Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
Julian "Joe" Bennett (born 20 April 1957) is a writer and columnist living in Lyttelton, New Zealand.
Born in England, he emigrated to New Zealand when he was twenty-nine. Bennett is a columnist for Christchurch's newspaper The Press and the author of several books.
I haven't read Bennett in ages and he is usually always really good value, though I was a little surprised by how flat many of these were. Of course with these originally being newspaper pieces they are by their very nature narrow in scope and limited of word count and designed for light-hearted whimsy, or the odd chuckle.
Yes there are some good moments in here, and fine advice, particularly about the joys of taking a dog on holiday with you. I suppose it clarifies the fact that Bennett is always better and a lot more comfortable when he is given a longer leash and is allowed more space to explore his ideas in greater depth and breadth and really let loose on a subject. Though in saying that he is still one of the best at what he does in NZ.