YOU'D BE CRAZY NOT TO BUY AND READ THIS BOOK - THE CLOSEST THING TO CRAZY - MIKE BATT

 I came across this book on Bluesky from a post by the author Mike Batt and thought well the title The Closest thing to Crazy was some title, wasn't it a song by Katie Melua,  we (my wife and I loved).  It was. 

The only thing I really knew about Mike Batt was he was the Wombles so that was the other reason I went for the book.

It is not that often that I sit and read a book in a few days,  which given the time it takes to go for a cuppa, have something to eat and do the other boring stuff of life would mean that the actual time I have spent reading this book is no more 12 hours in total.  I have not read a book that quickly in years.

The book reads like a diary and that is one of the reasons why you want to keep reading it, because let's face it we're all quite nosey and like to read what people really think and what they are really doing or have done.

On another level it is also an education about "show-business" the music industry in particular which Mike is very honest about and it is worth reading for that alone.

I can't remember another book, apart from maybe Diary of a Rock'n"Roll Star by Ian Hunter of Mott the Hoople, that a person has been this honest about their life and their character, which Mike is and sometimes startling so.  Every voyage through his life and emotions are here on the pages, from love, hate. anger, through to depression and joy.  There are many things that within that we can all relate to and even smile as he takes you on this voyage (remember our teenage years etc).

Apart from what I have stated earlier,  I really didn't know much about why Mike is so famous and then you get to know who has worked with and it is like a wow, okay another wow, wait what he spent an evening with Marc Bolan & Mickey Finn !!  Another Wow is when you, wait Mr Womble, wrote that and that happens a few times throughout the book, saying to yourself I never knew that and I must look that up and watch that on youtube.

There is so much to enjoy reading this book, that I really could not list them all really I just couldn't.

Mike this is a great book and thank you for sharing your life through it.  I will never meet you, but in so many ways I already have and have had the most wonderful few hours in your company, hours I will cherish as time well spent.

I have stated that You'd be Crazy not to buy and read this book and I believe that is true, it is a great read from page one to the last page and I really can not recommend it highly enough to everyone. 

SPYMASTER THE MAN WHO SAVED MI6 by Dr Helen Fry - my review

 Unless you are an historian, or have read any of Dr. Helen Fry's books, the name Thomas Joesph Kendrick will mean nothing to you at and yet he is a person whose life and work should be known to us all, well those parts that are not still classified.

Spymaster the man who saved MI6 is the 3rd book that I have read by Dr Fry and wanted to read this one because Kendrick kept coming up in those previous books and I wanted to know more about him.

Dr Fry takes us through the life of a person who had great skills, charm, wit and great intelligence.  A person with great humanity in the best meaning of the word and one who never spoke about his work and died unkown, to world in general and yet it is because of him and the people he worked with we are here today. Not only are we here today, so are those families of the Jews that he saved during his time in Austria.  That part of the book was very harrowing to read, as the depth of the depravity of the way the Jews were treated is fully explained by Dr Fry.

There are many pages of this book that are "hard" to read and yet fascinating at the same time and we learn how close London came to being the first city to be bombed with atomic bomb.  

We get the full understanding that here was a man who knew what had to be done and how to get it done and mostly had the support of others, although this not always true.

There are many other focal points in the book, the part about Hess is just one of those focal points and the book concludes with the full-circle of the Russian threat.  There is so much more packed into this book, that it would take me to write one to tell it all, so I will leave you to read the book to discover those parts.

By the time I completed my reading I felt I had another "hero" to remember.

As usual Dr Fry's knowledge, research, come through. More than that as with the other books of hers that I have read, the information is given in such a way that it is not just dry parchment or interlectual mind swill that bores, it is a book you want to read every page, sub-heading and chapter of and then tell others of your discoveries,  for this book is a voyage of discovery amongst the many other things that it is.

I have not one second of hesitation in recommending this book to others, even those who do not have a particular interest in the history of the 20th century as much of it is relevant today as we see events in the USA unfolding.  THOMAS JOSEPH KENDRICK is a name to remember and THE SPYMASTER WHO SAVE MI6 a book to have in your libriary.