Amazon.com
Python fans will need to clear a large space on their bookshelf or coffee table for The Pythons--a big, vital autobiography of the comedy troupe. This is an oral history by the six members (Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin) from birth to--in the case of Chapman--death. We get reminisces about childhood, university days, early successes, and rich details about the landmark Flying Circus TV series and subsequent films. The voices are fresh (with expectation of Michael Palin's insightful diary entries), not just complied from earlier publications. "Due to his insistence of being inconveniently dead," Chapham's voice is heard through his longtime partner David Sherlock, his brother and sister-in-law (and some archival materials). As a whole, the six impart a refreshing ability to deal honestly with the frustrations that arose over the years and it comes out in the text even when events are recalled differently. The book is not a light read (figuratively and literally), perhaps a smaller size would have been better for the amount of text; a cursory glance at the coffee table is tough. What does fill the book is an abundance of photos (over 1,000), most never published and many from the troupe's private collections. Along with concept sketches, Gilliam's drawings and doodles, and a few correspondences, this is a keepsake memento of the legendary group. --Doug Thomas
Book Description
For the first time all surviving Pythons have agreed to create the definitive, official, "completely-different-than-anything-done-before" audiobook on the Monty Python's Flying Circus and the 'genius' who created it.Over thirty years ago a group of five Englishmen and one wayward American rewrote the rules of comedy. Monty Python's Flying Circus, an unheralded half-hour of sketches, hilarities, inanities, and animations first appeared on the BBC late one night in 1969. Its impact on the world has been felt ever since. This audio edition is a complilation of unique never-before-heard interviews with the Python team conducted by Bob McCabe while he researched the Python book, plus clips from the famous Monty Python sketches, including "The Parrot Sketch", "Nudge, Nudge, Wink Wink", "Spam" and the "Ministry of Silly Walks." Narration will be by Bob McCabe with Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin, and featuring, Eric Idle, John Cleese and Terry Jones.Here is a unique glimpse at arguably the most important comic team of the modern age. Do you want Spam with that?
Customer Reviews:
The Pythons.......2007-10-03
After purchasing the complete set of DVD's and laughing so hard I was sick, I just had to find out out they did it. This book answered my question. I enjoyed it, but it was a bit long and somewhat redundant.
depressing.......2007-01-19
This is probably the most accurate history of the Monty Python television program and films.
It reveals the impressing background of the players and their problems in working together which resulted in their dispersing and ill will with each other.
Intriguing but flawed like most oral histories-for the true fan.......2006-07-08
THE PYTHONS is a must for fans of the group but for the more casual reader it probably won't serve a purpose. It is an oral history of the group with contributions by the living members and statements culled from the late Graham Chapman's auto-biography. (A very funny book, but one that needs to be taken with a 16 ton grain of salt)If you are looking for specifics of how any of this marvelous group put together their sketches, look elsewhere; this is not a breakdown of how Monty Python's Flying Circus came to be, rather it is a bunch of reminiscences of early life, working together( and who worked with whom) and some still not quite healed wounds. Chapman comes off poorly, his drinking a constantly mentioned problem, Gilliam's story is so separate from the rest that he really doesn't seem to be a member of the group until The Holy Grail, although his animations were a key to the show's success, and Cleese is often seen here as standoffish, a bit out of the mix with the others. Memories often don't jibe for each member, an example being who chose "The Liberty March" as the theme, Palin lays claim to it as does Gilliam (with Idle agreeing with Gilliam.)But it is interesting to see how the group's personalities come forward as time goes on, and it does give some insight into the creative processes behind the scenes even though it does fall short of offering the aforementioned specifics. there are a number of great stories here and well worth the time (and strength!) to read this book. I did enjoy this slightly askew look at one of comedy's most influential and funniest groups ever; I just have difficulty recommending it to anyone but the converted.
This CD audiobook has to have been an afterthought (the hardcover was great!).......2006-04-09
For 30 years or so, I've been a major Monty Python fan, and bought this CD audiobook after thoroughly enjoying the hardback. What a disappointment! If I could give it zero stars, I would - and I've never wanted to do that before in a review.
Having read the book, I knew this wasn't a performance CD - I just wanted to hear the stories from the book as told by the Pythons themselves, in their own voices. Unfortunately that was exactly the problem: As has already been pointed out by others here, the audio quality is wretched.
