Chris Healey

Long Live The Spare

Revisado: 02-18-23

The story is far better and far more interesting than I expected. Prince Harry shows true class describing his life, acknowledging his missteps, and ultimately how he grew to become what he is today.

We hear about the truly evil tabloid press and British media who are willing to stoup to any level of depravity to make money. They will lie, race bait, build people up, smash them down. They don't care who lives or dies, or who or what they destroy. And the Royal Family have found themselves complicit, trading stories and making shady deals to try and control the narrative as best they can. King Charles and Prince William should read this book as a matter of some urgency, and then take a long hard look in the mirror.

It is a true testament to Prince Harry's character that despite a life of public humiliation and inexcusable press intrusion, he still managed to serve his country, make the world a better place, find true love, and become the father and husband he wanted to be.

I am glad that he found this platform to share his story, it was well written and nicely narrated. He came across as likable and genuine. It's a fascinating insight into a bizarre and unusual life.

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Funny and Surreal in places

Revisado: 10-08-21

If you’re looking for a serious factual first person autobiography, then this book may not work for you. Dom Joly has certainly used his real life as a foundation but has also injected considerable wit, artistic license, and lies. Yes, he’s going to lie to you.

As long as you understand that going in, then there is a lot to enjoy and some genuine laugh out loud moments. A lot of entertainment well presented by the author.

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Obvious Excuse

Revisado: 09-20-21

It's a pretty well known fact that Dom Joly is a travel addict. It seems he will do anything to attempt sate his travel addiction, in this case 'monster hunting' for fictional creatures. Maybe his next book will be comfy beds in luxury hotels research! But despite the obvious excuse for endless travel, this is a very enjoyable read. It's split into sections with each section dedicated to a specific monster allegedly located in a specific country.

As usual, the writing was very enjoyable and amusing. His humor shines through, and his excellent narrating make this a fun read/listen.

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Really Enjoyed

Revisado: 09-20-21

I've come to really enjoy reading/listening to the travels of Dom Joly. He has travelled to some incredible places in general and certainly in this book, far outside the comfort zone of the average tourist. The book is written with good humor and made for a very interesting read. The North Korea section was fascinating, especially as I have watched some YouTube videos created by defectors who describe life on the inside. Very interesting to hear what it is like for an outsider to visit and what they are allowed to see.

As far as the audio book goes, I really enjoy the narration of the author, he's got a great voice for it and his multilingual abilities help add authenticity.

Having also read Scary Monsters and Super Freaks, The Downhill Hiking Club, and Such Miserable Weather, I think this may be my favorite of the bunch, although they are all good.

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He walked, so you don't have to

Revisado: 08-06-21

I very much enjoy Dom Joly the explorer, and for that matter the narrator too. I honestly can't believe he took on such a grueling walk, dragging his two friends along with him.

Let's face it, most of us will probably never dream of doing this, but it was certainly fascinating to hear about this journey. The author obviously understands the country well, given his time there as a child, and his passion for travel is obvious from the writing.

Really enjoyed the book, I never imagined I'd download an account of a middle aged comedian going on a long arduous walk in Lebanon with his friends, much less enjoy it. But I did, it was great, and I am absolutely certain I will never follow in his footsteps.

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HELLO! It's NOT rubbish!

Revisado: 07-19-21

I've read a number of celebrity autobiographies where they often brush over how they made it, and skip past some of the key moments that perhaps they just took for granted or have long since forgotten. In this book, Dom Joly offers a frank insight into his showbiz journey, the weird moments, the good luck, the bad luck, the great ideas, and the times it all went wrong. He's pretty frank about the times he screwed up and made poor choices, and through it all presents the story with good humor and intelligent writing. Hearing his words in his voice, also added to the experience.

I thought it was great, with some amusing moments, and if you've enjoyed any of his work over the years, this book lifts the curtain and shows some of what was going on behind the scenes.

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Excellent Tour of Britain

Revisado: 07-05-21

It is unfortunate that Dom’s tour of the UK was curtailed by Covid. But it was a fun ride while it lasted. The book was well written and nicely narrated by the author. It was a fun whirlwind random tour of Britain. I enjoyed not knowing where he was going to go next and what he’d encounter at each stop. Since I grew up in the Cotswolds it was also fun to hear his take on places I have lived in and visited. I even learned some fun facts, which I am not going to spoil here. Suffice to say, I now know how many lakes are in the Lake District. Thank you Dom.

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Hate to be negative...

Revisado: 06-20-19

I didn’t want to have to write a negative review about a book on #positivity but this book was a serious disappointment.

First of Phil has definitely taken a solid 15-20 minutes of content from his excellent autobiography. Having just read it, I was seriously listening to the same content. In fact there is even an editing error present in both books where Phil says the same sentence twice and a word was chopped. So we know the audio was straight up lifted from his previous book.

So what you have is maybe 45 minutes of original content which can essentially be summed up as make goals, write them down, work towards them and count your blessings. Don’t waste time on hate and negative emotions.

I really expected a lot more. I like and respect Phil. Loved his poker book, his book on tells with the FBI guy, and his autobiography. All really great and well worth a read. This was a sad short disappointment, not really worth a credit.

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Excellent Izzard

Revisado: 07-20-17

I thought this book was excellent. Izzard is not only funny, smart and interesting, but when you listen to this book, you get the added bonus of endless spontaneous footnotes where we get even more insight and signature Izzard musings.

I'd say for fans, this is a very entertaining read/listen.

I've found myself listening to a lot of celebrity memoirs lately, and I feel like Eddie put a lot more of himself into this one than many of them do. Despite his position that he's not that interesting, he's led a very unusual life, and fought tooth and nail to get to where he is today.

This is probably the most fun book I've downloaded in the last year.

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Wow! That's a story...

Revisado: 01-13-17

I knew nothing of Trevor Noah, other than the fact he replaced Jon Stewart on The Daily Show. I've seen him on TV a few times; that's about it. But I assumed there must be a story, and indeed there was.

I grew up hearing that apartheid was bad, non-white people were treated badly etc. But it is quite another thing to hear about the horrific and evil system written by someone who actually grew up dealing with it.

From his humble beginnings, held back by a system designed to repress, to stardom and the career success he enjoys today, it was moving, amazing, and with the expected injection of wit and charm.

I felt he could have gone into a little more depth describing precisely how his career took off, and what lucky breaks he had that landed him on his own TV show. But regardless it was an excellent book that is entertaining from beginning to end, as well as very eye-opening understanding the culture of oppression and racism that marred South Africa for many years.

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