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The Timewaster Letters | 
 enlarge | Author: Robin Cooper
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Category: Book
List Price: $11.95
Buy New: $5.85
You Save: $6.10 (51%)
New (25) Used (10) from $5.85
Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 201864
Media: Paperback
Pages: 192
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5 x 0.5
ISBN: 1556527551
Dewey Decimal Number: 814
EAN: 9781556527555
ASIN: 1556527551
Publication Date: May 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: New.
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Product Description
DIVPA uniquely British twist on the goofy letters-to-strangers genre, this brilliant compilation chronicles one man's outrageous and bizarre letters#8212;to trade groups, department stores, clubs, political parties, and a certain children's book publisher#8212;and the amazing responses he received to his ideas, observations, and unsolicited feedback. Asking countless questions, such as IWould the Campaign for Courtesy be interested in his 10-Point Plan for a Courteous Britain? Could the Ball Roller Bearing Manufacturers Association contact his "ball-bearing mad" son to suggest that he scale back his 95,000-piece collection? /Iand IMight Madame Tussaud's be interested in creating a wax likeness of him in a toga?/I, the book reveals the courteous and often bemused correspondence between the imaginative time waster and his unsuspecting targets, all of whom only encouraged him further. Hilarious and off-the-wall, this volume will have fellow schemers laughing out loud#8212;and reaching for their pens./P/DIV
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| Customer Reviews:
 Bloomin' marvelous read July 20, 2006
Jeanie McAuliffe (Ontario, CAN)
Loved it. A collection of silly but exceedingly polite letters written to real organizations pitching Cooper's ideas(seemingly pluck from the air). A few themes are carried through the collection (wife's bad ankle and the ongoing struggle to fix the garden shed doors) regardless of the letter's subject matter. I was continually amazed by the good-humoured and patient letters of reply. Bloody lovely sketches too. Delightful.
The funniest book I've ever read May 12, 2006
jude calvert-toulmin (England)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I cannot disagree more with aurelius' review. Naughty aurelius. If you can't say something nice then don't say anything at all, didn't your mother teach you any manners, luv? br / br /This is the funniest book I have ever read, so funny that the neighbours on both sides phoned the police on hearing manic laughter emmanating from my bedroom window non-stop between the hours of 10pm and 2am last night. br / br /The police confiscated my copy of the book for causing a disturbance of the peace and as they drew away from our house at 5am (after I'd made them a nice cup of tea) I could hear manic laughter drifting playfully out of the windows of the police car, as the policeman who wasn't driving sat reading Robin's book. br / br /I do not believe it is normal for British policemen to sample confiscated material under normal circumstances, so a big thumbs up to Mr Cooper for making our local bobbies more daring. br / br /I have ticked the box saying I am over the age of 13 even though I'm 46. I hope that's OK.
I FOUND IT A VERY FUNNY EXERCISE IN NONSENSE May 1, 2006
Paulo Leite (Lisbon, Portugal)
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
Well... Mr.Cooper did something I thought no one would ever think of... take a number of funny-named/strange companies and associations on the UK and write them absolutely silly (but looking like they are serious) letters. These letters propose daring and new projects or ideas (each one sillier than the one before). And he gets many polite (yet funny) responses. br / br /I think this is a great book to have. The author writes very well and he has a great sense of "written" timing. br / br /Some of my favorites: br /He writes to a famous clarinetist asking for a favour: help him gather 200 other clarinetists and surprise his wife for her birthday (for the couple is a fan of "all things clarinettal"). br / br /He writes to a "named-after-someone" Society saying that he went to school with THAT person and wondering what did THAT person do in order to have a society named after him... since he was the one who used to bully THAT person when they were in school. br / br /He writes to a strange sound-related company trying to show them a new machine (designed by him) that reduces noise level by 25 times in a certain area. He gets a welcoming responce from the company and sends them a completely stupid technical diagram that makes no sense. br / br /Or... he writes to an turism association trying to sell them an awful add campaign based on a horrible character. br / br / br /You should try it. br / br /
 Reading THIS is a waste of time March 31, 2006
aurelias (australia)
2 out of 9 found this review helpful
Robin Cooper thinks he is funnier than he is. Essentially a one-idea book, he fills page after page with puerile letters to recipients with names and/or addresses which are particularly silly or peculiarly British (or both). The greatest humour lies in the fact that these addresses are real, rather than in anything that his limited wit is able to request of the addressee. Added to that is the fact that none of the replies really transcends the bland, or takes the game up to him, and the whole thing is really a rather onerous affair. br / br /To call this adolescent is being grossly unfair to adolescents: read 2 pages in the bookshop and put it back on the shelf.
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