The "Idler": Issue 37 Spring 2006 (Idler): Childish Things

by Dan Kieran (Author), Dan Kieran (Author), Tom Hodgkinson (Author), Gavin Pretor-Pinney (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2006

  $9.99

  This new issue of The Idler explores childhood and wonders whether today's kids are suffering from too much education, too many activities and too much interfering. Childish Things features Bertrand Russell's essay on education and freedom, an attack on professionalism, a visit to Summerhill School, where lessons are optional, and a guide to childcare for the lazy by editor Tom Hodgkinson. There's an interview with Michael Palin, a man who has gone with the flow to great acclaim. You'll also find Nicholas Lezard on Samuel Beckett, John Michel on William Cobbett, new short stories, and biting satire and humour from Gwyn, Ian Vince, Adam Buxton, Tony Husband, Chris Donald and The Idler's own agony uncles, Bill Drummond and Mark Manning. And the ejected bass player from The Darkness writes from his French chateau. All this as well as tips for living the good life and full colour illustrations and photography throughout.

• Used

  Paperback
  2008

  $9.90

  We are born free but are everywhere in chains. Our culture needs some fresh air. We are boring ourselves to death by re-packaging the same flavorless pap based on a patronizing and second-hand version of what we think other people want. Meanwhile, out there, the world is as complex, beautiful and mysterious and ever. Which is why QI and The Idler have joined forces to celebrate curiosity. As Dorothy Parker once sagely noted, curiosity is the cure for boredom, but there is no cure for curiosity. It is endless and free, unlike television, wine or the water in our taps. It is more pleasurable and reliable than sex. It's what makes us human. Your hosts are Mr John Lloyd, founder of QI and the producer of legendary television shows including Blackadder and Spitting Image , and Mr John Mitchinson, co-creator with Mr Lloyd of The Books of General Ignorance (General and Animal) .They have filled every spare inch with the absurd and curious learning that fans of QI will know and expect. In addition, there is the first ever published extract from Mr Lloyd's 'lost' novel, fifteen never-before-seen, spanking-brand-new General Ignorance questions, the QI prospectus for a New School, Mr Justin Pollard's list of history's wildest stories and William Morris is rescued from ye olde gift shoppes and restored as a revolutionary hero. So, read on, and help us overthrow the tyrant boredom. You have nothing to lose but your chains.