Any John Exshaw fans?

[Tuan_Jim]

Was just reading his review of James Lawton's book in the latest BM and chuckling along. I love John. His unforgiving critiques have been amusing me since the early 90s.

[orbtastic]

He is pretty brutal. He savaged a poster's book on here.

[jamamb]

i wonder do any authors not ready any reviews of there works

[Tuan_Jim]

He is pretty brutal. He savaged a poster's book on here.

You mean he came onto Boxrec to rip someone's book here? As in a published or self-published book? What happened man!?

[orbtastic]

Poor phrasing by me.

A poster on here, can’t remember either his name or screen name but he’s Scottish and is always moaning about boxing news. He’s written a couple of books which I’ve read - the Wharton one and sibbo one.

While they weren’t exactly amazing reading and contained quite a lot of “and then he” type writing alongside some horrific grammatical errors (I think his wife proofread so I won’t be too harsh), they weren’t as bad as the review made out. It absolutely savaged one, I’d have been gutted had I wrote the book.

[orbtastic]

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[Noxy]

I‘ve always liked Exshaw. His reviews are quality. Definitely one of BM‘s plus points.

[Tuan_Jim]

Oh I see--that's a shame, Dalcumly is a good bloke. His book apparently didn't satisfy Exhaw's high literary expectations but as people involved pass away devoted efforts like Dalcumly's grow in their usefulness. There's plenty of long dead boxers we could point to and wish someone--anyone--had made the effort to biographise (not a word) them in their lifetime. A guy who intrigues me is Ezzard Charles. Did no one around in him when he was ailing in the 60s and 70s think, 'this fellow's had a pretty interesting life, I really should talk to him and perhaps transcribe it before it's too late'? So people like Dalcumly do valuable work.

[jamamb]

ive enjoyed a lot of books that got bad reviews

[Gnome]

I think he's overly harsh.

[handsofstone]

He doesn't seem to like books plus I can never understand wtf he's going on about

[Boxerbeetle]

Poor phrasing by me.

A poster on here, can’t remember either his name or screen name but he’s Scottish and is always moaning about boxing news. He’s written a couple of books which I’ve read - the Wharton one and sibbo one.

While they weren’t exactly amazing reading and contained quite a lot of “and then he” type writing alongside some horrific grammatical errors (I think his wife proofread so I won’t be too harsh), they weren’t as bad as the review made out. It absolutely savaged one, I’d have been gutted had I wrote the book.

I wonder if Exshaw knew the full story behind how the book was put together.

I’d like to think if I was a professional reviewer, I’d take into account the fact that a book was written by a part-time writer who was lacking a proper editor and was self-published. Not saying that makes a book any better, but at least mistakes can be excused somewhat. And sometimes a book written by someone who is passionate but rather amateur can be a lot more enjoyable than a technically better written book which lacks heart.

[Coco]

This thread had passed me by, Dalculmy is a good bloke, and it takes a huge amount of time an energy to write a book.
As he says, ultimately a book is judged on its sales but I see it as a big achievement to write a book, let alone 2. He should be very proud of his effort, well done mate

[Counter-puncher]

He doesn't seem to like books

[mickey1975]

This thread had passed me by, Dalculmy is a good bloke, and it takes a huge amount of time an energy to write a book.
As he says, ultimately a book is judged on its sales but I see it as a big achievement to write a book, let alone 2. He should be very proud of his effort, well done mate

He's wrote four that I know of and spent a lot of time researching them. Obviously I had an insight with the Wharton one and he travelled to York/Leeds several times from Scotland for lengthy interviews with a wide range of people, some from Henry's childhood, amateur trainers, even people Henry hasn't spoke to for years. He's also a nice bloke. Met him a few times when he was down here.