New Dalrymple Books

We are pleased to inform you of three new Dalrymple books on the way.
Litter: How Other People’s Rubbish Shapes Our Lives covers a particular pet peeve of Dalrymple’s and was inspired by the rubbish he saw on a drive from Glasgow to London. It is now available here on Amazon.
The Pleasure of Thinking: A Lifelong Addiction is expected in September. Here is the publisher’s description: 

‘The miseries of a vacant life were never known to a man whose hours were insufficient for the inexhaustible pleasures of study’. Edward Gibson. ‘When we read, we thereby save ourselves the greater part of the trouble of thinking. This explains our obvious sense of relief when we turn from our own thoughts to reading’. Arthur Schopenhauer. Using these quotes as a starting point, journalist and prison psychiatrist Theodore Dalrymple writes a light-hearted memoir of his lifelong addiction to thinking and how serendipity led him on a journey of discovery.

Lastly, Anything Goes is scheduled for publication in August or September by Monday Books. A collection of his best pieces from New English Review, this should be an enjoyable read, as he has done some of his best work there.
Enjoy.

17 thoughts on “New Dalrymple Books

  1. Seymour Clufley

    Does anyone know if his essay “What We Have to Lose” is in any of the books? I can’t find it, and I’m amazed because to me it’s absolutely fantastic. The wisdom of real-world experience just pours out of it.

    Reply
  2. Anon1

    I’ve just finished reading Litter, which I was able to buy in Waterstones. It was an excellent read. At the time I thought perhaps they set out on this journey to prove their theory and turn it into a self fulfilling prophecy. I’d been on holiday in the lake district with my family and saw no litter, yet the author claims that even here there was litter. Then as if to prove the authors point we had just driven in to Bradford after seeing the Bronte parsonage museum not far from Bradford and on our way in to Bradford we were literally attacked by litter thrown at us from school children and deposited upon the roof of our car from the upper deck windows of a bus.
    This book is a must read, in fact beware of it as it will make you angry.
    One other flaw in it is that it does not take into account the rise in the population from immigration, nor does it attempt to breakdown where the worst offences happened on this journey. In fact the journey is hardly mentioned at all except in the beginning,and to say that they stopped over in the lake district.Some of his arguments wander off the point,and the reason the author gives as to why he doesn’t throw litter on the ground is rather simple, after all the analysis as to why he doesn’t do it the reason is stated as simply his mother.
    The author is aware he may be accused of being old fashioned, but I rather think it is nice to see someone stand up for traditional values. This book should really be called the philosophy of litter. Now that I’ve finished reading it I doubt I’ll ever look at litter in the same way. Daniels reads the litter and comes up with some fascinating insight in to the very meaning of life its self.

    Reply
  3. Damo

    In Ireland we call disuse plastic shopping bags,that are entangled in tree branches,witches’ knickers.

    Reply
  4. Jay C

    That British cover, showing the brain that TD makes so much use of (and wishes others would as well rather than “wilfully suspending their inteliigence” in his words) looks far more like his idea.

    The neon-style “anything goes” and nude painting seem like a sensationalist publisher’s attempt to get it to stand out on a crowded bookshelf more than something Dalrymple would approve of. That picture is, in my view, a respectable work of art that the author and all but the most puritanical conservative would appreciate; if they were trying to condemn the “anything goes” approach to life it would be more suitable to show some meaningless lump of “postmodern art” on the cover.

    Reply
  5. Anon1

    When will Anthony Daniels ‘Mr Clarkes modest proposal’ be available in the UK? It is on Amazon.com and available in the US but not UK, which is strange. Paper back with only 29 pages but has excellent reviews. Published by the social affairs unit…

    Reply
  6. Rebecca Bynum

    New English Review Press is publishing the American version of Anything Goes. The British version will be slightly different and may include material not originally from New English Review. We also took the liberty of using some of the Skeptical Doctor’s bio material for the Amazon page and the back cover of the book (hope you don’t mind). All his other bios were so colorless!
    http://www.amazon.com/Anything-Goes-Theodore-Dalrymple/dp/0578084899/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1310393071&sr=1-1
    The cover photo is by Alfred Cheney Johnston circa 1924 and represents the art and humanism of Dalrymple’s work plus it ties the title, Anything Goes, with the jazz age.

    Reply
  7. Steve

    Thank you for the information, Ms. Bynum. We are honored that you used some of our material. This is a great idea for a book, since his pieces for the New English Review are some of his very best, and I think they haven’t received the attention they deserve. And I love the cover.

    We will try to answer some of the other reader questions on this post, but we can’t make any promises.

    Reply
  8. Jay C

    Thanks for explaining the choice of cover image, Rebecca.

    I also like the photo as a work of art, but was just slightly perturbed by the link between that and the book. The jazz movement explains that nicely though.
    I jumped presumptuously to the idea that it (mis)represented eroticism and “free love” because I was thinking of the libertine connotations of the title, rather than the Cole Porter song! That was why I perceived a disjunction between the title and an exquisite, restrained presentation of feminine grace and beauty which was far from pornography.

    Although Dalrymple has written against porn and excessive sexual openness in public as he believes that it debases what should be a special private experience between lovers, his NER pieces are more against multi-culturalism, Islamism, and utopianism in keeping with the focus of your journal. The “anything goes” in that context is referring to cultural relativism and any bad idea being accepted as long as traditional Western values don’t get a look in- which is a far worse problem for our civilization than sexual indiscretions.

    I hope I understand better now after considering it. Mi dispiace…

    Reply
  9. Rebecca Bynum

    Working with Dr. Dalrymple has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. He’s been a true, understanding friend and mentor. It is a great honor to publish him and I pray we do him justice with this book.

    Reply
  10. Jaxon

    “The “anything goes” in that context is referring to cultural relativism and any bad idea being accepted as long as traditional Western values don’t get a look in- which is a far worse problem for our civilization than sexual indiscretions.”

    It all goes back to sexual indiscretions… Why wouldn’t traditional Western values, or anything worthwhile, get a look in? What sort of mentality would account for selfishness, egotism???

    It all ultimately goes back to people who don’t subordinate their sexuality to the civilising process…

    Okay, you perhaps understand that better than I (if you agree) and I appreciate that there was a distinction to be made, after all, it would be tedious if what should be obvious implicitly need to be constantly made explicit… okay, I’m tedious.

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Rebecca Bynum Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.