What do you think?
Rate this book
These Foolish Things: A Memoir
Few people can say they have shaped the cultural landscape of the last four decades while crossing paths with some of the most extraordinary personalities on the planet. But then, of course, Dylan Jones isn't just anyone.
These Foolish Things captivatingly charts Dylan's from his peripatetic childhood and late adolescence in 1970s London - a city then alive with possibility - to his award-winning tenure at what would become one of the most dynamic magazines of its era, GQ. It details how he came to be in that hot a journey through the Swinging London slipstreams of punk and new romanticism, and through i-D, The Face and Arena, which created the platform on which GQ was based, with Dylan as a common denominator.
Littered with a gold-star cast of characters - including a who's who of celebrity from David Bowie and Bryan Ferry to Alastair Campbell and Prince Charles, via Samuel L. Jackson, Piers Morgan and Rihanna - this memoir reflects on how GQ became an established style and how Dylan sought to stir up music, politics and fashion.
Witty, perceptive and deliciously entertaining, but by turns bravely vulnerable, These Foolish Things is a memoir like no a dazzling retelling of the start of the twenty-first century from one of the world's most fascinating media giants.
These Foolish Things captivatingly charts Dylan's from his peripatetic childhood and late adolescence in 1970s London - a city then alive with possibility - to his award-winning tenure at what would become one of the most dynamic magazines of its era, GQ. It details how he came to be in that hot a journey through the Swinging London slipstreams of punk and new romanticism, and through i-D, The Face and Arena, which created the platform on which GQ was based, with Dylan as a common denominator.
Littered with a gold-star cast of characters - including a who's who of celebrity from David Bowie and Bryan Ferry to Alastair Campbell and Prince Charles, via Samuel L. Jackson, Piers Morgan and Rihanna - this memoir reflects on how GQ became an established style and how Dylan sought to stir up music, politics and fashion.
Witty, perceptive and deliciously entertaining, but by turns bravely vulnerable, These Foolish Things is a memoir like no a dazzling retelling of the start of the twenty-first century from one of the world's most fascinating media giants.
589 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 13, 2024
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 22, 2026
I knew Jones as a biographer & his oral biography David Bowie : A Life is one of the best in the genre. I knew nothing about his own life so, when this popped up, I grabbed it. Almost no time is devoted to his music industry non-fiction on Bowie, Velvet Underground, the New Romantics (Sweet Dreams), Jim Morrison, The 80s etc. This memoir is devoted to his decades spent contributing &/or editing up-market British magazines, most significantly GQ. For me, this was like visiting an alien planet, but fascinating nonetheless. Many names are dropped but only of people Jones either worked, or spent quality time, with. A real eye opener in many ways, I enjoyed it very much. Next up from him - Shiny & New, another angle on the 80s music scene.
January 29, 2025
Erudite & absorbing...gossipy & elegantly informative.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews