Friday June 30, 2006 Jeremy is hilarious however some of the humor is lost to a non-Brit such as myself. I Know You Got Soul is essentially Jeremy's salute to machines and the related engineering that have seemed to give the inanimate objects a soul. His critical observation in regards to machines having a soul is that they must intrinsically have a flaw, as all humans do. In some ways this book reminded me, not by name only, of Tracy Kidder's The Soul Of A New Machine. If you love mechanical things and think that machines are the purest form of engineering, then you will enjoy this book. Nothing deep, just a good laugh and review of a number of wonderful machines that do indeed have a soul.
Clarkson On Cars is of course focused on cars. There is nothing new in this book. In fact, it is a collection of past columns that Clarkson has written. I you love cars and want a good laugh, this is a great read. You will find yourself smiling a lot and wondering if Clarkson is really that politically incorrect in real life.