I had to listen hard in most places to be able to make out the words, and that's no way to enjoy listening to a book. I tried it with speakers and with headphones, volume up and volume down, and nothing helped.
Here's my theory: I don't believe this audiobook was initially intended to be. I think that, after the hardback was published, someone thought it might work to release the interviews that went into the making of the hardback. All well and good, except that those interviews were recorded only for content, not for audio quality, and it shows.
So I don't think anyone did a sloppy job of putting together an audiobook. Instead, I think someone tried to push a square peg of recorded interviews through the round hole of retail. Even the art on the CD box seems to be an afterthought.
Unless you're prepared to listen to two CDs of muffled, echoing, low-volume, distant monologues, don't buy the audiobook of "Pythons" - instead, indulge yourself in the hardback. Not only will you "hear" the voices of the Pythons better in your own head, but you'll also get a lot of wonderful photos.
Interesting but VERY long.......2006-01-26
It's a bad sign when a book about my favorite comedy act (apart from the three stooges) doesn't keep me coming back.
I found myself reading it is spurts and jumping around quite a bit.
What I did read was interesting but not enough to keep me going. (The story behind the topless scene in "The dull life of a city stockbroker" was particularly funny).
Of course as a Coffee table book it is awesome and full of pictures both in front of and behind the scenes.
I would have liked at least a few passages by Carol Cleveland as I've always considered her part of the group. The fact that she grew from just "a bit of totty" to somebody who played real parts is would be a good story on its own.
I think the cult status of the Pythons is a very American thing and it sometimes takes them aback. They are some of the funniest people who did some of the best comedy writing that ever lived and many modern comedians owe them a lot, however it is the fact that their humor is so educated (who else could do "the fish slapping dance and Coal miners arguing about the Treaty of Utrecht?) that raises it above.
Too bad it couldn't raise up this book higher.
Book Description
Michael Palin has kept a diary since newly married in the late 1960s, when he was beginning to make a name for himself as a TV scriptwriter (for The Two Ronnies, David Frost, etc). Monty Python was just around the corner.
This volume of his diaries reveals how Python emerged and triumphed, how he, John Cleese, Graham Chapman, the two Terrys---Jones and Gilliam---and Eric Idle came together and changed the face of British comedy. But this is but only part of Palin’s story. Here is his growing family, his home in a north London Victorian terrace, which grows as he buys the house next door and then a second at the bottom of the garden; here, too, is his solo effort---as an actor, in Three Men in a Boat, his writing endeavours (often in partnership with Terry Jones) that produces Ripping Yarns and even a pantomime.
Meanwhile Monty Python refuses to go away: the hugely successful movies that follow the TV (his account of the making of both The Holy Grail and the Life of Brian movies are page-turners), the at times extraordinary goings-on of the many powerful personalities who coalesced to form the Python team, the fight to prevent an American TV network from bleeping out the best jokes on U.S. transmission, and much more---all this makes for funny and riveting reading.
The birth and childhood of his three children, his father’s growing disability, learning to cope as a young man with celebrity, his friendship with George Harrison, and all the trials of a peripatetic life are also essential ingredients of these diaries. A perceptive and funny chronicle, the diaries are a rich portrait of a fascinating period.
“Michael Palin is not just one of Britain’s foremost comedy character actors, he also talks a lot. Yap, yap, yap he goes, all day long and through the night . . . then, some nights, when everyone else has gone to bed, he goes home and writes up a diary.”
---John Cleese
“This combination of niceness, with his natural volubility, creates Palin’s expansiveness.”
---David Baddiel, The Times
“A real delight to read.”
---Saga Magazine (UK)
“His showbiz observations are so absorbing. . . . Palin is an elegant and engaging writer.”
---William Cook, The Guardian (UK)
“A wealth of fascinating stuff about Monty Python.”
---The Independent (UK)
“Our favourite TV explorer shows us the workings of an unstoppable machine.”
---Daily Express (UK)
“A riveting commentary to a remarkably creative decade.”
---Academy (UK)
Customer Reviews:
Excellent read.......2007-10-04
A fascinating look into an exciting period of Python history. In Palinesque style, it is very candid with a mix of subtle humour making it an excellent read. The book also documents his observations about social and economic changes happening in Britain in the period which would make this a good read even if you arent Python obsessed!
