Books

Take Me There - Oasis The Story by Paul Mathur (RRP £5.99)

This book gives a detailed account of how Oasis have risen to fame. How
they were spotted, their thoughts on different songs and how they wish
to continue in the future. The book is littered which quotes from the
band which makes easy reading.
The most amusing parts of the book are how they manage to get thrown out
of loadsa’ hotels, learning about the band members personalities and the
things fans say to them. The detailed accounts of long standing
arguments with other top bands, in their search for supremacy, gives you
the impression Oasis rule the world of music! Take this example of a
confrontation between Damon from Blur and Liam from Oasis at the MTV
awards;
“ ‘I met Damon there,’ said Liam. ‘So I went in the dressing-room
walking in slow motion and said, “Helllloooooo Daaaaamoooon, I’m from
Maaaaachesteeeeeuur. We taaalk reeeally sloooooowly ooooop Noooorth ‘cos
weeeeee’re reeeeeally stuuuuupid. Have a good gig.” It really freaked
him out and they played s**t.”
I do however get the feeling that the story is not complete, with only 3
albums made over 5 years I’m sure there’s more to come. Maybe the best
of Oasis has gone, as money affects people with small brains when the
drive to work no longer exists.
Overall, I would say buy it if you’re a Oasis fan OR if you’re thinking
of becoming a pop star because it teaches you about the pressures
involved. But the way Oasis deal with the pressures is not advisable if
you are under 18 or don’t want to be jailed, i.e. drink and drugs!
(8/10)

The Joy of * by David Blatner (RRP £4.99)

This is a book for the Mathematical enthusiast. It is interesting
because it is a figure we Physicists and Mathematicians use so often,
yet no little about it. You wouldn’t think that there would be much to
tell about a number would you? But there certainly is. The thing is its
history, how people got closer and closer to working out the number. At
present billions of digits are calculated by mainframe computers and
this book covers that progression and much more besides. A section on
memorising number with * in mind is interesting, outlining amazing
memory feats achieved.
The book is excellently presented with funny cartoons, and between
paragraphs a million digits of pi are covered (the millionth digit is
1!).
The only problem of this book is you can only have a certain amount of
interest in one topic and for me it went over the top and I stopped
reading half way though!
-One person had * (to 35 decimal places) engraved on his tombstone as he
had committed most of his life to working out * to 35.
-Did you know that Archimedes die while working out Pi. The Romans
invaded the city of Syracuse and not knowing who he was killed him. His
dying words were, “Do not touch my circles” as the Roman soldier
approached him.
(10/10)