From Publishers Weekly
Four years ago, after locating 54 people who shared his name, stand-up comic Gorman used that frivolous notion as the basis for an award-winning, one-man stage show and book (Are You Dave Gorman?). Specializing in comedic travel writing, he found an excuse for more globe-trotting when he began google-whacking, or typing two words (such as "Dork Turnspit") into Google's search engine that would return only one result. Google-whacking constantly, he began to meet other google-whackers, from Seattle to Sydney. Soon he had a new stage show, and this book, based on that show, probes his obsession with the word game while presenting the colorful cast of eccentrics he encountered—from a Beijing performance artist to the guy whose house is a shrine to Mickey Mouse. Gorman's gift for siphoning silliness from any cubbyhole has an appeal for many (this book quickly became a U.K. bestseller), but not all readers will be ROTFLMAO ("rolling on the floor laughing my ass off"), as per Internet jargon. The nomadic Gorman does manage to maintain a breathless, high-spirited pace, offering an onslaught of amusing anecdotes and digressive detours along the way. 22 b&w photos.
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When he turned 31, British stand-up comic Gorman decided he wanted to be taken seriously, so he landed a contract to write a novel. He took novel writing so seriously he grew a beard. But no matter how he tried, Gorman couldn't actually write anything. One of his procrastination methods was googlewhacking--a game in which the "whacker" types two different words into Google and tries to get exactly one hit. His first googlewhack, "Dork Turnspit," led him to a site featuring photographs of women with dogs. Gorman found the site so fascinating that he met its owner and then asked the women-and-dogs fellow to find him another googlewhack. And so begins one of history's greatest ventures in procrastination. Over the next weeks, Gorman traveled tens of thousands of miles, everywhere from Columbus, Ohio, to Beijing, China, meeting googlewhacks, trying to string together 10 in a row by getting two new googlewhacks from each person he met. The descriptions of place are sometimes trite and obvious, but Gorman's self-deprecating wit and irrational dedication to his quest make this a hilarious travelogue. For more titles in the emerging "idiotic but charming quest" travel genre, see the accompanying Read-alike. John Green
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