Tunnel Visions: Journeys of an Underground Philosopher [Paperback]

Christopher Ross (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2002

Christopher Ross, philosopher and traveller, decided to cease his journeyings and go underground, quite literally. Seeking an antidote to incurable restlessness, he chose to work for a year as a Station Assistant at Oxford Circus Station. After Training School, where he is taught how not to electrocute himself and always to look in the eye a member of the public as they are assaulting you, he faces up to his new duties with a mixture of curiosity and foreboding. What, exactly, will he find deep under the surface of London? Tunnel Visions is a mixture of lived experience in the surreal world of London's Underground and the more elevated ideas, thoughts, and imaginings that experience provokes. Oxford Circus Station, complete with its weeping wall, its streakers, and buskers, is a Plato's Cave of reflection and human comedy.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'This is one of the most original and surprising books that I have read for years: a reflection on city life by an unusual mind that proves just how extraordinary the ordinary can be.' Christopher Matthew, Daily Mail (Critics Choice) 'Ross has produced a truly brilliant book.' Gary Younge, Guardian 'Very funny!a parable of our times.' Iain Sinclair, Daily Telegraph '!this unique, utterly original little philosophical tome. This is pop philosophy in its best sense: a kind of subterranean "Sophie's World", but more adult, darker-edged, its modest wisdom harder won.' Literary Review "Ross is good-natured, undemonstrative and sane. His musings are peppered with good gags and anecdotes. There is an honesty and lack of pretension in his writing ... Ross is a people's philosopher and if he sometimes states the obvious it is because too often we forget the value of these truisms." Martin Fletcher, Independent

About the Author

Christopher Ross lives in Oxfordshire. Tunnel Visions is his first book.

Product Details

• Paperback: 178 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins UK (February 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1841155675
• ISBN-13: 978-1841155678
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,909,954 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful, philosophical, eminently approachable book., March 27, 2006

By 

Semioticghost "Semioticghost" (London, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tunnel Visions: Journeys of an Underground Philosopher (Hardcover)

Christopher Ross is astute, perceptive and witty, without laying the latter on too thickly. He invites the reader into the workings of his mind, providing observations and speculations combined with a running commentary on what he witnesses daily and reflections on past experience. The end product is a beautiful, philosophical, eminently approachable book.