Customer Reviews: Read 17 more reviews...
 Fun. September 12, 2008
This book is a fun read. A bit like having a chat in a pub with an intelligent, literate mate on the topics of 'life the universe and everything' and 'how to sort the world out'.
It's topical, contemporary, will make you laugh, has some lovely quotes and references from across the ages, contains a fair few facts and figures of somewhat suspect origin, (whose statistics aren't biased?), and basically contains a manifesto for a life of wholesome chilling.
Weed out all the unnecessaries, destroy those areas which have been stressing you out...do without, live simply, wholesomely, practically, reclaim your life, be responsible, discover joy in the mundane.....it's all good stuff, and for me personally this is all close to the bone. A self-help book, perhaps, for those of us too cynical to stomach new-age attitudes, perfect smiles and away-with-the-fairies utopias.
Tom, whilst having a great heart, a fine way with words and a great sense of humour, also has a tendency to rant and rave a little in these pages, in an 'I'm right so the rest of you either copy/follow me or be damned' capacity...........however he is somewhat tongue-in-cheek, quick to point out the absurdities of taking anything too seriously, quick to admit that life is absurd and that we are nothing, and quick to disarm some of the self-importance of his soap-box opinions.
In short, a good read. A tad long, a tad preachy, laughably and lovably naive, and mostly a load of welcome, wholesome, organic advice from a young dad concerned by the crazy, alienated, uptight, capitalist, consumer mayhem which covers this fair isle in this times.
Buy it and laugh, ruminate on your own life and energy and perhaps make a few changes and pass it on to a friend. You might just make this country a better place to live in.
 buy this book September 3, 2008
it has some great ideas, some bad ones too, pick and choose, try them all
throw away your watch, get an allotment, chill out, i myself have decided to go live in a tent :)
 Modern Life Is Rubbish by Public Schoolboy September 1, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
How To Be Free...or Modern Life Is Rubbish Even With Chums From Blur!
I bought HTBF after many sterling recommendations. Initially, and superficially, it's a good read and poses some interesting ideas. Particularly as it links together some disparate sources from throughout history.
However my problem began when Mr Hodgkinson began to spout his respect for criminals, drug peddlars and the like. This isn't being free it's an author indulging his bourgeois experience/existence, and in the company of 'ordinary' folk like Zodiac Mindwarp. The Anarchist posing was less than convincing and had more than a whiff of the kind of rebellion I witnessed during the May Day protests in 2000. I was sauntering up Whitehall past the gates of Downing Street. Parked outside was an Ice Cream van. Queueing in an orderly and placid fashion was a line of ski masked public school boys and dread locked former Pony girls waiting their turn for Mr Whippy whilst McDonalds smouldered. Ooh Anarchy!
It's a wonderful premise - being free - but this book won't find or offer the means to do so. In fairness, deep down, I wouldn't expect it to. Too much real life is ignored in this book and I can't imagine the author meant it to be taken as a verbatim bible of how to escape your everyday drudgery.
A good read for under graduates before the horror of mortgages, rising utility bills, and student loan repayments kick in. Otherwise an average and occassionally humourous attempt to disseminate wishful notions.
Well written, easy to read, seriously useful advice. July 10, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
There is some very good advice in this book and the one that springs to mind is "have an admin day each month" to keep on top of bills, checking statements and so on. This may sound obvious but I was so busy I never used have the time but I make sure that I do now.
This is a book where one chapter at a time is enough. Read, enjoy and absorb! Best to read the whole chapter, of course, but I found I skipped some of the blurb and just read the last couple of pages which contained the sensible advice (which in some cases is pretty obvious when you think about it!). But we don't think about it, do we, we roll along in the tide of working for a task-master without stepping out of the bubble and re-evaluating our lifestyles.
This book makes you think about your life, really it does. Well written, amusing, but with a serious message and some seriously useful advice.
Reaffirming my beliefs January 16, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is great. I don't agree with everything Tom writes, but Anarchists should carve out their own lives anyway! This is as good a guide to freedom as you can get in capitalist society. Read it, take on board the general idea and then do it for yourself, your way. Anarchy in action. Terriffic.
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