Book description
'The Worcestershire Sauce of conversation.' Stephen Fry A really
good quotation book - one which gathered the truest and funniest
insights of the best minds, and organised them into more than 400
subjects, from ambition to worry (or from artichokes to windows) - a
book which offered you a useful take on almost every situation life
throws at you (from the death of your child's hamster to the unified
theory of everything), a sourcebook of wise one-liners, of knock-out
jokes, of drole asides and heartfelt statements of truth and beauty, a
practical handbook of interestingness, well, that would be worth
having. And, guess what? Those thoughtful gentlemen at QI have come up
with one. As well as the quotes themselves, there is a Prologue from
the Bantermaster himself, Mr Stephen Fry, and lots of quite
interesting background information on the people quoted (and
misquoted). Six years of learning how to avoid the dull stuff have
left the QI team in a uniquely good position to deliver this elusive
holy grail: the big, useful, funny and really very good book of quotations.
John Lloyd is the founder of QI and the producer of some of
Britain's best-loved TV shows. He is of the same opinion as Plato:
unmitigated seriousness has no place in human affairs. On the other
hand, he also likes A. N. Whitehead's assertion that it's more
important for something to interesting than true (although it's more
likely to be interesting if it is true). John Mitchinson is Director
of Research for QI. He can regularly be heard muttering Niels Bohr's
line about paradox being a sign of progress. He also shares the
dilemma of Dr Johnson's friend Oliver Johnson: he tries hard to be a
philosopher but cheerfulness keeps breaking in. If you fancy a spot of
interesting banter, join the QI elves at www. qi. com (although bear
in mind J. R. R. Tolkien's advice: 'Go not to the elves for counsel,
for they will say both yes and no').
