Ramble Book

Musings on Childhood, Friendship, Family and 80s Pop Culture

By: Adam Buxton

Narrated by: Adam Buxton

Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

Includes an exclusive bonus podcast with Joe Cornish.

The long-awaited, rambling, tender and very funny memoir from Adam Buxton.

Ramble

/ˈramb(ə)l/

Verb

1. walk for pleasure in the countryside.

‘Dr Buckles and Rosie the dog love rambling in the countryside.’

2. talk or write at length in a confused or inconsequential way.

‘Adam rambles on about lots of consequential, compelling and personal matters in his tender, insightful, hilarious and totally unconfused memoir, Ramble Book.’

Ramble Book is about parenthood, boarding-school trauma, arguing with your partner, bad parties, confrontations on trains, friendship, wanting to fit in, growing up in the '80s, dead dads, teenage sexual anxiety, failed artistic endeavours, being a David Bowie fan and how everything you read, watch and listen to as a child forms a part of the adult you become.

It’s also an audiobook about the joys of going off topic and letting your mind wander.

And it’s about a short, hairy, frequently confused man called Adam Buxton.

©2020 Adam Buxton (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

"I recommend Ramble Book. There are wonderful, melancholy passages about his father, and Bowie, and 80s nostalgia, perfect for those of us who get teary-eyed remembering the first time we heard Dexys Midnight Runners or whatever. He writes jingles for the start of each chapter. He takes us on lovely, audio-only tangents. There used to be a solemnity to audiobook recording. Diverging from the set text was considered heretical. Adam’s book is full of the joys of doing the opposite.’ (Jon Ronson)

What a charming delightful book

I loved this. I used to love the Adam & Joe Show, and this didn't disappoint. Adam's frank recollections and descriptions of his relationship with his father, even at his death, were joyous in their honesty.it's funny and heartwarming and raw and evolved. Loved it, didn't want it to finish and will insist my 4 sons listen to it. If they turn out like Adam I will know I've done a great job. Loved the argument tally 😂. Thank you

Perfect for any Adam and Joe fans.

Really enjoyed this audiobook but didn't expect anything else. Adam is hilarious as usual and I found myself tearing up a bit as i heard of the final few days of Bad Dad.

Thought Joe's appearance at the end was the perfect end to a great listen, and I would pay money to hear those two regularly again in a podcast.

Loving it!

Adam Buxton is brilliant as always - really laid back autobiographical reading by a big, lovable personality. He's done a great job with this one. Worth the wait. If you're new to Adam Buxton you'll have to follow his podcasts as well.

Loses one star for dismissing the music of Tin Machine

Less an autobiography, more like spending a pleasant day with Mr Buxton. Warm, charming, funny and tender. Strikes a nostalgic chord with all those of our generation who experienced the thrill of setting up an Atari 2600 or scared ourselves half to death in a darkened room trying to watch Alien on TV.

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What took him so long? This guy must be an alien or sutin. A great listen from a great guy.

Heart-warming & Lovely

Thanks so much Buckles, loved it! I laughed, I cried, I identified! (fart noise) Would definitely recommend.

a jolly entertaining read.

have listened to dr buckles since 6 music. a really fun, well written book. cheers

A Triumph

Absolutely loved this account of Adam's formative years. Heartfelt and sometimes heartbreaking stories of friendship, first loves, and family ties kept me listening. Music plays a strong role as does other Pop culture of the 1980's. Remembering how it felt to hear bands and see films for the first time is shared honestly from a teenage perspective. Chapter jingles are exactly what you would expect from the master of jingle writing- clever with just the right amount of silliness.

A Funny, Moving and Smartly Structured Ramble!

If like me, you've been a fan of Adam since the Adam & Joe Show days (British TV - the 90s), then rediscovered him via the sublimely silly Adam & Joe Morning Show on BBC 6Music in the mid-2000s, then stuck with his intermittent radio appearances after that show ended, then enjoyed the triumphant ascendance of his podcast over the last five years, then you're going to *really* like this. Not only because it contains rich and deep insights into Adam's life, his storied friendship with Joe Cornish and Louis Theroux since school days in London, and most importantly his father, but because you're probably in your 40s, and Adam describes the painfully familiar landscape of growing up middle class in England in the 1980s.

In fact, Adam and his editor have chosen to structure the narrative of this memoir around this decade, moving through year by year, as Adam grows up, attends boarding school, falls in love - with girls, friends, pop culture, movies, America, and of course David Bowie. Each year/chapter is marked by a wonderfully succinct 'Bowie Annual', as he charts his complicated fandom with the late, elusive pop star. This neatly parallels the changing state of his relationship with his Dad, Nigel Buxton, former travel editor of the Sunday Telegraph, a self-made snobbish toff, keeper of several painful secrets, and an often problematic presence in Adam's life.

The childhood-to-teenager-to young adult material is intercut with snapshots (rambles) of Adam's current family life, plus an account of the elderly Nigel's last days, after he's moved back in with Adam and a chance for a deeper connection between father and son may well be on the horizon. Of course this is very, very moving - and the final words of the book (though the audio book has a bonus extra) pays off one of Adam's long-running (catch) phrases in a staggeringly poignant way.

What will become apparent to Adam & Joe fans is that while we hear plenty on the formative years of that partnership, Adam gives only a brief portrait of their TV-making days, largely to get to more stuff about his Dad (who appeared in their show very memorably), and there's almost nothing about their radio shows, or their parting of ways, which close listeners to Adam's podcast will know has not been easy. While in the post-Audio Book chat with Joe (framed as a podcast, and a sweet coda to the whole experience), Adam (and even Joe) dismisses that material as "boring", I do hope Adam eventually does the difficult but necessary work of giving us a second Ramble Book.

As an audio book this is brilliantly performed and has a ton of jingles, music, funny voices, and other bits and pieces that make it Adam's lovingly handcrafted masterpiece.

And it's f&cking funny.

Probably the best book of the year so far.

It’s impossible to be subjective here when my youth and adult life has been enhanced by Adam Buxton in so many ways. I knew i’d like it, but I didn’t think i’d love it quite as much as i did. There’s a very Bill Bryson/David Sedaris quality to the story telling which I enjoyed a great deal and took everything in a direction I wasn’t expecting. I think if you’re a newcomer to Adam Buxton there’s more than enough to entertain and leave you wanting more and to a longtime fan it’s a touching, funny and expertly written memoir.