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John Wardley New Book

dave___ said:
The first one was one of the dullest autobiographies I’ve ever read. Going to have to hold out on some reviews before I spend any coin on this one I’m afraid..
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Most people's life is quite dull to a stranger. It depends what / who you are interested in. Personally, I rather enjoyed his first one. Especially the bits on his time in the film industry, as we'd not heard much about that before.

Just home from work. The new book was waiting for me. May not get a chance to read it for a few days though.
 
I will give some of my thoughts now I have time.
The scope:
I wasn't quite sure what was going to be included. Of course Wicker Man, Alton Manor and Nemesis Reborn would be covered but that wouldn't be enough for a book. It also covers Hex and the history of various types of rides. He also gives his honest opinion on VR rides. The Smiler and the Smiler crash are not mentioned but that should be expected.
Other parts:
A part I was not expecting was his discussion of school trips and lessons at the park which I found quite a nice surprise, as was certain old props he made 50 years ago coming back to life! I think if you are interested in what goes into a ride then it is worth getting. My only complaint is the pictures are all low quality black and white which makes it hard to make out what you're looking at.
 
Whilst there were a few nuggets of interesting info, the 2nd book didn’t quite live up to expectations for me.

It feels a little rushed and all over the place in terms of the timeline and at times feels like they have used a load of content that didn’t make the cut for the first book but has been used this time around to make up filler content.

When he got to talking about Hex I thought there might be some interesting bits about Hex version 1 and the changes made when it first opened, but it wasn't referenced at all.
 
@RoyJess, you may be interested to know that at one point, John gives away the "big secret" to one of the classic illusions that you are both masters of. ;)
"Metamophosis", as made famous by The Pendragons. (The solution is obvious to anyone older than five, but the impressive part is the speed).
 
DiogoJ42 said:
@RoyJess, you may be interested to know that at one point, John gives away the "big secret" to one of the classic illusions that you are both masters of. ;)
"Metamophosis", as made famous by The Pendragons. (The solution is obvious to anyone older than five, but the impressive part is the speed).
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Unfortunately Diogo, RoyJess has not been seen in 2 1/2 years.
 
I finished reading it today. A lot of the book felt like John was writing for the sake of it/to bulk it up. There's a bit of history on various ride types and a little info about Nemesis Reborn and other plans at Towers. I enjoyed it, but I don't feel it was as engaging as his first book.

"Kill Duel and bring back the Haunted House!" Amen, John!
 
Just bought it on Amazon. Not expecting much (@AT86 have you said the same thing on Amazon review?) but, it will keep me company on a beach holiday in Greece next month.

Liked the first one. As much as John is a natural story teller it doesn't quiet work for him on paper, having said that. How many books has he written? With it being a small little publication, I doubt he would have had the ghost writer to maybe tidy it up and guide. Yes some decent photos in colour wouldn't go a miss. But £14.99 for a new book is a decent price.
 
Bit late to the party but just finished the second book.
I enjoyed some of the nuggets of information and some of the technical information- for example seeing some of the technical drawings for the rides. Also kudos to John for self publishing the book.

However, I did find it jumped all over the place a bit and lacked some direction. I guess the gift of writing your first autobiography is the chronological structure that lends itself to compelling story telling. I found this book jumped a little too much and went on some tangents as well.
Personally, I think structure wise if it had left off from the last book where he drove away having ‘retired’ and then went either chronologically or project by project post retirement. He could still include anecdotes about past rides, but weaved into later projects.

Still enjoyed it but not as much as last one!
 
Does anyone know who the "famous TV presenter" is that he references who they hired for the Alton Schools bit?
 
I've just finished the 2nd book, and personally loved it. I really like his way of describing attraction histories, and there were some great facts in here. Likewise I grew up not too far from the Windmill Theatre that he talks about, so it's nostalgic. Only problem is I want more now. Have caved and ordered Tales from the Towers to keep me going.

Bowser said:
Does anyone know who the "famous TV presenter" is that he references who they hired for the Alton Schools bit?
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I tried to look into this online but couldn't find anything. I'm really curious!
 
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