Books by Toby Young

I laughed and laughed and loudly too. A great book if you have time to kill or you are depressed. The writing is superb and the anecdotes splendid. There is Toby trying his hand at screenwriting, playing the role of husband and father, becoming a critic while producing his own play and getting caught up in the most embarrassing and funny situations. The writing does seem to turn a bit corny towards the end, but to people who have gone through similar emotions, it is probably right on the money.

Tags: biography humor

Toby's narrative of his "adventures" in the fashion magazine industry is a good read. Being a stranger to this world, it struck me as less funny and more like an exposé of the egos, the insecurities and the extravagance in the industry. While I agreed with some of Toby's observations of misconceptions regarding meritocracy in the United States, his conclusions of the superiority of the British system do not become true from those arguments. The book would have been better if he had stopped just short of expounding theories using logical fallacies.

Tags: biography humor