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Lessons from the Land of Pork Scratchings: A Miserable Yank Discovers the Secret of Happiness in Bri
A stressed-out New York men's magazine editor gets posted to the UK and realises happiness is more easily achieved by adopting the British attitude to life - expecting the worst and going to the pub.
- GenresNonfictionHumor
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
3 people are currently reading
148 people want to read
About the author
Greg Gutfeld
14 books317 followersGreg Gutfeld has been called "outrageous and outspoken," neither of which he denies. A libertarian political satirist, humorist, magazine editor and blogger, he is perhaps best known as the host of the Fox News Channel program "Red Eye With Greg Gutfeld." Airing at 3 a.m. ET Tuesday through Saturday, the show covers a variety of topics, including news, entertainment, sports, and gossip. Gutfeld is also a host of FNC's "The Five," a weekday program at 5 p.m. ET.
The Weekly Standard calls him "the most dangerous man on television." According to the magazine, unlike other media darlings, "Gutfeld's stuff actually is subversive, a stink bomb hurled into every faculty lounge, mainstream newsroom, movie studio, and nonprofit boardroom in America."
Prior to joining Fox, Gutfeld was a staff writer at Prevention and editor-in-chief of Men's Health magazine. He later became editor-in-chief of Stuff, where he increased circulation from 750,000 to 1.2 million and created controversy month after month. He helmed Maxim magazine in the U.K., and was a contributor to the Huffington Post, where he became legendary for his "inspired, lunatic ridicule of his leftwing fellow Huffers." He's been published in countless magazines, has appeared in too many profiles to mention, and was only fingerprinted once.
He currently blogs on his own site, The Daily Gut, as well as Big Hollywood.com, where he writes about the news and pop culture of the day, from a conservative libertarian humorous slant. He's appeared on dozens of TV shows, as a regular on "The O'Reilly Factor," while also stopping by on Dennis Miller's radio show and spots on "Opie and Anthony."
The Weekly Standard calls him "the most dangerous man on television." According to the magazine, unlike other media darlings, "Gutfeld's stuff actually is subversive, a stink bomb hurled into every faculty lounge, mainstream newsroom, movie studio, and nonprofit boardroom in America."
Prior to joining Fox, Gutfeld was a staff writer at Prevention and editor-in-chief of Men's Health magazine. He later became editor-in-chief of Stuff, where he increased circulation from 750,000 to 1.2 million and created controversy month after month. He helmed Maxim magazine in the U.K., and was a contributor to the Huffington Post, where he became legendary for his "inspired, lunatic ridicule of his leftwing fellow Huffers." He's been published in countless magazines, has appeared in too many profiles to mention, and was only fingerprinted once.
He currently blogs on his own site, The Daily Gut, as well as Big Hollywood.com, where he writes about the news and pop culture of the day, from a conservative libertarian humorous slant. He's appeared on dozens of TV shows, as a regular on "The O'Reilly Factor," while also stopping by on Dennis Miller's radio show and spots on "Opie and Anthony."
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
January 13, 2021
Anecdotes from journalist Greg Gutfeld's year of living in the UK. Gutfeld writes wittily of misunderstandings, British customs and traditions and how life in the UK differs from that in the US. It's cleverly written but a little too focussed on drinking and toilet humour for my tastes. Also, reading this at the end of 2020 (the book describes London life in 2005) the book seems oddly outdated. It describes a Britain that no longer exists. It was written before the smoking ban in pubs took effect in 2007, plus before the huge influx of EU citizens of the mid-2000s which has had a profound effect on London culture, meaning it is much more varied and complex than before. I liked the book but felt it doesn't reflect modern Britain. If Gutfeld wants to return to the UK and write a sequel then I'd probably enjoy reading it more than I did this one.
August 6, 2012
I read this book on the plane back from the Scotland, where I was studying at the time, to the US, where I grew up, for Christmas, and it was hilarious. I enjoyed the style, and his observations of the differences in life and outlook between the UK and America picked up on the nuances and were overall quite accurate. It's a fun and quick read which Americans who have lived in the UK will appreciate.
May 29, 2022
This would have been fun delivered as a weekly email from a distant friend. As a book, it felt like I was reading the same paragraph over and over.
