I Know You Got Soul: Machines with That Certain Something

by Jeremy Clarkson

In I Know You Got Soul , Jeremy Clarkson writes about the machines that he believes have 'soul'. It will come as no surprise to anyone that Jeremy Clarkson loves machines. But it's not just any old bucket of blots, cogs and bearings that rings his bell. In fact, he's scoured the length and breadth of the land, plunged into the oceans and taken to the skies in search of machines with that elusive certain something. And along the way he's *The safest place to be in the event of nuclear war
*Who would win if Superman, James Bond and The Terminator had a fight
*The stupidest person he's ever met
*What an old Cornish institution called Arthur has to do with 0898
chat lines
*And how Jean Claude Van Damme might get eaten by a lion . . . In I Know You Got Soul , Jeremy Clarkson tells stories of the geniuses, innovators and crackpots who put the ghost in the machine. From Brunel's SS Great Britain to the awesome Blackbird spy-plane and from the woeful - but inspiring - Graf Zeppelin to Han Solo's Millennium Falcon, they can't help but love them in return. Praise for Jeremy
'Brilliant . . . laugh-out-loud' Daily Telegraph
'Outrageously funny . . . will have you in stitches' Time Out
'Very funny . . . I cracked up laughing on the tube' Evening Standard

Genres: Nonfiction, Humor, History, Cars, Ebooks, Journalism, Comedy

233 pages, Paperback

First published October 28, 2004

About the author

Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson (born April 11, 1960) is an English broadcaster and writer who specialises in motoring.

He writes weekly columns for The Sunday Times and The Sun, but is better known for his role on the BBC television programme Top Gear.

From a career as a local journalist in the north of England, he rose to public prominence as a presenter of the original format of Top Gear in 1988. Since the mid-1990s Clarkson has become a recognised public personality, regularly appearing on British television presenting his own shows and appearing as a guest on other shows. As well as motoring, Clarkson has produced programmes and books on subjects such as history and engineering. From 1998 to 2000 he also hosted his own chat show, Clarkson.

His opinionated but humorous tongue-in-cheek writing and presenting style has often generated much public reaction to his viewpoints. His actions both privately and as a Top Gear presenter have also sometimes resulted in criticism from the media, politicians, pressure groups and the public.

As well as the criticism levelled against him, Clarkson also generated a significant following in the public at large, being credited as a factor in the resurgence of Top Gear to the most popular show on BBC Two, and calls for him to be made Prime Minister. Clarkson himself was keen to downplay his perceived influence on the British public, stating he regularly contradicts himself, and would make a "rubbish" Prime Minister.

Reviews

[Ed Erwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author is apparently a celebrity and known for a love of fast cars. He's not famous with me, and I don't give a fig about cars, but this collection of essays was surprisingly interesting. Each chapter is about a different specific machine that he thinks "has soul". In other words, a machine that may not be the best of its type, may sometimes even be useless, but has a certain something that you can fall in love with.

His enthusiasm is infectious, his style is witty, and he unearths interesting bits of history, so I was won over. He almost made me find the AK47 interesting.

Would be 4 stars, but at one point he mentions eating horse. As a horse myself this appalls me.

[Dane Sørensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was given Clarkson's three-book pack a couple of Christmases ago, and this is the only one of the trio I finished. Clarkson is not an especially strong writer, his all-flash, no-substance writing style becoming grating after a while... except here, where it's softened by the genuine love Jeremy has for his subject. The grown man's engineering nous writes in locked step with his childlike sense of wonder, and you can't help smiling to yourself and thinking, "Yeah... that's right!" as he describes your favourite machines. Pick it up for a domestic flight and you'll barely feel the plane touch down at the other end, and you'll wander through the terminal basking in the warm glow of human accomplishment.

[Dan (Reader&Writer) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jeremy Clarkson is generally so annoying I couldn’t give this more than three stars. But the book is quite a light hearted and entertaining read if you like a bit of nonsense with a little bit of fact in there.

[Milan Trpkovic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spadam u onaj red tipičnih muškaraca, zaljubljenika u mašine i alate, tako da mi je ova knjiga prijala. Svojim satiričnim stilom i obiljem informacija, Klarkson ovom knjigom nudi jedno sasvim pristojno čitalačko uživanje za sve one koji vole mašine i engleski humor.

[Marzena · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mix of science, technology, history, and British humour? Count me in!

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clarkson does something important with ideas. He throws them together, blends them and makes sure someone is being offended. I like him.

Here he argues that in a fight between the Enterprise, Stingray, Thunderbird 2 and the Millennium Falcon, the Falcon would win. Well this is important stuff and we need get to the bottom of it.

[Jovan Majstorović · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kao neko ko voli mašine, pogotovo automobile, ova knjiga je bila jako zanimljiva. Naravno, pošto je Klarkson u pitanju, knjiga se može, u neku ruku, opisati i kao detinjastom, ali svakako ne mislim to u negativnom smislu.

Što se prevoda edicije Čarobne knjige tiče, nije najbolji, ali je (skoro) prihvatljiv.