The Seventies according to Palin.......2007-09-27
What a nice man! Michael Palin's diary of Seventies Britain Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Yearsshows that you don't have to be weird or "out there" or even arrogant to create the kind of ground-breaking humor that was Monty Python's Flying Circus. They certainly needed the comic genius of John Cleese to make it come to life, but it is clear that Michael Palin and Terry Jones did much of the writing and then the general tidying up afterwards that made Python at once gloriously offensive and yet globally marketable.
Palin's honest yet self-effacing notes on his life during the 1970's include lots of interesting out-takes on Python writing and performance for Python aficionados, but his attendance to his aging parents and his thoughtful asides on a critical decade in British politics show an Everyman that contrasts wildly with the lunacy of Python. Maybe that's why Python became a global experience - because it connected us to that silly streak we all have inside but seldom allow to show, in a decade when so many accepted social mores were being overturned.
For those of us that lived through that decade (I am English and two months younger than Palin) this is an entertaining and absorbing social history which will make you think "maybe if I had just had the right friends?".
Almost perfect..........2007-09-16
This is a well-written book on the years Michael Palin spent in Monty Python. It does lack a few things: it starts in 1969 more or less with the start of his diaries and of his time in Python. It offers daily exceprts from his life from then on until 1979. This is by no means bad since it does give some interesting insights into what happened but some of the things before 1969 would have been nice in order to put things into a better perspective. It is also somewhat short at moments since it really offers daily excerpts and not a continuous stoyline. Anywayx, anyone who is a Monty Pathon fan will love the anecdotes and I still recommend this.
Palin makes you feel at home........2007-09-11
This is a great book by Michael Palin. I felt as if he was talking to me as we were taking a walk on a nice day. There's all the history here of the Monty Python's and their film's. His times with George Harrison and much more.He's a great writer as those of you know who have enjoyed all of his travel books and shows. This book takes you up to 1979 the Python years and I hope there's not a long wait for the next book.
Amazon.com
Written while filming his TV series retracing the travels of America's literary titan, Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure is a masterpiece in its own right. And it's just as eye-delighting in book form, thanks to Basil Pao's wanderlust-arousing photography and vibrant design. The witty, literary Palin, a Monty Python alumnus-turned-professional adventurer, takes us on the journey of a lifetime--Papa's and his own. "Hemingway's world was close and uncomfortable and itchy and sweaty and frequently exhausting," writes Palin. "It was, I felt, the real thing. To experience it would require the ability to absorb a little punishment, it would demand an open mind and a degree of recklessness. But it could and should be done."
Palin visits the restless Hemingway's many residencies, drinks (less excessively) in the same charming Parisian bars, tries boxing and Cuban marlin fishing, but he's really trying to discover what made Hemingway tick--what inspired him to write. In Spain, Palin examines Hemingway's passion for the country and the character of the matador in Hemingway's work while studying with young matador apprentices in a dusty Madrid bullfighting school. In Africa, which inspired and almost killed Hemingway, Palin learns spear throwing from Masai warriors, flies in a small plane around Mount Kilimanjaro, and searches for the site where Hemingway's own plane crash-landed. At the end of the day, drinking Hemingway's preferred beer, brewed still in Nairobi, Palin muses, "Mortality, of one kind or another, always feels close at hand in Africa. Maybe that's why Hemingway liked it, student of death that he was."
Palin begins in Hemingway's Illinois birthplace and ends his journey standing on the spot in Papa's Idaho kitchen where he shot himself, having recently broken down in tears, unable to complete JFK's request for a few simple words commemorating his inauguration. This isn't just a lively travel or TV tie-in book; it's a thoughtful, emotional biography. --Michele Norton
Book Description
Michael Palin is a popular brand in his own right
The combination of palin and travel is always a winner
Basil Pao one of the best topographical photographers working today
Customer Reviews:
Contrived and rushed.......2006-07-08
Michael Palin travels the world in the footsteps of his literary hero, Ernest Hemingway. The journeys take him to various parts of the United States, Italy, Spain, France, Cuba and Africa. Palin tracks down the important places in Hemingway's life and tries to assess their impact upon the great man's work.
