Dr Johnson's Dictionary of Modern Life - Survey, Definition &
justify'd Lampoonery of divers contemporary Phenomena, from Top Gear
unto Twitter
Book description
In 2009 Dr Samuel Johnson made a surprise re-emergence from
eighteenth century retirement and began Twittering. It proved the
perfect vehicle for his acerbic, aphoristic wit and he has quickly
become the darling of the site. The Guardian calls him the
'greatest' thing on Twitter and the Telegraph dubs him its 'star'.
Our gouty man of letters finds the modern world in a parlous state.
It is peopled with fools like "Raisin-ey'd Tyrant Mister Nick
GRIFFIN" and "BABOON-SLAYER, Fop, Macaroni, Dandy &
Folderol, Mister AA Gill". His attempts to negotiate a path
through the vagaries of modern life do not fare well either - for
instance, on a trip to "Mister LIBERTY'S blast'd
Haberdashery", upon finding "all else clad as Lumber-Jacks,
I left thwart'd & alone... unwilling to dress as an unmanly
Pastiche of Mister COBAIN."
In his Dictionary of Modern Life, our gouty man of letters
takes a wickedly funny look at all things modern. From Top Gear and
the Daily Mail to Dubstep and Celebrity Big Brother, nothing escapes
his sardonic gaze.
The latter-day Dr Johnson is AKA Tom Morton. Tom was born in
Berkshire in 1973 and studied Politics as Bristol University. He has
spent the last fouteen years working in advertising. Thanks to an
inspiring history teacher at school, he has always had a soft spot for
the eighteenth century. This is his first book.