May 16, 2023
This is a really enjoyable read. It’s funny, it’s honest, and I learned about life for an American in England.
March 30, 2023
This book was written by the editor of a men's magazine in 2005. That's very, very obvious, not least because it's still pretty much A Time Before Internet. Gutfeld now presents a show on Fox, which also tells you all you need to know about the content. One star, though, still, because (if you look round the jaw dropping misogyny), the rest of it is still quite funny.
October 12, 2012
When I first saw the book in Times Bookstore, Publika, I thought, "Hey, the title is unique, the plot is all about some dude's travel stories, and the writing is just like a diary except that it's written for the public eye." I bought it on the spot.
The first half of the book was fine. Jokes and satirism flew left and right, complete with racist insults and derogatory terms. It made me laugh a number of times. After all, what can you expect from a Yankee who moved to the UK for six months and not face obstacles that Americans don't face in their home country? However, as I moved into the second half of the book, I began to second guess my decision to buy the book. No doubt it served its purpose of helping me pass my time but eventually, the derogatory terms and vulgarities got on my nerves and drove me up the wall. It made me think, are Britons all like that? Foul mouthed and racist? Are Americans always the holiest of the bunch? Travel book, my foot, I felt it was more of a swipe taken at the Britons and the Americans (to an extent) by this one Yankee who preferred the life of a Londoner than his own as a New Yorker.
What rubbed salt into injury was the fact that the main character drinks like camel and smokes like a chimney and every so often, he would visit the pubs and other watering holes. That's all he did in the book from day one until the end. A typical day for the author (also the main character) would be Pub #1 in the morning, Pub #2 in the afternoon, Pub #3 at night, Pub #4 at midnight until he staggers home drunk in the wee hours of the morning. That's probably his typical weekday. His weekends are much worse! The same arrangement but with some sad soap operas at midnight that turned him into a fat slob with no job (he lost his job somewhere along the way). He used to be fit and healthy and hits the gym often. But after coming to London, he threw everything away and let his guard down. Wow. Talk about motivation. To be honest, I didn't learn anything from the book. It didn't move me as much as I thought it would. Money not-so-well-spent.
The first half of the book was fine. Jokes and satirism flew left and right, complete with racist insults and derogatory terms. It made me laugh a number of times. After all, what can you expect from a Yankee who moved to the UK for six months and not face obstacles that Americans don't face in their home country? However, as I moved into the second half of the book, I began to second guess my decision to buy the book. No doubt it served its purpose of helping me pass my time but eventually, the derogatory terms and vulgarities got on my nerves and drove me up the wall. It made me think, are Britons all like that? Foul mouthed and racist? Are Americans always the holiest of the bunch? Travel book, my foot, I felt it was more of a swipe taken at the Britons and the Americans (to an extent) by this one Yankee who preferred the life of a Londoner than his own as a New Yorker.
What rubbed salt into injury was the fact that the main character drinks like camel and smokes like a chimney and every so often, he would visit the pubs and other watering holes. That's all he did in the book from day one until the end. A typical day for the author (also the main character) would be Pub #1 in the morning, Pub #2 in the afternoon, Pub #3 at night, Pub #4 at midnight until he staggers home drunk in the wee hours of the morning. That's probably his typical weekday. His weekends are much worse! The same arrangement but with some sad soap operas at midnight that turned him into a fat slob with no job (he lost his job somewhere along the way). He used to be fit and healthy and hits the gym often. But after coming to London, he threw everything away and let his guard down. Wow. Talk about motivation. To be honest, I didn't learn anything from the book. It didn't move me as much as I thought it would. Money not-so-well-spent.
September 14, 2011
Fun and amusing for the first quarter, but by then you're wishing that the person you're reading about would just grow up already and stop behaving like an immature prick.
I hope he got his act together by the time he finished this (not that I really care).
In fact, it became so pathetic and tedious towards the end, that I actually gave up before the last 5 pages.
I would have given this a generous 2 stars, for amusing me in the beginning thanks to his simple and humorous writing style, but the end result left me feeling like that good food you started enjoying at a restaurant, only to be ruined by an attitude problem from your waiter and a terrible stomach ache later on, probably due to the prawns being off.
