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*Cross-posted on Goodreads and Wordpress.
I passed my theory test on November 14th 2013! And that was after only 8 hours of sleep in 48 hours, and the day before I was sitting in a hospital room waiting for my mother to come out of high risk hip replacement surgery. I was so pleased she pulled through okay that I didn’t care if I passed or not. But when I saw I did, I had to turn the letter over in my hand to check my name, and not someone else’s, was on it!
Honestly, I didn’t use this book that much. Answering the questions and watching the Hazard Perception clips on Theory Test Pro for 3 weeks trained me up to pass. All the questions you get wrong get funneled into the next practice test you take so that you eventually learn from your mistakes. I’d advise anyone learning to drive in the UK to use this website to study for their theory test.
If, however, you’re without a reliable internet connection then this book is the next best thing, although it will only suffice for the multiple choice portion of the test as there’s no substitute for the Hazard Perception part where you click the mouse when you see a hazard in the short video clips to test your response times.
I’d also recommend The Official DSA Guide to Driving: The Essential Skills which I’m reading right now for my intensive driving lessons starting tomorrow and ending with my practical test on Friday, so if I’m not around for the next week you’ll know why.
I’ve yet to tackle The Official Highway Code and Know Your Traffic Signs but I’ll expect they’ll be useful at some point.
*Cross-posted on Wordpress and Goodreads.
Disclaimer: I witnessed the production of this book from the sidelines.
*Currently available from Lulu as a non-profit ebook or freely and legally download it HERE from my Dropbox account.
This is a small collection of essays and reviews, some of which were deleted by Goodreads, on GR’s censorship policyimposed on September 20th, 2013.
None of my articles, posted on my blog, were included as there were some legal issues over my screenshots, opinions and accusations e.g. calling them a ‘badly behaving social network’.
Intelligent, witty, cheeky and bold, the various perspectives expound on the personal, literary, legal and technical implications of the opposed changes.
My favourite 5-star contributions were by:
They informed, analyzed and challenged GR’s decision to move towards censorship, and echoed my thoughts and feelings on the situation exactly.
Now for the criticisms.
OFF-TOPIC possesses a very narrow and biased focus, concentrating exclusively on Goodreads and its reviewers, and for the most part excludes dissenting points of view and the wider context of author opinions on the new policy, Amazon’s censorship of self-published authors, and various retailers removing all ebooks by self-published authors while they weed out the excessively offensive and illegal works. These events were taking place concurrently during a 3-week period and one wonders if they’re all interrelated.
Some contributors have authored several pieces within the book. They also happen to be the most popular reviewers on Goodreads, the most visible, so many will have previously read what’s included here. It would’ve been nice if OFF-TOPIC contained a few more pieces submitted from less high profile Goodreads members to showcase variety and prove that this policy has an impact on everyone rather than the most prolific or active minority.
And while the majority of the pieces are thoughtful, well-written and entertaining, there is repetition and overlap in particular areas where my attention wandered. Considering the limited scope of subject area, this is to be expected.
I’ve tried to review this work fairly, in light of my obviously biased standpoint, evaluating OFF-TOPIC as I would any other non-fiction read.
I hope I’ve succeeded.