[jaroiva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Velmi zajímavá kniha, která zaujme asi hlavně mužské publikum. I tak mě ale bavila.
Autor dokázal bravurně přenést své nadšení k jednotlivým technickým hračkám (někdy až monstrům) na stránky knihy a povedlo se mu tak pomoci mi pochopit, co ti chlapi na těch svých plechových miláčcích vidí.
Doporučuji tedy nejen čtenářům, ale i čtenářkám.
Nejvíc si mi líbily kapitoly o letadlech a kosmických "hračkách", ale - což bych do sebe neřekla - zaujaly mě i bojové záležitosti.

[Alex Elemans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clarkson toont aan hoe vluchtig legendarisch “erfgoed”, variërend van de Hindenburg tot een speedboot, eigenlijk is. Een paar mooie foto’s erbij ondersteunt dat erg goed. Daarom naar boven afgerond naar 4*. Het is soms helemaal nieuw, soms frist het op wat je vaag nog weet. Informatief dus, soms redelijk globaal, soms gedetailleerd beschreven. Maar altijd met de onnavolgbare Clarksonse associaties en emoties die verbluffende apparaten en techniek oproepen. Het is niet rationeel, maar geeft wel de extra jeu aan dit boekje. Evenals uiteraard de flinke, soms geforceerde, portie ‘Britannia rules the waves’. Dat geeft de lezer, die wel beter weet, nog meer ruimte voor binnenpret.

[Mariaan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I never thought in a million years I would enjoy this book, but I truly liked learning more of all the history behind hoover dam, Rolls Royce and the AK 47. I love Jeremy's warped sense of humor.

[Kati · Rating 4 out of 5]

Humor Jeremyho Clarksona rozhodně není pro každého, mně se ale jeho jízlivost líbí. Kniha je navíc plná skutečně zajímavých faktů a ještě k tomu je v audio formě naprosto skvěle načtena.

[Sammy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Starts off good and very funny, but eventually gets rather boring. Probably better to read one chapter at a time than read the whole book in a day...

[Josh Govan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like Clarkson. You may not. If you do, you've probably read it already. If you don't, there's no way you'll even pick it up - not with his increasingly lumpy face on the jacket. Read it and stick in your own random pauses. Think of him as Pinter for petrolheads.

He picks machines which he believes have something special about them and writes about each of them for a few pages. He has an enthusiasm for engineering but little evident knowledge. It doesn't matter. The enthusiasm wins you over and you can pick up the details elsewhere.

[Roman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poslechnul jsem si v ceske audioverzi a musim rici, ze to je docela vtipne. Pokud mate radi vtipky na adresu prakticky kohokoliv, kdo byl rivalem Anglie. Hlavne tedy nemce a americany. Nektere stroje byly nezajimave viz hydroplany nebo parniky, za to Concord, Spitfire nebo raketoplan byly pohlazenim po dusi posluchace.

[Jeremy Walton · Rating 1 out of 5]

Back in the crate
I picked this book up last summer from one of those crates that people leave out together with an honesty box (this one was by the side of a canal) for your donations. Never having seen Clarkson on television, I had only a vague idea of who he was, but I thought this book might be interesting. I suppose there are one or two points that stick in the mind (such as his comment that the wingspan of a jumbo jet is longer than the first manned flight), but overall, reading this is more like listening to an opinionated rant from a drunk in a pub. Perhaps that's the effect that he was trying to attain, but the received value of the opinions here depends entirely on what you think of the character or qualifications of the person making them.

Based on what I've read, they don't seem to have any value at all. For example, here is Clarkson on the Millennium Falcon: "In a fight between the Enterprise, Stingray, Thunderbird 2 and the Millennium Falcon, the Falcon would reign supreme. It just would. The end." I guess this is supposed to look funny in a childish sort of way (it comes immediately after a similar assertion about who would win if Superman, James Bond and The Terminator had a fight), but I found it hard to care about what he thought "would happen", and this indifference remained when he was talking about non-fictitious machines - e.g. "Possibly, just possibly, the Spitfire is the greatest machine ever made". Is it really? What does this mean? So what?

Printed in a large typeface to fill up the space, the book includes an index (goodness knows why) and a blurb on the back that describes how Clarkson has "discovered" not only who would win in the fight mentioned above, but also "how Jeanne-Claude Van Damme might get eaten by a lion". This last refers to a single sentence on p45: "Maybe Jeanne-Claude Van Damme could be eaten by a lion at some point." Well, gosh. Or maybe he wouldn't. What do you think? Do you really care?

Finally, the book includes the same boilerplate comment ("Extremely funny" - Daily Telegraph) on its cover which appears on all his other books, thus rendering it misleading, at least. Unless they meant that he was extremely funny. But I can't see how that could be. Just my opinion, of course.

