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| Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure | 
 enlarge | Author: Dave Gorman
Publisher: Random House Audiobooks
Category: Book
List Price: £13.99
Buy New: £2.99
You Save: £11.00 (79%)
New (12) from £2.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  96 reviews
Sales Rank: 388157
Format: Audiobook
Media: Audio CD
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.9 x 0.9
ISBN: 1856868702
Dewey Decimal Number: 910
EAN: 9781856868709
ASIN: 1856868702
Publication Date: January 1, 2004
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: new and sealed! bargain
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| Customer Reviews:
 A grippingly funny story of an obsessive traveller March 27, 2006
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
In a hotel room in Austin, Texas, Dave Gorman drops his razor into the sink. Despite his despair about what he has become he cannot bring himself to shave his beard off. This is the beard that was grown to prove he was a mature thirty one year old who had abandoned his foolish youth, the beard that was also a key element in securing him a commission for his first novel. However, after Dave's good intentions to sit down in front of his PC and become a novelist go astray, he considers shaving to reveal the young fool that he still is. He leaves Texas with facial hair and gets back on course to find ten Googlewhacks in a row.
In this book Dave tells the story of how an e-mail informing that he was a 'Googlewhack' led him to embark on a journey, zigzagging across the world, meeting authors of websites which confirmed the 'whack criteria. A journey that sees him: take an uncomfortable fast spin with a Welsh Mini enthusiast; meet a man who collects random photos of women and their dogs; and take a trip, with a cowboy, over the Mexican border in the search for Coca-Cola made to the original sugary recipe.
Gorman's lust for the mundane oddity that occupies the various characters he meets, together with the hilarious account of his own obsession driven behaviour, will draw you in to a comfortably insane world. This book shows everyone's need for purpose and the immense dread that the threat of failure brings.
Maybe one of the funniest tales of international travel ever told, the Adventure is a must read for anyone who finds it hard to let go and accept defeat. So brew up or pour a shot of tequila and get Googlewhacking.
 Are You Danny Wallace?..... I Think Not! March 24, 2006
6 out of 14 found this review helpful
Somehow I managed to keep the pages turning and made it to the end but I found this book very dissapointing. Dave Gorman's first book 'Are You Dave Gorman?' was co-written by Danny Wallace and a great read which I would highly recommend. Early on in Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure it becomes apparent that without the guidance of writer Danny Wallace, Gorman simply cannot write good comedy and this book struggles to be funny or even intersting. If you want to read a pointless book, but one that is written in such a way that it will have you laughing out loud through almost every chapter then I would recommend 'Join Me' or 'Yes Man' by Danny Wallace.
Go on Dave! March 4, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
So what is Google-whack all about!? Pretty much nothing really!
Dave makes another bet, the second one he's written a book about, and catalogues his trials and tribulations right here for you to read about. The hope it inspires you to go and do something equally as trivial, you see, the thing is, people like Dave Gorman are infectious. They view the world as a place to meet people with an open mind, and his honest, warm-hearted approach to people is so refreshing to read in a world full of cynicism. The fact that he goes around meeting just everyday people adds something, you can imagine Dave, turning up at your door and having a nice cup of tea and a good laugh!
Nice one Dave.
Can't wait for the next adventure.
A genuine and very funny book making you smile at the world February 15, 2006
This is one of my favourite books, which is odd given that in many ways it is a travelogue. In the same vein as Bill Bryson so ably manages to fill, it combines humour, a look at the world, and travel writing all in one go. What it does that Bryson doesn't is give that slightly off the wall tint to the humour. Dave wonderfully writes outside the box at times, and manages to envelop the reader in his world for a few hundred pages. His writing is endearing and admirably genuine, a joy to read throughout. And, very very funny. I won't precis the contents as you can read the back cover for that - or even go on to his website and read about it.I have two friends that refuse to read books. Both postgraduate educated, intelligent and funny guys. After much cajoling I have got them both to read this, and having loved it, they have also read 'Are you Dave Gorman?' and loved that too. I just have to get them to read the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy now... I'll finish with a story of my first read of the book: I read googlewhack for the first time on a plane to New York to speak at a conference. I was tired and had recently finished a 450 page research report on a very dull subject (having taken just over a year beyond my deadline...) and managed to chuckle my way through the first 200 pages. After about 4 hours and a number of very strange looks, the stewardess told me that they had had complaints and could I keep the noise down please. I was tempted to make a comment about the man behind me snoring, but kept that british stiff upper lip and stayed quiet. I'm a former writer, so i'm slightly biased in that I can relate to pretty much all of Dave's experiences (especially cronic displacement) while trying to write, but I still think that this is a book that almost anyone would enjoy and as such is thoroughly recommended.
 Dave Gorman's Googlewhack adventure November 24, 2005
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Laugh out loud funny - and lots and lots of words in it too. A great read from start to finish.
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