Of that's the way the book would like to be seen. It's been some years since the TV series which spawned this book was aired on mainstream UK TV. I could see why that was the case as I was reading this work. "Hemingway Adventure" was the least satisfactory of Palin's travels for various reaons: it felt both contrived and self-indulgent, as if the author and the BBC wanted to do another travel series but were at a loss for a theme - answer, Michael is keen on Hemingway, Hemingway travelled a lot, so let's do a Hemingway/travel series. That's just about OK I suppose if you are really into Hemingway, but for the rest of us who are more interested in travel than Hemingway it would have to be a very good series to maintain anything other than a passing interest.
Palin's rapid jumps from one country to another provide little sense of continuity or purpose - precisely the factors that made his earlier travels so interesting. Even when he is in a stimulating and challenging place, the visit if so brief that little context or feel for the location and people there come through. Instead, it feels like a process of ticking off a list of Hemingway locations.
The book is not universally bad, but the whole project (TV series and book) felt tacked together in an attempt to get more out of Mr P travelling the world for us. He did better before this, and has done better since.
G Rodgers
An interest in Hemingway's authorship is not necessary.......2005-10-13
I really like Michael Palin's travel documentaries, both the BBC TV programs and the books based on the programs. He has a knack for finding interesting people and places, and he presents it all with wit and charm and a personal engagement that is beguiling. The books are beautiful with lots of great color pictures, most taken by photographer Basil Pao.
This book is based on the BBC TV program where Mr. Palin traveled to all of the places where Ernest Hemingway had lived and traveled. One can't really say the program "follows Hemingway's footsteps" because some sequences are presented out of order, but it's all there:
Chicago and northern Illinois (Hemingway's youth)
Italy (WW I and duck hunting)
Paris (Hemingway's start as an author)
Spain (running with the bulls, bullfighting)
Key West (fishing, boxing)
Africa (hunting, airplane crash injuries)
Cuba (fishing, Hemingway's home for 20 years)
Montana and Idaho (dude ranches, Hemingway's death)
Each chapter that describes a place almost invariably leaves the reader smiling and thinking that it would be interesting to visit that place oneself.
Incidentally, my high opinion of this book (and the associated TV program) has nothing to do with any interest in Hemingway's authorship. I read "The Old Man and the Sea" when I was in high school, and have not read anything by Hemingway since. Still, I find his life interesting, and I think that Michael Palin has made a great travelogue by visiting the various places and telling about Hemingway's life.
I can especially recommend the audio version of this book, which is read by Michael Palin himself. He does a great job of delivering the dialog of the various people, all with their different accents.
Of course, the audio version of the book does not include the beautiful photographs, so the very best strategy might be to get both, and listen to the audio version while commuting and then look at the pictures when you get home.
Rennie Petersen
A Teriffic Travelogue.......2005-06-17
If you are going to engage in some armchair travel, you could do no better than to have Michael Palin as your guide. I love all of his books, possibly even more than the accompanying TV shows. The only reason this one gets four stars from me, instead of five, is by comparison- I thought the conceit of following Hemmingway's life's path was less engaging than some of his more challenging itineraries (but add the extra star back on if you're a Hemmingway fan). Like others who have reviewed here, I was compelled by reading this book to seek out some of Hemmingway's work, and I think I was able to appreciate it better knowing something about the man. (But I'll admit, given the choice of reading him or reading Palin, I'll take the Python any day of the week.)
A fine travelogue, evoking the past and present.......2003-10-17
I am not a Hemmingway fan - the idea of a macho yet self-destructive soul holds no appeal for me. Likewise, I find his prose turgid and bland, unlike his contemporary, Steinbeck. However, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Michael Palin brings his charm, understated wit, and consummate travelogue-writing skill to the book, and Basil Pao brings fantastic photography and art direction.
Hemmingway's life and travels provide an overarching theme to the book that brings us from place to place. Since most travelogues use geographical locations to provide the arc, the eclectic globe-trotting in this book is refreshing, while at the same time logical. Likewise, within each chapter we see a variety of locales that won't necessarily make a standard travelogue, because Hemmingway lived in these places and discovered a number of out-of-the-way sites that give a better feel for the actual culture of the cities and countries we're visiting.
