Customer Reviews

Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure

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On a recent trip to Gran Canaria I planned to unwind, 7 days by the pool, beer in hand, three good books. I read all three but Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure proved to be streets ahead, what a great read! The appeal for me - his adventure being so far removed from normal daily life. This resulted in my imagination being able to wander at great speed. All the 'real-life distractions we fall victim too we're there also. Delightful, entertaining, gripping, a 'can't put it down' book. I am in no way a professional reviewer, just an ordinary bloke who enjoys a good read. Believe me therefore when I say 'this one is a good read'.

What a fun and funny book. Dave Gorman sets out to write a novel, but one day receives an email out of the blue saying he is a "googlewhack" and so begins his ultimate procrastination in search of ten googlewhacks in a row, taking him across the Atlantic Ocean numerous times and to far off places like China and Australia as he travels some 80,000 miles in a race against time to meet a series of strangers around the world. And along the way he recounts in a very humourous fashion the strange people he meets and the freaky coincidences that occur.

This book had me laughing and reading passages out loud.

I'll start with a confession: I suspect that I am exactly the kind of person to whom this sort of book would appeal.

While I don't believe I'd ever do anything quite so extreme to avoid the commitment of writing a novel, I am, nonetheless, a procrastinator at heart. And there is something about books of this genre that makes that little voice in my head pop up and exclaim, "What a cool idea!!" Trying to meet fifty-three other people with the same name as you? Count me in. Travelling around a small country with a large fridge appliance? I'm there. Playing tennis against every member of an obscure Eastern European nation's football team? Why not? Saying `yes' to everything for a year? What an interesting sociological experiment! These are all ridiculous adventures that have led to equally ridiculous but highly entertaining books.

So when I picked up 'Dave Gorman's Googlewhack! Adventure', I knew from the start that it was likely to be something I'd enjoy. I wasn't wrong. Yes, Dave seems to have taken procrastination to new heights, and if he hadn't got a publishing deal out of it all then I would be seriously worried about the likely fragile nature of both his mental health and his bank account. But what stops this from being a cringe-worthy and pity-inducing book is his ability to take us inside his head at each encounter with another Googlewhack, and to help us understand the occasionally bizarre thought processes which drive this obsessive quest.

Travelling all over the world, including numerous flights back and forth across the North Atlantic, Dave meets his Googlewhacks and has a brief insight into the different lives of ordinary (and in some cases not so ordinary) people. I could feel the fun and excitement when he played Yankee Grab at a family's Christmas party in Boston. I could feel his squirming sense of discomfort as he sat opposite an 81-year-old Creationist in San Diego. And I could feel his utmost despair in Austin, Texas when within minutes his chain of Googlewhacks disintegrates, prompting him to go out on the town and drink himself into a stupor - one which also involves waking up to discover a tattoo of a fake Texan drivers' license permanently imprinted on his left arm.

Dave might be a chronic procrastinator, but fortunately for us he is also a masterful storyteller. If you're looking for a fun, light-hearted read, enjoy vicarious travel, and aren't averse to a dose of silliness every now and then, give this book a go: it might be the most fun you can have without leaving your chair.

This isn't my first Dave Gorman adventure I have previously read the sensational book Are You Dave Gorman? which he cowrote with fellow British author of many books in this genre Danny Wallace. If you haven't read any of these guys' work before its pretty hard to describe the type of book you're going to be reading. Lets just say you know those moments when someone recounts something which happened them to a crowd of friends or people at a party that has those listening imagining they were in that situation and everyone breaking into uncontrollable laughter. Well these boys have the talent to do this in the written form and they do it extremely well!

This book takes place a few years after his world wide adventure of trying to find and meet 54 people with the same name as him. Dave has just signed a contract to write a fiction novel on a man who discovers a new colour (something he made up on the spot in the publishers office) only he has no idea how to do this. While trying to push himself to write the novel he is constantly distracted by his email and the Internet. When he gets an email from an Australian asking him if he knows he's a Googlewhack Dave wonders what sort of insult or compliment this random stranger has given him. Dave e-mails the guy back asking him to explain. Dave finds out his website is the only one in the world with a page where two different words (in his case Francophile Namesakes) appear randomly somewhere on the page. Googlewhacking is a word game that nerds or bored office workers around the world play. Of course Dave has to have a go himself and after a while has a Googlewhack and e-mails the owner of that site to tell him all about it. When the owner of that site has a go he finds another Dave Gorman (a man Dave came across in Are You Dave Gorman?) so Dave rings the other Dave to tell him. It is not long before Dave has been bet he can't find a chain of ten Googlewhacks in a row before he turns 32. Reluctant at first Dave's new adventure is soon underway.

Granted the book is a little bit slow before it gets to this stage but once Dave gets on a plane to Washington the humour comes thick and fast. His recounts of Washington DC and the mugger who wants him to attack him as the mugger has learnt self defence, the ghoulish mother tourist at the war memorial, and the comments at the Lincoln Memorial, you'll never laugh so hard. His Googlewhack quest takes him all over the US, Britain and to other countries. The recount of the conversation with a Texan on route to Mexico is another classic I won't forget for a long time. Funny is an understatement for this book, just read it!

If you haven't already done so also grab a copy of Are You Dave Gorman? Also read Danny Wallace's books Join Me (the story of how he started a cult by accident) and Yes Man (Danny can only say Yes to any question) they're hilarious as well. Can't wait for the next adventures from either of these sensational authors. Dave Gorman's next is America Unchained, Danny Wallace's is Friends Like These.

You can also get a shorter recount of this tale as a one man Dave Gorman show performance on DVD but it does not go into the depth of each Googlewhack that this book does. At the time of this review the DVD was not listed on Amazon. But now it is! Click here!

I loved the premise of this novel from its description. It seemed an interesting way to connect with people from different walks of life and to show how easy it can be to create a great adventure.

The book was interesting and due to the book I have even tried to "googlewhack". It was also interesting that so many people were open to meeting the author in his googlewhack search.

However, the book was not quite as humorous as I would have expected. There were some great lines, but not enought to hold my interest.

Worth a read nonetheless.

Dave Gorman's Googlewhack adventure is an inspired rollercoaster. And like all roller coasters it is thrilling, unexpected and scares the be'jesus out of you.

Dave takes the ennui of getting into your thirties, with all its responsibility avoiding tricks, and draws it out into the extreme.

Whilst many of us may have painted the kitchen to avoid getting on with what we're meant to be doing, Dave is probably unique in jetting all over the world many times over to achieve the same effect.

Horrifyingly he seems intent on destroying his life throughout the tale - thank God he got a book out of it!