Danny Wallace and the Centre of the Universe

by Danny Wallace

Book Overview

Danny Wallace wanted to write about a place so special and so crucial to our existence that it had never before been tackled: the Centre of the Universe. But then, he realised that getting there might... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0091908949
• ISBN13: 9780091908942
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: Ebury
• Length: 119 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.

Customer Reviews

MR. WALLACE

VERY GOOD BOOK. FUN READ. ITS QUITE SMALL BUT FOR THE PRICE IT WAS WORTH IT. THANK>

A quick read indeed

This is exactly the kind of book you want to read while you're waiting for the dentist. It's fun, it flows nicely, it's funny, it distracts you from the matter at hand, and if you don't finish it while you're waiting it's easy enough to finish it up later. There's not really a whole book here, in the traditional sense. I'm sure it could have been padded out somehow, but I'm glad they went for this "quick read" idea and charged less than a normal luck. If you're familiar with the author suffice to say Danny has some adventures that a sensible person would probably pass on. If you're not, as much as I enjoyed the book I would recommend probably starting with a full length book first. As much as I enjoyed it I think the longer form allows a level of crazy that this book never quite hits. Then again, if you have a dentist appointment coming up, perhaps this is perfect.

Another Great Adventure for Danny and the Best of the Quick Read Books

Recently I read the sensational book Join Me by Danny Wallace and immediately went out and grabbed a copy of Yes Man which was also a sensational read. Eager for more fun Danny Wallace adventures I came across this short story length tale and decided to check it out. This is another great adventure and those who have become fans of Danny through his other lengthy diary style life adventure books will be thoroughly entertained as Danny explores the Idaho town of Wallace and learns just what the centre of the universe means to everyone, and accumulates a few fair few coins along the way. The only difference other than the obvious one of length is that being short this book doesn't have the self evaluation, motivational aspect to anywhere near the extent that Join Me and Yes Man did. However if time wise his adventure to Idaho had occurred during his Yes Man year it could easily have been one or two chapters in that book and is similar sort reading to his Singapore adventure and other chapters like that. If you haven't experienced Danny's adventures it would be probably a better idea to read Join Me and Yes Man first (in that order) so that you fully appreciate his personality but like with those books they are all stand alone adventures and don't really give away anything substantial from the other books. Of the Quick Reads books out there this is easily the best. As someone who works in a library I fully support the Quick Reads experiment (short story books as standalone purchases as an alternative to newspapers and magazines for daily public transport commuters, plane/train travellers etc and also an effort to encourage those who haven't read novels for years or never have, to get into fiction and non fiction books). Unfortunately most other Quick Read books have been pretty average and not representatives of their authors' talent. Danny Wallace and the Centre of the Universe maintains the high quality of literature that he produced with his week long read length books. Good on him for firstly supporting this new initiative and secondly for not just submitting something that has been sitting inside the computer that couldn't get published before. Can't wait for other Danny Wallace adventures, either in the Quick Reads format or lengthy non fiction novels. If you haven't taken a chance on this great author check him out now!

Why is Wallace, Idaho, the Center of the Universe?

My name is Greg Marsh and you will meet me in this humorous little book. Eight years ago, I started a website at wallace-id.com to give folks a comprehensive view of my new hometown in Wallace Idaho. Currently I have about 260 pages on the internet devoted to this very unusual and historic mining town that has a population of 960 and is surrounded by a mountain recreation paradise. Last year, Danny Wallace found my website and immediately flew from London to spend one day at "the Center of the Universe." His account of the town, its philosophy and cast of characters is quite accurate... although I wish he hadn't mentioned my silver shirt experiment. I only spotted two factual mistakes, which is remarkable considering the amount of alcohol he consumed in our various saloons. The 1313 Club and the Smoke House Saloon are on Bank Street, not Cedar Street, and my friend bought the $4500 house in 1988, not 1998 (and he went to the Clerk and Recorder, not the library, to find out that he had actually bought four properties, not just one for that price). All in all, Danny did an amazing job of capturing "the Silver Capital of the World" and giving it to his European audience. Although Danny presented many of my ideas on the subject, I would like to tell you why I think Wallace is truly the Center of the Universe. Some have used a sophist argument to say that Wallace is the Center of the Universe because it cannot be proven otherwise. This "if a thing cannot be disproved, it is thereby proven" syllogism is a parody of the logic used to make a recent EPA decision that said, in effect, "if the communities of the Silver Valley cannot absolutely prove themselves to the EPA's satisfaction to be good and healthy places to live, then this is proof that they require the EPA's continued meddling in their affairs." I would like to use a more philosophical argument to say that Wallace is the Center of the Universe because it is the focal point of the human experience. The universal human experience has many dimensions, but may be defined by four forces that bind us all together: money, equilibrium, sex and responsibility. Wallace is at the center of all four universal concepts. MONEY is the common artifact of human civilization; it is the physical, symbolic representation of value required by human organization. Diverse elements of society may evolve incompatible language paradigms and civil authorities, but all societies have money, and all monies translate arithmetically (given the chance). Indeed, money may be regarded as the only universal concept in civilization. The world economy is currently governed with "fiat" paper money ("It is worth a dollar because we say it is."), but the force of tangible money ("It is worth a dollar because it may be exchanged for a certain amount of gold or silver.") is becoming stronger. Some say a "Silver Revolution" is coming! Wallace is the "Silver Capital of the World" with 1.2 BILLION ounces of .999 fine silver mined from