Dandy in the Underworld: An Unauthorized Autobiography
Author: Sebastian Horsley
In the honorable tradition of the eccentric dandyism of Lord Byron, Oscar Wilde, and Quentin Crisp comes Sebastian Horsley's disarming memoir of sex, drugs, and Savile Row.
Publishers Weekly
British artist Horsley's biggest claim to fame is the crucifixion ceremony he underwent in the Philippines in 2000, an attempt to "break the limits of life" and make an artistic statement. The feat is the apex of Horsley's "unauthorized autobiography," which chronicles his life as an artist, a junkie and a self-professed dandy. Pithy and engaging, Horsley bares all, painting himself as a misogynist, a sexual deviant and a narcissist. While the memoir starts slow-drawn out accounts of childhood travails, tawdry family history and boarding-school miseries-Horsley's writing picks up when he's describing his cyclical addiction to and withdrawal from drugs. A crack high is a "whole-body orgasm" and "heartbreaking ecstasy"; heroin is "molten sunshine." By the time he is on a raft in the Philippines, paddling to the site of his crucifixion, he's been in and out of exclusive rehab clinics and self-imposed bouts of "cold turkey time," not to mention a stint as a prostitute. By the time a 50-something Horsley winds down his life history-wealthy and privileged from birth (his family owned a food empire), he was also uncannily successful in the stock market-he is nearly bankrupt. He ran through, by his own estimation, £100,000 on his drug addictions and the same amount of money each on his other addiction, prostitutes, and tailored clothing befitting his stature as a dandy. (Mar. 11)
Bob T. Ivey Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information - School Library Journal
Eccentric British artist Horsley has written an autobiography that reads like fiction. Horsley, who lives in London's Soho, has done and seen everything in the world. He grew up at High Hall in Hull with his alcoholic mother; his stepfather, a cult leader dressed in orange; and his father, a crippled millionaire. The book's opening pages indicate what readers can expect; notes Horsley, "Mother had been drunk during her entire pregnancy." Searching for happiness, meaning, and a good outfit, Horsley got married, engaged in numerous affairs, and eventually descended into heroin and crack addiction. In the end, he declares to his readers, "I've suffered for my art, now it's your turn." Horsley's book is unabashedly unashamed and brutally honest. Each page is exciting to read, full of thought-provoking avowals like this one: "It was hard for Satan alone to mislead the whole world, so he appointed priests and prostitutes in different locations." Strongly recommended for all public libraries.
Interesting textbook: Polarized America or Methods of Macroeconomic Dynamics
Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating
Author: Jane Goodall
With a firm but gentle touch, Dr. Goodall paints a global landscape in which corporations own the rainwater, patent the earth's seeds, and produce mysterious "Frankenfoods." Offering her hopeful, stirring vision, she introduces us to inspiring everyday heroes like a third-generation farmer who battled Monsanto and won; French activists who protest against genetically modified crops; and John Mackey, the founder of whole foods, who has vowed to sell only ethically raised animal products. Most valuable of all, Goodall offers simple strategies yo foster a sustainable society. By eating organic, shopping at farmer's markets, and taking other mindful measures, we can all do our part to reclain our food, our health, and our planet. And we must start now.
Publishers Weekly
Goodall, best known for her decades of work with chimpanzees and baboons, turns to the social significance of the food people eat and of how it reaches our tables. In a style that's both persuasive and Pollyannaish, her guide glides through a quick history of early agriculture, despairs of "death by monoculture" (single-crop farming), warns of the hazards of genetically modified foods and of the disappearance of seed diversity, and bemoans the existence of inhumane animal factories and unclean fish farms-the macro concerns of the environmentally conscious. On a more micro level, she focuses on what individuals can do for themselves. In a grab bag of well-intentioned bromides, Goodall counsels her readers to become vegetarians, celebrates restaurants and grocery stores that seek out locally grown produce, frets about the quality of school lunches and the pervasiveness of fast food-fueled obesity, honors small farmers and warns of a looming water crisis. Most chapters conclude with "what you can do" sections: demand that modified foods be labeled; turn off the tap while brushing your teeth. This book about making healthy choices breaks no new ground, but its jargon-free and anecdote-rich approach makes it a useful primer for grassroots activists, while the Goodall imprimatur could broaden its reach. Agent, Jonathan Lazear. (Nov. 1) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
What People Are Saying
Paul Hawken
"A lucid, anecdote-filled introduction to the world of food, revealing how our food production affects us and how our choices affect the environment...Consider this book the shopping list for you and your children's future."
—author of ECOLOGY OF COMMERCE
Alice Waters
"In HARVEST FOR HOPE, Jane Goodall convinces us that we should have a new relationship with food, one that is inspiring and delicious, at the same time a preservation of tradition and an act of conservation."
—author of CHEZ PANISSE FRUIT and CHEZ PANISSE VEGETABLES
Bill McKibben
"Thrice a day you get the chance to change the planet. You can change it in significant ways, if you follow just some of this book's wise advice."
—author of WANDERING HOME: A Long Walk Across America's Most Hopeful Landscape
John Robbins
"If you want to be newly awakened to the joy of eating, to the miracle of food, and to the power each of us has by the way we live our lives, do yourself a favor. Read a copy of HARVEST FOR HOPE. I promise you: your life will change in countless ways, all of them for the better... One of those rare truly great books that can change the world."
—author of THE FOOD REVOLUTION and DIET FOR A NEW AMERICA
Deborah Madison
"If you haven't thought much about the food you eat and the choices you make (and even if you have), this is an important book to read!"
—author of VEGETARIAN COOKING FOR EVERYONE and LOCAL FLAVORS: COOKING AND EATING FROM AMERICA'S FARMERS MARKETS
Frances Moore Lappй
"I love this book! Jane Goodall's generous, playful spirit imbues every fascinating page. HARVEST FOR HOPE is full of mind-expanding observations..a personal, tender wake-up call telling us that we can reclaim the wisdom of our bodies."
—author of HOPE'S EDGE and DIET FOR A SMALL PLANET
