Customer Reviews

Thus Spake David E.: The Collected Wit and Wisdom of the Most Influential Automotive Journalist of Our Time (Car and Driver & Automobile Magazine)

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Sorely overlooked because of his genre, David E. Davis, Jr. is one of the best writers of our generation. If cars didn't exist he'd probably not have as much fun writing, but his work would be considered genius. A great compendium for car guys and Davis fans as well as people who love old guys with an irreverent pen. This is it folks! He's a giant in the auto world and here is his diary...read it!

One of the things I opened Christmas morning is one of the best gifts I could have gotten in a long time. Thus Spake David E reminded me of why i thought so highly of Davis as an automotive writer and why, when he steps down from writing altogether, the world will be a darker place.

Imagine him sitting down with you and relating each adventure in his automotive life personally and you get an idea of why so many car-oriented people like him as much as they do. That he brings a certain amount of ego along with him will put some off, but he has, after all, been able to do things most of us only dream about doing. After I finished it, I went back and read some of his columns from back issues of Automobile Magazine and enjoyed them even more than the first time around.

If you're familiar with Davis' work and don't have Thus Spake yet, buy it; you won't be disappointed. He speaks with the same authority issue after issue and year after year and does it with a way that sparkles. He, in fact, does not call himself an automotive journalist, but rather an automotive storyteller - along with an actyor playing himself.

Those who like cars but don't know him are highly recommended to buy the book as well. You'll make a new friend.

After I read this book, I wanted to go back to school and get a degree in Jornalism, so I could try to pursue a career driving and writing about the world's finest Automobiles. David E. Davis does such a fine job at this, and he backs it up with poignant and contemplative musings on so many other topics (food, travel, beautiful women, even the deaths of friends and associates), that I would definitely recommend it to any "car guy", and I think that almost anyone would enjoy it. Unlike some other reviewers, I think that it works well as a compilation, partly because it provides an evolving historical perspective on the Automotive industry, and partly because David's unorthodox writing style and sense of humor take some getting used to, and are better enjoyed in this format. Whether of not you agree with Mr. Davis' opinions, you will likely enjoy his egotistical but still somehow self-conscious musings on various topics, particularly if you are the kind of person who appreciates automobiles beyond their capacity to convey us conveniently from point A to point B.

I'd read most of this book before, in the magazines in which the columns originally appeared. Reading them in book form, one after another, is different. There actually is some sort of narrative advancement; one learns about changes in the auto industry (and in the magazine industry) from the contemporary point of view.

You either love or hate David E.; this book gives you a surprising amount of insight into his personality, but (since it's a bunch of reprinted columns) you don't really learn anything you didn't know before. This is a good read. David E. is an excellent writer who really ought to write a more-conventional biography. *That* would be compelling.

(I'll second a previous reviewer's suggestion that Patrick Bedard should do a book like this, and I'd pay good money for a complete collection of Tom McCahill's road tests from Mechanix Illustrated!)

David E is a wonderful companion to have at fireside while he spins yarns about the great cars, double guns, fine bourbon and pointing dogs. The critique he offers of the auto industry and its more prominent members reveals a true insider's understanding of the automotive world. He talks about the geniuses you've never heard of, the bufoons that grab the headlines and great characters that make the world of the automobile a fascinating one. For anyone who is a car buff, I highly recommend it!

A terrific book by a man who sees into the heart of cars and has the words to share what he sees there. Anyone who loves cars will love this book. But you don't have to love cars to enjoy it because the book is as much about good times, great food, travel to exotic places with intriguing people, and the joys of living life to the fullest wherever and whenever you find it.

Mr. Davis became a monthly staple of mine beginning at age 9, and I've spent the succeeding two decades endeavoring to craft a life that lives up to his rather lofty aesthetic standards. A great book for those evenings when you have a hankering for something to "knock your hat in the creek" but there's too much snow outside to take a drive in the 2002.

Hear this: "Thus Spake David E." is not about cars -- it's about people, life, and the art of living. Dare I say it, DED is the Fangio of the typewriter, and we're all better for it. Where else would you find the advice, "Get rich. Get rich, then you can sleep till noon and screw 'em all". Words to live by, indeed.

This always entertaining book makes for good bedside reading by the very nature of it's column format. You can read a chapter or two, and pick it up the next day or week without having lost anything. Fathers Day seems like a good enough reason to get this book in your library. There is enough non automotive stuff in Davis' writing for the whole family. Davis tribute to his father is absolutely wonderful. The man can sure write!

Davis is the automotive version of Hugh Hefner. His hedonism just focuses on cars instead of women. Reading his old columns is like reading Hefner's old Playboy Philosophy columns. Both perspectives are equally pretentious and equally obsolete.

Both of the magazines that Davis has been deeply involved with have degenerated into PR organs for the auto manufacturers. I don't know if Playboy has fared any better.

I'm a fan, and the book was a welcome trip down memory lane. But I wouldn't recommend the book to someone who isn't a David E disciple like me. The Man edits terrific magazines, but his columns need the context of the rest of the magazine (i.e., they're not very interesting on their own). They don't make a great compilation. I also think the columns lose a lot by omitting graphics.

If we could get Patrick Bedard or Peter Egan to produce a compilation (or put The Fastest Funny Car back in print)...