I've personally visited four of the places in the book - Montana, Chicago, Key West, and Paris. That I wish to return to those places and experience the parts I missed, as chronicled in the book, is a testament to Palin and Pao's skills. Presumably a fan of Hemmingway would get even more out of this book than I did, but you obviously don't have to be a Hemmingway afficionado to appreciate and enjoy this book.
A must read for the Hemingway.......2003-02-15
Michael Palin writes one of the ultimate coffee table books for the Hemingway afficionado. When Palin says how he admired Hemingway when he was a boy growing up in Sheffield, England, this introductory homage is itself nearly worth the price of the book. We follow Palin as he travels to and writes about each of the pivotal places and people in Hemingway's life (including Illinois, Michigan, Paris, Spain, Key West, Cuba and Idaho). The passages are accompanied by photographs from Basil Pao, Palin's longtime collaborator
Palin describes what events happened in each place that make it significant to the Hemingway fan, but he also describes how each place is still interesting today: the running of the bulls in Pamplona, for instance, or the Hemingway look alike contest in Key West. In that sense, this is also a great travel book. It's clearly written with admiration for the author, but never cloyingly so. Palin's prose is measured, and he works in some of his celebrated humor. This book would make a great gift for the Hemingway fan in your life.
Average customer rating:
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Diaries
Michael Palin
Manufacturer: Phoenix (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd )
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ASIN: 075382177X |
Customer Reviews:
A Journey of Two Halves.......2006-12-12
This book dates to the days when Palin's travel adventures still had a feeling of novelty and purpose about them - in contrast to the majority of the later journeys which have been somewhat contrived. Like "Around the World in 80 Days" and "Pole to Pole" there is a definite aim to this expedition (to complete the full circle of Pacific Rim countries, starting and ending in Alaska).
Palin's travels take him through some fascinating places (post-Soviet Russia, Korea, Japan, China and so on then through Australasia, into South, Central then North America). Indeed there's much to be enjoyed in Palin's writings and observations, but both he and the writing seem to run out of steam in the latter stages of the journey to the extent that the USA and Canada attract very short descriptions. This is not entirely surpising as the journey took 245 days.
To be enjoyed then, but more for the Asian/Australasian sections than those in the Americas.
G Rodgers
Michael Palin's longest journey of them all.......2005-11-05
Michael Palin's "Full Circle" trip involved traveling all of the way around the Pacific Ocean. He (and his film crew) started at the Bering Strait in Alaska and then traveled down the Asian side of the Pacific, crossed over to Cape Horn, and traveled up through South and North America, returning to Alaska.
The trip covered 50,000 miles through 17 countries in ten months. Specifically, these countries were visited: USA (Alaska), Russia (Siberia), Japan, S. Korea (entry to N. Korea was denied), China, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, USA (California and Washington), Canada (British Columbia) and back to Alaska again.
This trip, like the other ones done by Michael Palin for the BBC, was filmed for viewing as a television mini-series. (This version is available on DVD, at least at Amazon UK.) Afterwards, Michael Palin and Basil Pao (the stills photographer in the filming crew) created this book as an alternative record of the trip.
The book is richly illustrated with Basil Pao's beautiful photographs. Michael Palin's text is wonderful because he has a way of finding interesting places and people and of describing them with warmth and humor.
The diversity of the many countries and places is amazing. Artic wilderness, tropics, deserts, cramped cities, huge rivers, high mountains, etc., etc. There are many high points along the way, the most exciting being when Michael Palin had to lasso a camel while standing in the back of a pickup truck that was going over bumps and around bends at break-neck speed!
At the same time, Michael Palin does not shy back from visiting and describing the thought-provoking places along his journey. The Russian Gulag in Siberia, Hiroshima and the remembrance of the atomic bomb, the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea and the border between Mexico and the United States are all discussed with unusual insight.
This book easily deserves five stars. Except for the audio version, that is.
The nice thing about the audio version is that Michael Palin reads the book himself, and he does a great job as a reader. But the audio version does not include Basil Pao's beautiful photographs, of course, and worst of all, it's abridged. My dislike of abridged audio books results in me giving the audio book version only three stars.
