Here Comes the Fun

A Journey Into the Serious Business of Having a Laugh

Ben Aitken

$44.99

Hardback

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QTY:

English

Icon Books
22 August 2023

Cookery, food & drink; Hobbies; Water sports & recreations; Theme parks & funfairs

FROM FISHING AND FLYING TO FRENCH COOKING - BEN AITKEN'S YEAR OF ACTIVELY PURSUING FUN.

ARE YOU GETTING ENOUGH?

Ben Aitken wasn't. Increasingly flat and decreasingly zen, he knew that something had to change. So he joined a lawn bowls club. About a week later, he continued his assault on the doldrums by taking a cheerleading class. Then with an almost entirely reformed selfhood winking appealingly on the horizon- he went cold-water swimming and was back to square one.

Despite the inevitable setbacks and missteps, it was becoming clear to Aitken that the very pursuit of fun was a great route to feeling less naff. And so he made a vow to go after the f-stuff with as much gusto as he could muster. (Starting with the crossword.)

Over the next year, he filled his calendar with a plethora of potentially pleasurable pursuits. He did things he'd never done before but reckoned could be fun (a pilgrimage in Spain, afternoon bingo); things whose fun-factor was less obvious and more down-to-earth (volunteering in a charity shop, sitting on a bench); and things he wasn't at all sure about but were fun according to other people (improv, wakeboarding, learning Welsh).

Although the results were mixed, the author's year of making merry left him feeling undoubtedly better. Which invites the question: if fun is such a reliable mood-swinger, shouldn't we be having more of it?

AUTHOR: Ben Aitken was born under Thatcher, grew to 6ft then stopped, and is an Aquarius. He is the author of four books: Dear Bill Bryson, A Chip Shop in Poznan (a Times bestseller), The Gran Tour ('Both moving and hilarious', Spectator) and The Marmalade Diaries.

By: Ben Aitken
Imprint: Icon Books
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 222mm, Width: 144mm, Spine: 31mm
Weight: 437g
ISBN: 9781837730056
ISBN 10: 1837730059
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 22 August 2023
Audience: General/trade , Professional and scholarly , ELT Advanced , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: No Longer Our Product

Ben Aitken was born under Thatcher, grew to 6ft then stopped, and is an Aquarius. He is the author of four books: Dear Bill Bryson, A Chip Shop in Poznan (a Times bestseller), The Gran Tour ('Both moving and hilarious', Spectator) and The Marmalade Diaries.