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- Details
Like a well-delivered punch line, Black & White And Read All Over, the tenth book by award-winning writer Arthur Black, is guaranteed to make you laugh. The beloved radio personality and newspaper columnist tackles a range of subjects from Sasquatch hunters to nose jobs to the legalization of pot. Known for his delight in the bizarre and derision of the absurd, Black holds nothing back as he comments on the caprices of a society in which people can leave a legacy by naming bugs after themselves, coffee beans initially "processed" by small Indonesian marsupials sell for $110 US a pound in San Francisco, and gambling and fitness machines have combined so "all those casino addicts steadfastly clutching the plastic buckets of quarters and loonies now have a chance to lose pounds as they lose their money." In his trademark style, Black introduces readers to a colourful cast of characters, including a rock-and-roll critic enroute to her 60th high school reunion, a paralyzed author who wrote an entire novel by moving his left eye to indicate letters of the alphabet, and a Canadian senator who delivered a speech lasting 44 hours ("asking a politician to speak for five minutes is like expecting a great white shark to eat with a dessert spoon"). Black believes that "life, when you think of it, is really a series of accidents all strung together like a necklace fashioned by a drunkard." Dip into Black & White And Read All Over, and you'll see why.
"Nothing and nobody escapes Black's wide - ranging radar, and his research turns up some of the most amusing anecdotes. Like how the Pickle Arse MacLeans got their nickname. Or how best to squelch a heckler. Or how Gus Wickstrom of Tompkins, Sask., uses a pig spleen to predict weather. It's all guaranteed Black gold, Black humour."
M. Wayne Cunningham, The Kamloops Daily News
–The Kamloops Daily News
"Black and White and Read All Over is Black's 10th book and, like others, the title puns on his name...It is full of wit and Black's Canadian view point."
-Annie Boulanger, Burnaby NOW
–Burnaby NOW
"It's a collection of short, quirky, funny pieces. The book resembles the man...Black is ace at repartee. He says he's always been funny. He blames it on being short...The discipline of radio has made Black a master of a spare prose style that combines comic timing with just a hint of zany twilight zone. He knows how to surprise."
-Pat Burkette, Victoria Times Colonist
–Victoria Times Colonist
Harbour Publishing
ISBN: 9781550173369
Hardback
6.0 in x 9.0 in - 272 pp
Publication Date: 20/09/2004
BISAC Subject(s): HUM000000-HUMOR / General, HUM003000-HUMOR / Form / Essays
Description
Like a well-delivered punch line, Black & White And Read All Over, the tenth book by award-winning writer Arthur Black, is guaranteed to make you laugh. The beloved radio personality and newspaper columnist tackles a range of subjects from Sasquatch hunters to nose jobs to the legalization of pot. Known for his delight in the bizarre and derision of the absurd, Black holds nothing back as he comments on the caprices of a society in which people can leave a legacy by naming bugs after themselves, coffee beans initially "processed" by small Indonesian marsupials sell for $110 US a pound in San Francisco, and gambling and fitness machines have combined so "all those casino addicts steadfastly clutching the plastic buckets of quarters and loonies now have a chance to lose pounds as they lose their money." In his trademark style, Black introduces readers to a colourful cast of characters, including a rock-and-roll critic enroute to her 60th high school reunion, a paralyzed author who wrote an entire novel by moving his left eye to indicate letters of the alphabet, and a Canadian senator who delivered a speech lasting 44 hours ("asking a politician to speak for five minutes is like expecting a great white shark to eat with a dessert spoon"). Black believes that "life, when you think of it, is really a series of accidents all strung together like a necklace fashioned by a drunkard." Dip into Black & White And Read All Over, and you'll see why.
"Nothing and nobody escapes Black's wide - ranging radar, and his research turns up some of the most amusing anecdotes. Like how the Pickle Arse MacLeans got their nickname. Or how best to squelch a heckler. Or how Gus Wickstrom of Tompkins, Sask., uses a pig spleen to predict weather. It's all guaranteed Black gold, Black humour."
M. Wayne Cunningham, The Kamloops Daily News
–The Kamloops Daily News
"Black and White and Read All Over is Black's 10th book and, like others, the title puns on his name...It is full of wit and Black's Canadian view point."
-Annie Boulanger, Burnaby NOW
–Burnaby NOW
"It's a collection of short, quirky, funny pieces. The book resembles the man...Black is ace at repartee. He says he's always been funny. He blames it on being short...The discipline of radio has made Black a master of a spare prose style that combines comic timing with just a hint of zany twilight zone. He knows how to surprise."
-Pat Burkette, Victoria Times Colonist
–Victoria Times Colonist
Details
Harbour Publishing
ISBN: 9781550173369
Hardback
6.0 in x 9.0 in - 272 pp
Publication Date: 20/09/2004
BISAC Subject(s): HUM000000-HUMOR / General, HUM003000-HUMOR / Form / Essays