Richard Hammond autobiography

knip

knip

knip

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Has anyone read it, and could give me a brief run down off the main bits of it, and what the good and bad bits were etc.

I kind of need it for something tomorrow, but obviously cant read the book by then.

Cheers :)
 
http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/displayProductDetails.do?sku=5877366

Richard Hammond is one of our most in-demand and best-loved television presenters. On September 20, 2006, he suffered a serious brain injury following a high-speed car crash, and the nation held its breath. On the Edge is his compelling account of life before and after the accident and an honest description of his year of recovery, full of drama and incident. It is also, perhaps, his explanation of why, as a married man and father of two young daughters, he was prepared to risk all by strapping himself to the front of a jet engine with the power of eleven Formula One cars. A daredevil and a petrolhead long before his association with Top Gear, Richard tells the story of his life as an adrenalin junkie, from the small boy showing off with ridiculous stunts on his bicycle to the adolescent with a near-obsessive attraction to speed and the smell of petrol. After a series of jobs in local radio, he graduated to television and eventually to Top Gear, one of the world's most popular shows, upgrading his car with each step up the ladder. His insights into the personalities, the camaraderie and, of course, the stunts for which Top Gear has become famous make compulsive reading.It was whilst filming for Top Gear, driving a jet-powered dragster at speeds over 300mph, that a tyre burst and the car left the track and rolled over, burying him in the earth. He was airlifted to hospital and hovered near death for several days. His wife Mindy tells the story of the anxious hours and days of watching and waiting until he finally emerged from his coma. In an extraordinarily powerful piece of writing, she and Richard then piece together the stages of his recovery as his shattered mind slowly reformed, leaving him sometimes lucid and plausible, sometimes confused and angry, and often exhausted. The final chapter recounts his return home and his triumphant reappearance in front of the cameras.
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Donno if that helps..
 
Richard Hammond is one of our most in-demand and best-loved television presenter

Most autobiography's arnt suppose to be works of fiction.
 
iBot said:
Richard Hammond is one of our most in-demand and best-loved television presenter

Most autobiography's arnt suppose to be works of fiction.
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Well done, you've tried to be an irritating idiot. And you've succeeded. Your desire to be annoying is getting boring.
 
it gives a very small insight into his childhood, and what got him into cars and bikes. A bit of history about how he got into journalism, and when he joined the TG team, and then mostly is about his recovery after the crash.

Mindy writes a lot in the middle about when he was in a coma and how much the TG team helped out, also the things RH was saying and doing, which he had no recollection of.

It's strange as he said and did so much in Leeds according to Mindy, but he recalls none of it! I think that was the shocking part as she goes into detail of the things he says, some of it is quite horrible as he has mood swings etc, but it turns out he was really still in his coma and doesn't remember any of it.

Another surprising thing was that the arctic special was one of the things he did when he recovered, and he talks about how worried he was when he couldn't ski as he knew it was to do with his damaged brain. When you re watch the arctic special, I think you can see that worry in his face.

It was very sad at times, mainly when Mindy was writing, and it did make me cry.

Hope that helps?
 
Spleenus said:
I think more people like him than many other celebrities.
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Gosh I hope not. He is even worse than Pete doherty or johnathon ross. phillip schofield is better than all 3 of them combined. That guy from that prison thing is partially based on him i think.

Each to his own though.
 
iBot said:
Gosh I hope not. He is even worse than Pete doherty or johnathon ross. phillip schofield is better than all 3 of them combined. That guy from that prison thing is partially based on him i think.

Each to his own though.
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Hahaha.

Go away.
 
knip said:
Has anyone read it, and could give me a brief run down off the main bits of it, and what the good and bad bits were etc.

I kind of need it for something tomorrow, but obviously cant read the book by then.

Cheers :)
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I know your saying you dont have the time to read the book by tomorrow Knip - but it's still worth the read anyway imo.

Didn't realise just how much he went through after the coma while on the road to recovery.
 
I read it.

Born, was a bit of a rogue, liked driving his gokart and bike fast, worked on radio for a bit, met his wife, had some kids, dogs and horses, went for a job with top gear, nervous wait, got it, got a reputation as someone up for anything, went in a rocket car, crashed, long recovery, went to the arctic, the end.
 
Good bits - lots of detail about the crash and his frank recollection of events is an interesting insight. His wife's part is well written and quite moving.

Bad bits - the crash and the aftermath takes up at least 2/3 of the book. I was hoping for a bit more about his work with Top Gear and his early years as a journalist. It seemed to jump from childhood directly to his interview with Top Gear and then to the crash.

Overall it was a good read, but not quite what I was expecting.
 
Freakitchen said:
Good bits - lots of detail about the crash and his frank recollection of events is an interesting insight. His wife's part is well written and quite moving.

Bad bits - the crash and the aftermath takes up at least 2/3 of the book. I was hoping for a bit more about his work with Top Gear and his early years as a journalist. It seemed to jump from childhood directly to his interview with Top Gear and then to the crash.

Overall it was a good read, but not quite what I was expecting.
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I felt exactly the same, i guess he thought everyone wanted to read about the accident, which is true, but as a top gear fan, i wanted to hear more about the fun they have.
 
Autobiographies are only worth reading when they are written by people who have led unique and interesting lives.

If you think Richard Hammond is such a person you really need to do more with your life than watch poorly scripted TV.
 
knip said:
Has anyone read it, and could give me a brief run down off the main bits of it, and what the good and bad bits were etc.

I kind of need it for something tomorrow, but obviously cant read the book by then.

Cheers :)
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Wife bought me it thinking it'd be as amusing as Clarksons books, and it's not, it's one of the most boring books I've read and goes in to far too much boring and mundane detail about his day to day life "Got out of bed, went to the loo, had muesli for breakfast, got dressed, went out of the front door" .. It's like the marginally interesting bits are few and far between and the rest has just been padded out.
 
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