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Raw Spirit: In Search of the Perfect Dram | 
 enlarge | Author: Iain Banks
Publisher: Arrow Books Ltd
Category: Book
List Price: £8.99
Buy New: £6.69
You Save: £2.30 (26%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  38 reviews
Sales Rank: 10828
Media: Paperback
Edition: New edition
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.1 x 1
ISBN: 0099460270
EAN: 9780099460275
ASIN: 0099460270
Publication Date: August 5, 2004
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews: Read 33 more reviews...
 No spirit July 18, 2008
Waste of money. Self-indulgent, parochial, political. Rather buy something on whisky by Jim Murray or the late Michael Jackson. Any book on Scotland by anybody on earth, even if he is from Tierra del Fuego,would be better. And as for the author's friends, his youth, cars and his naive and fashionable politics- who cares and why does he think anybody else would?
Self indulgent and boring! May 3, 2008
How can Iain Banks have assembled such a tedious book? I'm almost of an age with him; I too used to fool about with cannabis, I'm a Scot like him and I hate the Iraq war and the politicians that got us into it. And over the years, I've grown to love malts. And I even Like Iain Banks' books.
I'm going to love this, right? Nooooo!
It reeks of a book written in a hurry for a cheque. Did he ever re-read it once written? There's maybe a good 50 page pamphlet in there; please please don't make me re-read all those tedious sections with his so-entertaining pals and his so-fantastic cars. Iain, sober up!
 Warm and hilarious April 6, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I occasionally drink whisky and know a little about what is a good whisky. I'm not especially interested in cars or driving. I've read a couple of Ian Bank's other books, but found them rather grim or obscure for my taste.
That said, I greatly enjoyed reading this book - despite not being a whisky, Ian Banks or car buff. The book, as made clear in the introduction, is a ramble around Scotland in every sense of the word ramble. Ian Banks travels around Scotland describing the roads he travels, the car he drives, the people he meets, the scenery, a little history, the friends he stays with, his opinions on the Iraq war, a bit on the publishing process, the distilleries he tours and the whisky he drinks. He has a really great time and I had a great time reading it. He also comes out with some absolutely brilliant one line cracks and punchlines that made me laugh out loud.
This one is now the front running book for buying as presents this year.
A pub bores' manual January 27, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I've read a couple of Iain Banks' books and quite liked them. I also have an interest in whisky, so a book by Banks on the subject sounded like it could be a good read...I was wrong.
The core of the book is Banks' journey to visit various distilleries and sample the whiskies they produce in an effort to find the `perfect dram'. His notes on this whisky trek are interspersed with various anecdotes, autobiographical notes and `rants'.
Most of the rants are directed against America (the book was written at the start of Gulf War II) and for the most part consist of juvenile name-calling. Some of the topics he raises might deserve serious discussion, but not in a book like this (it is meant to be about whisky is it not) and not using the type of language a Glasgow drunk might shout at cars while trying to stagger across a motorway. In fairness, Banks' does acknowledge the fact that he is ranting, but this does not excuse him.
Including his rants (on America, drug legislation, nuclear weapons etc) was extremely self-indulgent and you get the feeling they were left in to bump up the word count. However, we soon discover that Banks (or `Banksie' as we come to know him) has made quite an art of self-indulgence and is very keen on treating himself. We find out that he's now worth a few bob, has numerous fast cars, enjoys fine wines and buys whisky by the crate-full. These 'loadsamoney' revelations are of little interest. There is very little in this book that could be described as interesting. The anecdotes in particular are terrible. Let's say you had an interesting experience, such as fighting of a ninja death squad in the supermarket. Let's give this a score of 100 and compare it to a banal occurrence such as seeing a pebble - which we give a score of 1. Based on this system only a handful of Banksie's stories get to the low teens and the majority struggle to get above 5. Examples include: the time Banksie (pissed) twatted about on a balcony, the time Banksie (pissed) jumped off a wall, the time Banksie (pissed) saw a friend drop a tray and, my favourite, the time Banksie (presumably sober) walked into a shop and didn't buy some cheese.
Worst of all these stories are the ones about cars and driving. Parts of the Scottish road network are described in mind-numbing detail and start to resemble Monty Python sketches. If you got Eric Idle to read them out in a nasal southeast England `car bore' accent he'd probably win a Perrier award. Many of Banksie's car stories are laughable, but not in a good way. Take for example the time Banksie was driving in his car following a much more powerful car, then saw an opportunity to overtake the other car - but didn't! Later he's driving in a powerful car and sees he's being following by a less powerful car. Banksie gives the following car an opportunity to pass him, but this is not taken! The long winter evenings must just fly past.
Another tedious feature of the book is Banksie's friends. It's almost as if he's compiling a list of everyone he's ever shared a drink with. He seems afraid of leaving someone out and every friend and relation (and all their friends and relations get a mention). At times it almost reads like one of those Xmas round-robin letters people send out. You know the sort of thing: "In May we went to visit Gerald and Mary in their new home. They have a new dog called Toby. Their daughter, June is doing very well in her art course..." After a few pages of these banalities you start to pray for death.
I did have some other observations on this book. But I can't be bothered to write them out. The book is not worth the effort, some of the bits on whisky are okay but Banksie's observations are pedestrian at best and the rest is just dull. Oh so dull.
What's It For? August 29, 2007
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
After battling my way through this (it was gift), here's who I recommend does & does not read it
READ IF:
1. If you think Saddam was just a misunderstood guy, the Yanks are all bad (especially their brutal troops!), and Bush stole the 2000 election.
2. You like driving overpriced German cars very fast on windy roads.
DON'T READ IF:
1. You like his fiction - you'll be put off it for life by the puerile character he reveals.
2. You know the basics about Malt - he doesn't add anything new.
3. You like walking or running on windy roads, and dislike being endangered by idiots driving too fast.
4. You like Scotland and its inhabitants - they're much more interesting and nicer than the places and people Banks portrays.
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