get 1 result. This seems like an easy thing to bag, but try it - it's anything but easy.

This kicks off an adventure where Dave aims to find Googlewhacks. He arranges to meet them and accepts a bet to find a chain of ten Googlewhacks. So he finds the owner of a Googlewhacked site, and get them to find a Googlewhack, he goes to meet them, and so on....

Dave forms relationships with people all over the globe, by Googlewhacking his way around the world he makes some good friends - and this is the strength of the story. If the adventure was purely one of comedy then this would seem a bit hollow, but the human story is what makes this a magical read.

It's not all plain sailing either, towards the end of the Googlewhack Adventure Dave is feeling down and doomed to failure, in a depressed rage he sends a spiteful e-mail to a vulnerable person and starts to regret it.

This is a book which can't be tied to a genre, it's neither a simple comedy book nor a travel book, it's not a biography either - although it reveals masses about the author.

I can't recommend enough that you read this book, and then perhaps enjoy the DVD of the Stage show around this amazing Googlewhack Adventure.

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review by: Drew date: 2006-09-27 rating:
Brilliant
Very funny book about a fantatic little idea gone mad.
Some people can carry such adventures off (John Donoghue - Shakespeare My Butt!)
...some seem a little contrived to be purely 'natural'(Danny Wallace - Yes Man, Join Me Tony Hawks - Around Ireland with a Fridge)
Gorman is on fire here....very funny book and it flows. He appears a naturally comic and impulsive person, and that is what makes the book for me. Are you Dave Gorman was good, but seemed to drag at the end. This is better, much better. Dave Gorman at his best (and consider getting the DVD too)

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review by: date: 2006-09-08 rating:
dave gorman
this is a great book to read and so easy to pick up at any time. its a must if you have lots of drunken nights out and lots of laughs!!


review by: date: 2006-06-26 rating:
Dave Gorman is infectious ...
Having read and seen Are You Dave Gorman, I was well accustomed to DG's inane ramblings. He is both mad and highly engaging. This book starts off with a basic precept of trying to write a novel, and getting nowhere (although I liked the sound of the concept) and like everybody, resorting to work-avoidance tactics - however DG takes this, as is his style, a stage further than we might!

The tone of the book is impersonal and entertaining, and fully vindicates the view that the digital age has not (fully) removed the souls of those who see the internet as a way of communicating with people. It mixes humour with sadness (his final contact in Australia) and by the end you are willing him on to the finish line.

DG takes a small idea, which isn't even his, and largesses it to the nth degree!

A great, quick read.

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