Join Books.org — it's free

Travel and Transportation - Humor, Travel - General & Miscellaneous, Psychology & Self Help - Humor, Phases of Life - Humor
Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure by Dave Gorman — book cover

Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure

by Dave Gorman
Write a review
Log in to track your reading progress.

Overview

1. WHO IS DAVE GORMAN?
• Dave Gorman is an award-winning comedian, storyteller and writer from the UK.
• He won the HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival Jury Prize for Best One Person Show.
• He has appeared on the sitcom Absolutely Fabulous and The Late Show With David Letterman.
• His first book Are You Dave Gorman? has sold over 100,000 copies in the UK.
• His second book, Dave Gorman’s Googlewhack Adventure has netted 60,000 copies to date since January 1, 2004, entering the Sunday Times Bestseller List at #1.

2. WHAT THE HELL IS A GOOGLEWHACK?
• When you type two words into the Google search engine and get exactly one result. That is, only one Web page in the world happens to have the combination of words you've entered in the search box. That is a googlewhack!
• Some past examples of googlewhacks include “comparative unicyclist,” “maladroit wheezer,” and “blithering clops.”
• There is a 1-in-3-billion chance of being a googlewhack.
• For a full explanation, visit www.googlewhack.com Be warned: googlewhacking is completely addictive!

3. WHAT IS Dave Gorman’s Googlewhack Adventure?
• Dave’s creative way to procrastinate as much as possible while writing a novel for his UK publisher, Ebury.
• The mysterious e-mail from Australia that read simply “Did you know you’re a googlewhack?” and Dave’s subsequent obsession with googlewhacking that took him three times around the world...at the expense of the novel he was supposed to write.
• This is Bill Bryson for a new generation, a hilarious book about the people Dave meets while he travels the globe for the strangers he has googlewhacked.

Synopsis

1. WHO IS DAVE GORMAN?
• Dave Gorman is an award-winning comedian, storyteller and writer from the UK.
• He won the HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival Jury Prize for Best One Person Show.
• He has appeared on the sitcom Absolutely Fabulous and The Late Show With David Letterman.
• His first book Are You Dave Gorman? has sold over 100,000 copies in the UK.
• His second book, Dave Gorman’s Googlewhack Adventure has netted 60,000 copies to date since January 1, 2004, entering the Sunday Times Bestseller List at #1.

2. WHAT THE HELL IS A GOOGLEWHACK?
• When you type two words into the Google search engine and get exactly one result. That is, only one Web page in the world happens to have the combination of words you've entered in the search box. That is a googlewhack!
• Some past examples of googlewhacks include “comparative unicyclist,” “maladroit wheezer,” and “blithering clops.”
• There is a 1-in-3-billion chance of being a googlewhack.
• For a full explanation, visit www.googlewhack.com Be warned: googlewhacking is completely addictive!

3. WHAT IS Dave Gorman’s Googlewhack Adventure?
• Dave’s creative way to procrastinate as much as possible while writing a novel for his UK publisher, Ebury.
• The mysterious e-mail from Australia that read simply “Did you know you’re a googlewhack?” and Dave’s subsequent obsession with googlewhacking that took him three times around the world...at the expense of the novel he was supposedto write.
• This is Bill Bryson for a new generation, a hilarious book about the people Dave meets while he travels the globe for the strangers he has googlewhacked.

Publishers Weekly

Four years ago, after locating 54 people who shared his name, stand-up comic Gorman used that frivolous notion as the basis for an award-winning, one-man stage show and book (Are You Dave Gorman?). Specializing in comedic travel writing, he found an excuse for more globe-trotting when he began google-whacking, or typing two words (such as "Dork Turnspit") into Google's search engine that would return only one result. Google-whacking constantly, he began to meet other google-whackers, from Seattle to Sydney. Soon he had a new stage show, and this book, based on that show, probes his obsession with the word game while presenting the colorful cast of eccentrics he encountered-from a Beijing performance artist to the guy whose house is a shrine to Mickey Mouse. Gorman's gift for siphoning silliness from any cubbyhole has an appeal for many (this book quickly became a U.K. bestseller), but not all readers will be ROTFLMAO ("rolling on the floor laughing my ass off"), as per Internet jargon. The nomadic Gorman does manage to maintain a breathless, high-spirited pace, offering an onslaught of amusing anecdotes and digressive detours along the way. 22 b&w photos. (Sept. 15) Forecast: Gorman's Googlewhack stage show is scheduled to open off-Broadway at the same time this book is published, which should help sales in New York City. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

About the Author, Dave Gorman

Dave Gorman is an award-winning comedian, storyteller and writer. His live shows, including his Googlewhack Adventure show, have won the HBO US Comedy Arts Festival One Person Show Award twice and Time Out New York’s Best Comedy Show of 2001. His television appearances include Absolutely Fabulous and The Late Show with David Letterman. He is also the co-author of Are You Dave Gorman? He lives in London, England.

Reviews

There are no reviews yet. Log in to write one.

Editorials

Publishers Weekly

Four years ago, after locating 54 people who shared his name, stand-up comic Gorman used that frivolous notion as the basis for an award-winning, one-man stage show and book (Are You Dave Gorman?). Specializing in comedic travel writing, he found an excuse for more globe-trotting when he began google-whacking, or typing two words (such as "Dork Turnspit") into Google's search engine that would return only one result. Google-whacking constantly, he began to meet other google-whackers, from Seattle to Sydney. Soon he had a new stage show, and this book, based on that show, probes his obsession with the word game while presenting the colorful cast of eccentrics he encountered-from a Beijing performance artist to the guy whose house is a shrine to Mickey Mouse. Gorman's gift for siphoning silliness from any cubbyhole has an appeal for many (this book quickly became a U.K. bestseller), but not all readers will be ROTFLMAO ("rolling on the floor laughing my ass off"), as per Internet jargon. The nomadic Gorman does manage to maintain a breathless, high-spirited pace, offering an onslaught of amusing anecdotes and digressive detours along the way. 22 b&w photos. (Sept. 15) Forecast: Gorman's Googlewhack stage show is scheduled to open off-Broadway at the same time this book is published, which should help sales in New York City. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Googlewhack asks players to enter a pair of words into the Google search engine in the hopes of eliciting a single, solitary hit. Comedian Gorman, with the help of a friend, turned this game into a full-blown adventure challenge, vowing to find and visit ten Googlewhacks in a row before his 32d birthday. Two months and 71,000 miles later, Gorman has himself a bizarre and growing vocabulary dork turnspit, verandahs plectrums, and grandmaster sticklebacks anyone? and a number of stories to tell about the people who play the game all over the world. Whether meeting physicists or performance artists in Australia or Seattle, Gorman is at his best when he focuses on the googlewhacks whose stories provide glimpses of real-life drama, controversy, and humor. Gorman has injected some cyberspace into the age-old wish to "go wherever your feet take you," and the end result is as surprising and fun as you always imagined it could be. Recommended for public libraries. Mari Flynn, Keystone Coll., La Plume, PA Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Book Details

Published
September 1, 2004
Publisher
Overlook Press, The
Pages
352
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9781585676149

More by Dave Gorman

Similar books