Mandela: The Authorised Portrait

I always worry a bit with books about Mandela that they puff up an already highly regarded man. This book is no exception, but it also manages to get across how badly he was treated as well as showing a little of the history of both sides of the violence in the 80s. Was Mandela right to agree to use force against the apartheid regime? This book presents the arguments in depth.

There are a few interesting points such as hen Richard Branson mentions how he tried to enlist Mandela to try and stop war in Iraq, but Mbeki didnt get his approval back in time.
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Extras

by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant

I dont want to lavish too much praise on the already much lauded Gervais. But I do think his skills as a writer and director are greater than those of him as an actor / comedian. It is the writing that excells, and this script book is well worth reading. His and Merchants devastating portrayl of Les Dennis as a suicidal self-obsessed fading comedian is just pure gold.

"What about those empty seats?" he asks a half empty theatre in the middle of a panto "They're not laughing much. Whose leaving at half time? It'll be even more embarssing for those that stay" [long pause].

Dark, dark stuff that hits home because you feel the characters that most of the "stars" are playing really are a version of themselves.
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Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone

Not a literary classic but a great page turner, detailing the Stanley expedition to find Livingstone. Stanley despite appearances actually grew up in a small town in Wales. Epic story.

Out of the Ordinary: True Tales of Everyday Craziness

by Jon ronson

His first two books, "Them" and "The men who stare at goats" were both critically aclaimed critiques of extremism, blind faith and American foreign policy. This book is about the crazyness of everyday life. About how sometimes ordinary people in ordinary situations adopt the manners and influencing behaviour of people like cult leaders.

Overall its reasonably diverting, at times amusing, but at no time does it reach the dizzying heights of his first two.

Watching the English

by Kate Fox


Overlong mediocre depiction of English behaviour by a social anthropologist.