Originally reviewed 29 June 2007

[Ewan · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a little all the way up to today Jeremy Clarkson has been enticed by machines. Throughout his years he has wondered how these machines feel so human, so he has decided that they must have a soul. Jeremy Clarkson made the book I Know You Got Soul: Machines with That Certain Something which is him talking about the machines that he know have souls. It is absolutely beautiful how the book intrigues the reader with machines then explains how they have a soul. For example on page 138 he says, " The Hoover Dam was the first structure to contain more masonry that the Great Pyramid at Giza." Later on page 148 he says," There are other damns who dwarf the Hoover. But for me, it's still the most special," which means the dam has a special charm to it. There's a ton of figurative language in the book. Like on page 49 and 209 he says," They really did bristle with death." and," And a ship that's sideways on to the enemy is a juicy target." The book was also very funny. When he said, " Thanks to America's insatiable appetite for everything," on page 148, it was a bit of a giggle. This all goes to show the book is not just for people interested in vehicles, but also just curious people could very easily enjoy this.

[Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I Know You Got Soul is a look at several great transportation machines over fairly recent history. These machines are not necessarily the fastest or the prettiest, but they're machines that have "soul," according to the author. Through his descriptions and odes, the reader also falls in love with the machines. Just a few of the machines covered include the Concorde, the Zeppelin, the space shuttle... and a four-door Ford. I'm not a motorhead and I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Clarkson writes with the perfect touch of humor. No passage is goofy; every passage has a touch of humor to it that will make you smile or even laugh. His exuberance for the machines is endearing. I immediately lent my copy to my father-in-law, who is a bit of a motorhead. I know he'll love it even more.

[Diwakar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can a machine have a soul? While this was definitely a line in Terminator 2, it is also a question that, as far as Jeremy Clarkson is concerned, can be answered with an unequivocal yes.

In this book, Clarkson tells us the history, psychology and aesthetics of all sorts of machines which according to him have souls; from submarines to old fords, from the hoover dam to the space shuttle, he covers them all in his trademark irreverent and inimitable style.

A must read for fans of the quintessential Clarkson and his shenanigans.

[Ted Goldstein · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun little read from the Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear fame. In this book Clarkson gives a subjective, somewhat self indulgent treatise on certain machines through history that he feels have “soul”. His choices range from steam ships to the space shuttle and often include choices which he admits have many flaws, but it is often those flaws which add to their unique character. Includes a lot of interesting historical factoids.

[Marlie Verheggen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ongeveer de helft van de verhalen gelezen, toen was het wel genoeg. Het is best interessant om van sommige machines wat meer te weten, daarom ben ik selectief geweest met het kiezen van de hoofdstukken. Ben geen fan van Clarkson maar ik denk dat in het engels dit boek wat meer tot zijn recht was gekomen omdat je hem dan meer ‘hoort vertellen’.

[Roman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was given this book by my dad last year, at the time I was obsessed with the grand tour and was excited by the thought of Jeremy Clarkson having a book. It was one of the most interesting reads ever and I enjoyed the book entirely. His facts and other information were exceptional. I recommend it for car and other machine lovers.

[Dirk Smits · Rating 4 out of 5]

While you cannot expected high literature from this book, it is a joy to read. I was assigned to read this for my studies, and I couldn't have chosen a better book. It is witty, offensive (in a Jezza sort of manner) and it makes you think about the machines that he writes about in a way haven't done before.

I highly recommend this book, if you are interested in some light-hearted reading.

[Ciara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book. I haven’t heard of most of the machines mentioned on the book but I found it interesting to read about it fro Jeremy’s perspective. I enjoyed it too because his usual wit came out in some of them. It definitely felt like he was talking about the machines. I love his humour and his not caring about what anyone else thinks of him.

[Quanti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Konečně jsem to doposlouchala. Já a audioknihy, mno... Ale dobrý. Zbyšek Horák mluví hlasem i stylem velmi podobným Jeremymu, a poslouchat o Jeremyho vybraných zázracích techniky je fajn. Navíc jsem si s radostí uvědomila, že se mi hodí do čtenářské výzvy, protože Jeremy je - na den! - o 22 let starší než já :)

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of interesting anecdotes in this book, it reminds me of Mary Roach’s work and also of one of my favourite podcasts, Cautionary Tales. My only criticism is the author is a bit male-centric and old fashioned in his attitudes; some of his examples and humour haven’t aged well (the book was published in 2005). Still a fun read.

[Beatrix Tung · Rating 5 out of 5]

I may not agree with some of his choices, like the Alfa Romeo 166, but god this man gave me an appreciation of the beauty and pluck of machines, and ultimately, how their flaws or quirks reflect on the human soul.

This is the last book I will read this year. And I am glad that it is.

[Tim Garwood]

A diversion from just cars and an interesting read, from the turn of the century cross atlantic liners to modern fighter jets, I learned a lot from this I didn't know. Easy reading and very entertaining. It's actually very well researched

[Maja · Rating 5 out of 5]

For someone who shares no passion whatsoever for the machinery, but also someone who is interested in mostly everything, I found this book extremely fun and involving. Plus, I also learned a thing or two and that's always good :)

[Geoff Field · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some interesting stories about some interesting machines.
Of course, it's all delivered with Jeremy Clarkson's unique view on things, so you might not agree with his selections.
This one has gone into my street library.