Local Author Book Review Special - Joined-Up Thinking by Stevyn Colgan

At first glance, Joined-Up Thinking looks like one of those books, you know, the ones that you get for Christmas and never look at again. Or one of those ones that you keep in the smallest room and dip into occasionally, but don't really read as such. Or, depending on your personal taste, one of those books that's just full of information, thus rendering them educational and therefore not fun.

Well you'd be wrong. Wrong about the fact that educational books aren't fun, but also about the assumption that Stevyn Colgan's offering is such a book. I'm actually having difficulty finding anything to compare it to. Which is a good thing.

The premise of the book is simple - the surprising connections between seemingly random and unrelated 'things', looped around so you keep meeting your tail. How Colgan manages to find all these connections, unravel them and create something coherant and entertaining out of them is beyond me. But I'm glad he took the time, as the result is vastly fascinating and had my mind whirring round after itself for hours - immense fun!

Originally published a couple of years back, it seems that people are now re-discovering this book, perhaps due to the fact that its author, Stevyn Colgan (a local boy - see our feature about him!) has recently been involved with the Elves over at QI HQ. Which makes a lot of sense, as he clearly has a natural propensity for discovering the absurd and fantastic in the mundane.

This is a book that is designed so that it's easy to dip into - great for people who don't find much time for read, but want to expand their horizons (ok, mostly useless trivia but still) - but equally, I read it in one sitting despite trying to put it down on several occasions. Then I read it again. Basically it'll pretty much please everyone, regardless of reading habits! Definitely as good a read as the many QI books out there and similar 'factual entertainment' tomes, Stephen Fry was impressed by it and so should you be.

Joined-Up Thinking by Stevyn Colgan is published by Pan Macmillan and is available now in paperback from major retaillers RRP £7.99