I like the art of Picasso, I like the city of Paris, and I like the books of Dave Haslam. I was therefore pleased to hear of the release of this book which studies the life and art of famous Spanish artist, Pablo Picasso, in particular his séjour in the…
In “Forty Nights,” Chris shares his journey through addiction and struggles on the margins of society, contrasting the glamorous perceptions of drug culture. The book paints a raw picture of his life in Devon, exploring themes of mental health and societal oppression. Despite challenges, it offers a hopeful narrative of recovery and transformation.
View More Review: Forty Nights – by Chris Thrall
If you were a hermit living in a remote cave then I expect that even you would be well aware that Prince Harry and his wife have been in the news recently quite a lot. Initially I decided I was going to avoid the mass hysteria and not tune into…
View More Review: Spare – by Prince Harry
The book narrates Wayne Anthony’s experience as a promoter in the groundbreaking Acid House music scene of late 1980s Britain. It chronicles his battles against authorities and the evolving culture marked by ecstasy use, while candidly acknowledging the mental health risks associated with drug use. The narrative reflects both hedonism and a cautionary message for future generations.
View More Review: Class of 88 – Find the Warehouse. Lose the Hitmen. Pump the Beats – by Wayne Anthony
I got excited when this book arrived on my doorstep. At first glance it has all the key ingredients for a great book. Hacienda DJ author, history of British nightclubs – I expected lots of gory detail and exciting anecdotes and couldn’t wait to get to the acid house chapters….The…
View More Review: Life After Dark – A History of British Nightclubs & Music Venues – by Dave Haslam
Frank Kane and his girlfriend, Sam, after their business was failing in the U.K. made the fateful decision to become cocaine drug couriers in Venezuela. Whilst attempting to fly out from the airport on Caribbean Island, Isla de Margarita, the airport authorities stopped and searched them and discovered the smuggled…
View More Review: In The Shadow of Papillon – Seven Years of Hell in Venezuela’s Prison System – by Frank Kane with John Tilsley
David Kilcullen has had a few books included on my shelf recently. As a military expert on Guerrilla Warfare, I was thrilled to find this new book on the Colombian Civil War which he coauthors with a group of specialists who went on extensive field research around Colombia, with a…
View More Review: A Great Perhaps? Colombia: Conflict and Convergence – by Dickie Davis, David Kilcullen, Greg Mills and David Spencer
Roberto Saviano is the Italian Salman Rushdie. After writing his exposé on the Neapolitan mafia that is the subject of this book, Gomorrah, Saviano had serious death threats from organised crime and had to go into hiding and lives under security protection to this day. He is only a young…
View More Review: Gommorah – Italy’s Other Mafia – by Roberto Saviano
This book, edited by one of my literary heroes, Graham Hancock, is a collection of stories focussed mainly on the expansion of consciousness by the use of psychedelics, especially the Amazonian, ‘Vine of the Soul’, Ayahuasca. The authors range from Hancock himself to the well-renowned Dennis McKenna, to British social…
View More Review: The Divine Spark – Psychedelics, Consciousness and the Birth of Civilisation – by Graham Hancock
Poverty Safari is a winner of the Orwell Prize in 2018. The author, Darren McGarvey offers us a biographical account of his life in working class Glasgow suburb Pollok. Darren is a rapper who does extensive community work and is also a socially conscious intelligent man with his finger on…
View More Review: Poverty Safari – Understanding the Anger of Britain’s Underclass – by Darren McGarvey
This is the third Grillo installment that I have tackled and Ioan is an author who is a gritty investigative journalist who tends to put himself into quite dangerous situations in order to explore very controversial and often violent global subjects. Following on from Grillo’s groundbreaking work on Mexican cartels,…
View More Review: Blood, Gun, Money – How America Arms Gangs and Cartels – by Ioan Grillo
Joey is a teacher of mine at MLANG in Cardiff University. This is his first book. It explores prison writing in Latin America and looks at abolitionism of the penal system and draws on some really rather delicate themes that expose the dark brutality of prisons in a developing continent…
View More Review: Prison Writing of Latin America by Joey Whitfield
This is the third Simon Spence book that I have read. He is a very talented music journalist from Manchester with a taste for documenting, wild, stylish cultural movements that have emerged from the Madchester craziness. Excess All Areas covers perhaps the most successful and innovative band to have ridden…
View More Review: Happy Mondays – Excess All Areas – by Simon Spence
I’ve already read a Matthew Collin book – This is Serbia Calling – so I was chuffed when I stumbled upon this work, a history of UK dance music culture. As a DJ and Promoter for 24 years I’m quite aware of a lot of the history of dance music…
View More Review: Altered State – The Story of Ecstasy Culture and Acid House – by Matthew Collin
I was a DJ myself back in the 1990s and although I never played alongside Brandon Block, I had the pleasure of meeting him a couple of times. Once, on his father’s birthday in a London bar/club, I had just got out of one of my early mental health hospital…
View More Review: The Life and Lines of Brandon Block by Matt Trollope