Rennie Petersen
Either spend big bucks and go yourself, or buy this book!.......1999-06-18
Michael Palin (of Monty Python fame) is more than funny: he's a perceptive and compassionate traveller! I loved his first two BBC travel series and their companion books, so when one day in Seattle, I read in the paper that the next evening he would begin a third, I made sure to tune in. I wasn't disappointed; from a remote Alaskan island so close to the International Dateline that Palin writes: "The Russian soldiers staring at me across the water have already had the day I'm having" to "the southernmost place of worship in the world, outside of Antarctica", this one is as good an armchair journey as any the BBC has produced. Something special: the photography is, as usual, superb, and there's an underwater sequence in the Philipines that has to be seen to be believed. So, either take a year off yourself (that's about what it took Palin), pack your own forty-eight (!) suitcases and spend your own mint to do this trip of a lifetime, or just do it with Mike Palin. After all, that's what books are for, isn't it?
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Michael Palin Diaries 1969-1979
Manufacturer: Orion (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd )
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Binding: Audio CD
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ASIN: 0752875612 |
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Michael Palin: A Biography
Jonathan Margolis
Manufacturer: Orion Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0752816616 |
Book Description
The long awaited biography of a unique showbusiness personality, from python to televsion traveller Michael Palin's life from his Yorkshire childhood to Hollwood stardom and growth into a household name is one of the most remarkable and unique stories of showbusiness. But Palin specialises in the unexpected. Renowned for being the nicest man in showbusiness, a fact he would appear to detest judging from his response to press comments on it. Palin is one of the most popular figures in 90's Britain. Comic, writer, director and TV Adventurer: in Margolis's revealing Biography, palin emerges as a man of many surprises.
Customer Reviews:
Thin.......2001-01-15
The only word to describe this bio is "thin'. The book, at only 233 pages (paperback) lacks any real depth or thorough understanding of Palin. The author appears to have gone the easy route and just done a cut and paste of the wealth of material publicly available on the author, and jsut pursues the obvious themes.
Average customer rating:
- And now for something completely not funny, yet indispensible.
- Wonderful book
- A few points about this Monty Python book
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The "Pythons" Autobiography by the "Pythons" (Monty Python)
Michael Palin ,
John Cleese ,
Terry Gilliam ,
Eric Idle ,
Terry Jones , and
Bob McCabe
Manufacturer: Orion (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd )
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Binding: Audio CD
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ASIN: 0752860658 |
Book Description
N/A
Customer Reviews:
And now for something completely not funny, yet indispensible........2006-01-18
...but that's not a bad thing (explanation below).
I got this book for Christmas and was concerned that because of it's size I would probably end up just thumbing through and reading select parts. Not the case. I started reading it and couldn't stop.
It covers the group and individuals from their pre-Python lives through discussions of working together again after The Live at Aspen event - though I won't tell you what conclusion they came to. In between is chock full of every detail about their influences, TV show, the movies, the stage shows and more. And because each member contributes (hence...autobiography) you get a great insider's perspective on the dynamics of the group. You learn first hand who doesn't like who, what they enjoyed and how, at times, they really struggled, and a bunch more behind the scenes insights into their personalities.
I found the book to be fascinating. It is formatted such that each event is discussed by multiple members of the troop. So you get a 360 degree view of their writing sessions, their fights, their good times, their movie productions, their business and artistic relationships.
The only downside (and here is why I titled this as such) is that it was rarely funny. That is by no means a fault, but could come as a surprise (as it did me) to the reader who expects it to be silly and funny like their performances. As a result this book is probably only going to be of interest to a true Python fan. And a true Python fan will find it indispensible.
Wonderful book.......2005-12-28
The Pythons were like the British Marx Brothers, Anti-authority,
subversive, surreal, and very very funny. Particularly interesting are the Python's accounts of their childhood and pre-fame days.
It seems "A Careful Reader" wasn't so careful after all. The picture of Dudley Moore (and it is most assuredly him) is on page 68 NOT 88. Here's a clue for ACR...he's about 30 years younger than he was when he appeared in the movie "10." Thank you and good night!
A few points about this Monty Python book.......2005-01-05
On page 88 it says that one of the four men in the photo is Dudley Moore. The fellow in the picture doesn't look at all like Dudley Moore. Furthermore, it says, on another page, that Ian MacNaughton is beseeching Terry Jones. But the man MacNaughton is begging seems to actually be Michael Palin. On a different note, in his autobiography part of the book Eric Idle seems too proud of his anti-authority stances. The 60's are very long gone now. Idle should grow up and not be so flaunting of his anti-societial ways. Being part of society is back in fashion.
