Danny Wallace

Dave Gorman

After a heavy night of tequila, flatmates Dave and Danny set off on what turns out to be a 24,000-mile journey to meet all the other Dave Gormans in the world. They visit Scotland, Israel, America, France and Ireland. They even hold a party in London where 50 Dave Goffilans attend, including two women who have kindly changed their name via deed-poll. Silly, but engrossing, fascinating and addictive - and a touching story of two friends who grow to share a mutual obsession.'You'll like this so much you may want to change your name to Dave Gorman' The Big Issue.

Are You Dave Gorman?

Bestselling author Dave Gorman thinks we're suffering from information overload. How much do we really pay attention to? Dave intends to find out. Nowadays, the world is full of people trying to tell us things. So much so that we have taught our brains not to pay much attention. After all, click the mouse, tap the screen, flick the channel and it's on to the next thing. But Dave Gorman thinks it's time to have a closer look, to find out how much nonsense we tacitly accept. Suspicious adverts, baffling newspaper headlines, fake twitter, endless cat videos, insane TV shows where the presenters ask the same questions over and over. Can we even hear ourselves think over the rising din? Or is there just too much information?

Or, Can Everyone Just Shut Up for a Moment. Some of Us Are Trying to Think.

Too Much Information

Gripped by his obsession with Googlewacking, Gorman traveled the world to meet the unlikeliest cast of eccentrics and trace the sources of these arcane conjunctions. The result is this riotously funny memoir.

Dave Gorman's Googlewhack! Adventure

America Unchained

One man, one car, no chains, and one hell of a coast-to-coast ­adventure. The plan was simple: Go to America; buy a second-hand car; drive coast-to-coast without giving any money to The Man. What could possibly go wrong? Dismayed by the relentless onslaught of faceless American chains muscling in where local businesses had once thrived, Dave Gorman set off on the ultimate American road trip. In search of the true, independent heart of the U.S. of A., he would eat cherry pie from local diners, re-fuel at dusty gas stations and stock up on supplies at Mom and Pop grocery stores. At least that was the idea. But when did you last see an independent gas station? Gamely, Dave beds down in a Colorado trailer park, sleeps in an Oregon forest tree house, and even spends Thanksgiving with a Mexican family in Kansas. But when his trip mutates into an odyssey of near-epic proportions and he finds himself being threatened at gun-point in Mississippi, Dave starts to worry about what’s going to break down next. The car or him?

If someone called you a 'googlewhack' what would you do? Would you end up playing table tennis with a nine year-old boy in Boston? Would you find yourself in Los Angeles wrangling snakes, or would you go to China to be licked by a performance artist? If your name is Dave Gorman, then all of these things could be true. Fuelled by a lust for life and a desperate desire to do anything except what he's supposed to be doing (writing that novel and growing up), Dave falls under the spell of an obscure internet word game - Googlewhacking. Addicted to the game, and gripped by obsession, Dave travels three times round the world, visiting four continents and the unlikeliest cast of real life eccentrics you'll ever meet in what becomes an epic challenge, a life-changing, globe-trotting Googlewhack adventure.

Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure

Sind Sie Dave Gorman?

Remember when you were a kid, and you used to go round to a friend's house to see if they were playing? Well, as adults we're not supposed to do that. Which is a shame because Dave Gorman likes playing and he really likes games. So he knocked on the biggest door you could ever imagine--the internet--and asked 76,000 people if they fancied a game. This is the story of what happened next. Dave was up for anything and gamely played them at whatever they chose. He played some classics--Monopoly, Scrabble, dominoes and cribbage. He played many games he'd never heard of before--Khet, Kubb, Tikal or Smite anyone? He played board games and physical games. He's thrown sticks, balls, Frisbees and darts. He's rolled dice and he's drawn cards. From Liverpool to Hampstead and from Croydon to Nottingham, Dave travelled the length and breadth of Britain meeting strangers in strange places--their homes, at work, in the back rooms of pubs--and getting some hardcore game action. From casual players to serious game geeks, from the rank amateur to the world champion, he discovered a nation of gamers more than happy to welcome him into their midst. He's travelled all around the country and met all sorts of people. And it seems that playing games can teach you a lot about what makes the British tick. Of course, Dave hasn't been keeping score. Much.

Dave Gorman Vs. the Rest of the World

Remember when you were a kid, and you used to go round to a friend's house to see if they were playing? Well, as adults we're not supposed to do that. Which is a shame... because Dave Gorman likes playing. He REALLY likes games. So he knocked on the biggest door you could ever imagine - the internet - and asked 76,000 people if they fancied a game. This is the story of what happened next. Dave was up for anything and gamely played them at whatever they chose. He played some classics - Monopoly, Scrabble, dominoes and cribbage. He played many games he'd never heard of before - Khet, Kubb, Tikal or Smite anyone? He played board games and physical games. He's thrown sticks, balls, frisbees and darts. He's rolled dice and he's drawn cards. From Liverpool to Hampstead and from Croydon to Nottingham, Dave travelled the length and breadth of Britain meeting strangers in strange places - their homes, at work, in the back rooms of pubs - and getting some hardcore game action. From casual players to serious game geeks, from the rank amateur to the world champion, he discovered a nation of gamers more than happy to welcome him into their midst. He's travelled all around the country and met all sorts of people - and it turns out us Brits are a competitive bunch. And it seems that playing games can teach you a lot about what makes the British tick. Of course, Dave hasn't been keeping score. Much.

Dave Gorman

Books

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