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How Not to Grow Up: A Coming of Age Memoir. Sort of. |  | Author: Richard Herring
Publisher: Ebury Press
Category: Book
List Price: £11.99
Buy New: £5.44
as of 10/9/2010 01:25 BST details
You Save: £6.55 (55%)
New (23) Used (7) from £4.79
Seller: halcyonbooksuk
Rating:  83 reviews
Sales Rank: 2201
Media: Paperback
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.3 x 1
ISBN: 0091932084
EAN: 9780091932084
ASIN: 0091932084
Publication Date: May 6, 2010
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Tells the story of how a self-confessed perpetual Big Kid deals with his greatest fear - getting older.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 83
 Rather repetitive September 4, 2010
A. Hobbs (LONDON United Kingdom)
Saw it in the book shop, the cover caught my eye, and i took it home expecting a great read. Sadly, it wasn't, and was actually quite dull and generally devoid of the humour that the back cover promised. I gave up on page 100.
 Exactly not what I expected... August 30, 2010
T. Donbavand (Northumberland, UK)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
As a long-time fan of Richard Herring (yes, I was at the Lee and Herring live recording all those years ago...), I was really looking forward to reading this book. And it gave me everything I wanted, albeit not in the way I was expecting it. I anticipated a peek into Richard's private and professional life - which I got - but not the amount of self-doubt, soul-searching and downright personal feeling that the book is filled with. I can't remember reading an autobiography with such honesty before - honesty that doesn't always paint Richard in the kindest of lights. And that's where you'll be surprised, possibly shocked. If you're expecting a showbiz biog about how great and blessed a life the subject has enjoyed - look elsewhere. But if you want to know what life is like for a single man approaching what he's always been told is the age he should have everything sorted by - you'll keep turning the pages as much as I did. My only disappointment was that I would have liked to have learned more about the ins and outs of Richard's career (the only glimpse we really get is of a fight in the office with Stewart Lee!) but I guess we'll get that when he's approaching 60! Great stuff!
 The More You Read, The Better It Gets August 25, 2010
Brighton Breezy
I've been a fan of Herring since accidentally stumbling across FoF on TV in 1995. In a way I was worried that I would be disappointed by this book because, on the face of it, a book about a man depressed about turning 40 might be depressing for a man like myself who is already depressed that he's about to turn 30.
The more I read it, the more I liked it. There are moments of hilarity but more than anything it's an honest book - a lot of the feelings he expresses hit home. It's like reading a summary of how I'm feeling now, but multiplied by ten. (Except in the womanising, zero times anything won't equal his "record".)
It's well worth reading this book - if you are expecting a tirade of podcast-style obscenities you may not find what you are looking for, but if you want a frank and thought-provoking read then I would recommend it.
And it's quite funny.
 A Void August 20, 2010
Dead Ted Danson (Truth Or Consequences, New Mexicock)
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
Richard 'Crazy Hat' Herring. Songsmith. International heartthrob. Rulebreaker. Man's man. Lover. Songsmith.
THE FIRST BOOK.
How To Grow Up Not is a landmark in Mr. Herring's career. Erstwhile star of The Stew And Spuds Show, Herring delivers the first in I hope at least a series of four autobiographical accounts of his own life, which he has written. As you might guess from the title, the book details the scientific (MIS!) adventures of MR. Herring as he attempted to prevent the aging of his body and mind in the summer of 2006 and the autumn also of that same year. By turns touching, heartfelt, and a darn sight funnier than his last book (which has yet to be published), his tale is not only riveting but also written in English, a boon indeed.
My only complaint about the book is that at 20mm thick it's a good 10mm thicker than the space I had left on my shelf, so I was forced to discard my copy of Hodges' And Bertram's Digital Almanac (60mm), and then acquire a copy of Michael Caine's (writing as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) Sherlock Holmes And The Spooky Ghost (50mm GIVE OR TAKE), which meant that despite receiving Hertling's book for free, I still wound up spending pounds sterling!!! Oh dear!!!
I would recommend this to any one who likes Richard Hearing, childhoods, books 20mm thick, compulsive readers, holidaymakers, the women and non-fiction science-horror.
"Such a good story" absolutely dire August 19, 2010
Mr. Jp Scott-howes (Tate Residence, USA)
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
I picked this up expecting it to be the kind of good natured, self effacing, life affirming fluff that Danny Wallace has built his career out of, I thought that I'd tear through it in three or four sittings like I did 'Yes Man' then return to the reading of 'proper' books (ones that I struggle to read but I imagine are probably improving me)
It wasn't and I didn't . . . . . . . . . .
Herring moans about the charmed life that he has achieved, regales the reader with "wacky" anecdotes about being addicted to Flumps, proports himself as the worst type of self obsessive, man child (not in the charming Peter Pan way that I imagine he believes himself to be. More in the mould of a man refusing to face reality and take stock of the charmed life that he is privledged enough to lead) then expects the reader to sympathise with him, PAH!
In the introduction Herring has the audacity to describe his own memoir as 'such a good story'. Feats of hubris like this would be dangerous in the hands of the most skilled and subtle auto-biographer, which Herring most certainly isn't. The blistering irony of his fatuous statement is that there is no 'story' whatsoever, just a series of increasingly irritating events narrated by a man who doesn't have the self awareness to count himself lucky in being able to have them.
This book got under my skin and annoyed me hugely. I honestly cannot understand how people have rated this as a five star book as it is literally the worst autobiography I've ever read.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 83
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