I hope he got his act together by the time he finished this (not that I really care).
In fact, it became so pathetic and tedious towards the end, that I actually gave up before the last 5 pages.
I would have given this a generous 2 stars, for amusing me in the beginning thanks to his simple and humorous writing style, but the end result left me feeling like that good food you started enjoying at a restaurant, only to be ruined by an attitude problem from your waiter and a terrible stomach ache later on, probably due to the prawns being off.
November 21, 2012
Couldn't finish it. I was hoping for a humorous read about my home country, but instead it was a very narrow view - he ends up in London, which doesn't represent the rest of the UK. London is very British, yes, but it doesn't represent life in rural areas, life in Scotland, life in the north, life in the West Country, in Wales... it goes on. Britain isn't the same as England. If he wants to talk about British life, he should have tried Wales and Scotland too, since they are part of Britain. Also, I read somewhere that he was "Bill Bryson for the Noughties" - an absolute insult to Bill Bryson. Notes on a Small Island is much better than this - not a brilliant look at Britain, but far broader in its view of Britain. Bryson travelled around the UK, not just pubs in London like this dimwit.
November 19, 2009
Maybe most wouldn't consider this a five-star book, but Gutfeld is a friend of mine and I got to partake in some of these experiences, so I'm certainly a little biased. Having said that, his manic and self deprecating telling of his story is completely sincere and I feel like I'm living it all along with him, even the parts that I missed which was almost all of it. I'm in chapter 85 about the 35p coin. Don't worry, I wont hit you. Gutfeld is hilarious even if he is a jerk with a show on Fox "News".
January 23, 2009
Gutfeld and RedEye (12 a.m. PT on FoxNews) == disgusting.
This book == not so much, but consistently the same humour.
I read it to learn the London subculture since I grew up in Dorset (Bournemouth) and was too young to remember much about the city. He does do a good job of telling exactly how different our brothers across the pond can be.
This book == not so much, but consistently the same humour.
I read it to learn the London subculture since I grew up in Dorset (Bournemouth) and was too young to remember much about the city. He does do a good job of telling exactly how different our brothers across the pond can be.
May 7, 2011
An entertaining book, but as the cover states, the language can be a bit 'strong'and I am sure there are many who would not appreciate this aspect of the book. The language aside I enjoyed the book and often laughed allowed at certain chapters. Each chapter is quite short so it is an easy read, which can be taken in small 'bites'.
September 8, 2012
Thought it might be amusing - after all I like a pint of ale. Then you find out that the author is a lager-swilling editor of a "lad's mag" living the high-life in a well-heeled corner of London. Not much insite into true pub culture then and very difficult to empathise. Can't say I felt any sympathy when he eventually looses his job and goes back accross the pond.
April 6, 2008
From an overworked and high reaching Maxim editor to 12kilos heavier and content, Greg Gutfield finds happiness in adopting the British way of life. Low expectations and the culture of the pub brings him his state of bliss and a wife. An amusing and wry commentary on life in the UK.
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July 30, 2011Am sure it's the Queens Lane Coffee house which is the oldest in Oxford - not the Grand Cafe. I remember the latter's appearance and I'm not that old !
The people/events/attitudes he came across are obviously out there but Gutfeld stereotypes the whole country!
The people/events/attitudes he came across are obviously out there but Gutfeld stereotypes the whole country!
June 19, 2008
Fun to read, helps to explain that what I find crazy and strange and often infuriating is just the way things are here in the UK!
January 4, 2009
Must read for anyone spending a significant amount of time in the UK!
February 15, 2009
An annecdotal book reviewing the experience of an immature American moving to England and immersing himself in English 'culture'.
Some stories are amusing, but mostly tedious.
Some stories are amusing, but mostly tedious.
July 8, 2013
An interesting look on what's important in life and how work fits into it all.
April 18, 2014
Reminds me of Adventure Time's Jake and his state of being 'chubby tired.' The author was fit and stressed in Manhattan, then comfortably shlubby in London. Makes me wanna go there, too.
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June 6, 2016good flight read
July 2, 2013
Some great chapters, some not so great. His political stuff is funnier and more even.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews