Customer Rating:  
Summary: Refreshing and entertaining but makes you wonder
Comment: 3.5 stars really. The author is fun to watch in action on TV. He is not afraid to speak his mind and has a unique turn of phrase when critcally examining something. He writes in much the same way. In fact, you sometimes catch yourself reading like Clarkson talks - complete with the pregnant pauses!
A light-hearted read, really. I did find some of the explanations/comments frustrating though. There is a chapter on Australia with a few outlandish statements that could be read as fact when they're not. Outlandish statements are, of course, pure, classic Clarkson but it got me thinking what else in the book (several countries I am not too familiar with) was really an embellishment - a "Clarksonism".
But then, that'd be regarding this book seriously which it certainly isn't. If you've been doing some heavy reading of late or enjoy Clarkson's take on the world, or even just want a laugh from a different type of travel book, then this book is a good choice.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Colorful writer
Comment: Jeremy Clarkson uses British humor and the English language in ways more colorful and vivid than most. At the same time he is strongly opinionated and, often, irritating in the extreme. I am pleased when he hates a car which has been consistently overrated, but I grow weary of his defenses of smoking and of his right to subject others to it. He's worth reading if you can sort through the baggage, but after awhile he sort of gets to me. I am always more aware of Clarkson than of the subject he is addressing -- not always a positive element.
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