Average customer rating:
- well written and entertaining
- Not Just Deserts
- "Nowhere is Paradise"
- A Very, Very Good Travel Book!!
- Sahara
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Sahara
Michael Palin
Manufacturer: Chivers Audio Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
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Similar Items:
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Himalaya
-
Michael Palin's Hemingway's Adventure
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Michael Palin - Sahara
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Michael Palin - Himalaya
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Inside Himalaya
ASIN: 0754083144 |
Book Description
Michael Palin's travel books have repeatedly topped the bestseller lists. In this book he is back at his adventurous best tie-ing in with a major BBC TV series. The book/series will travel through many countries little known to the West, providing opportunities for Palinesque adventures to please the large and loyal audience who followed 80 DAYS, POLE TO POLE and FULL CIRCLE.
Customer Reviews:
well written and entertaining.......2007-06-18
having never read michael palin's work, i found his style refreshingly easy to read. whereas some travel journals get bogged down with loads of facts and figures that i could find in any encyclopedia, he keeps up the pace with a well written, concise, yet entertaining, tour through the sahara. i really enjoyed his views on the political and social aspects of the north african culture as well.
Not Just Deserts.......2007-03-31
Given the view that Palin's travel adventures have become, over the years, less about getting from one place to another with a aim in sight, and more about dipping in and out of parts of the world using flimsy connections, this book came as something of a pleasant surprise. Starting and ending in Gibraltar, Palin's aim was to do a loop around and through the Sahara, finding out about the real nature of the place and the peoples who live around and in it.
It turns out to be a diverse and fascinating account, both uplifting and worrying (war and pollution blight various parts of the area). You get much more a sense of reality than you did when watching the TV series - Palin's almost constant battle to maintain his health for instance is documented here. Also, he is honest enough to make clear that the journey took place in two separate sequences in order to avoid the Saharan summer, and that the time spent with a camel train was carefully choreographed.
The most interesting sections were the accounts of the journey through Mauritania, Senegal and Mali, but I felt that the sections on Libya, Tunisia and northern Algeria were rushed. Perhaps the actual journeys were rushed too (20 days in all according to the book).
G Rodgers
"Nowhere is Paradise".......2006-07-21
Michael Palin, who did such a marvelous job with his Hemingway and Himalayan travel adventures in both TV and book forms, brings similar success to a less palatable subject: Sahara. This lovely book, filled with colorful and excellent photography, is Palin's very personal story of his 9 country/10,000 mile odyssey. He is a wonderful raconteur and guide.
The Sahara, as beautiful and vibrant as it is dangerous and deadly is exquisitely revealed...warts and all.
A Very, Very Good Travel Book!!.......2006-07-20
I listened to this book on CD while I wallpapered my bathroom and it made the time go so fast! It is beautifully written and so easy to listen to. Palin is a master story teller and brings Africa to life with this book. Wonderful!!
Sahara.......2006-05-22
A pleasant adventure story about the author's trip through the Sahara Desert similar to the kind told on the Discovery HD Theater channel. One can feel the sights and sounds of the intriguing and mystical land of Africa, as Michael Palin with his British accent, tells the story of his journey. I found myself transfixed and transported back into time, invisioning myself in Morocco in the 1920's with camels and dark mahogany wood. This story inspired some of my home decorations... Recommend if you want an educational, relaxing and inspiring story.
Book Description
Word count: 4914.
Books:
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- The Secret (Unabridged, 4-CD Set)
- The Shaping of Things to Come: Innovation and Mission for the 21 Century Church
- The Spider-Man Chronicles: The Art and Making of Spider-Man 3
- The Stanley Kubrick Archives
- The Tabernacle : Shadows of the Messiah (Its Sacrifices, Services, and Priesthood) (See How the Tabernacle Relates to Jesus)
- The Talented Mr. Ripley: A Screenplay
- The Tools of Screenwriting: A Writer's Guide to the Craft and Elements of a Screenplay
- The Vision A Two-in-one Volume Of The Final Quest And The Call
- The Way We Lived Then : Recollections of a Well-Known Name Dropper
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