When the Professor Got Stuck in the Snow

Farcical but fun. I was sitting reading it wondering how the author could get away with his outrageous portrayal of Professor Richard Dawkins as someone who was off his trolley and a bit delusional. It was very funny in a very over the top fashion. I have heard of Richard Dawkins but haven't read anything written by him. As I was reading I was hoping he was nothing like the portrayal of him in the book. The arguments and pronouncements just got wilder and wilder. It wouldn't be a book for everyone but I liked it. Well written, well paced and it didn't take me long to read. Made me chuckle quite a few times. Some funny innuendo.

Thank you Net Galley. I loved this book. I had never read Dan Rhodes before ( I have read Dawkins and liked his work ) and I am looking forward to reading more of his work. Very silly, very funny and very "must read".

This is a ridiculous story and I loved every bit of it. The dialogues are well written and not too long. The scenes are witty and above all silly, I had much fun reading 'When the professor got stuck in the snow.'

It was gentle and kind to all sorts of people, no ridicule even though the professor keeps shouting all kinds of insults. If you want the deeper layer of it: there are always two sides to a story.

This is the first book on Netgalley to get 5 out of 5 stars by me. Thank God, for this book ;-)

Firstly thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book through Netgalley. This book isn't for everyone, it is slap stick comedy with a couple of threads being repeated throughout the book such as the play on the main character's name, Professor Richard Dawkins being mistaken for Stephen Hawking. It also tackles the subject of science versus the belief in God so you have been warned. If on the other hand you enjoy this type of tongue in cheek comedy you are going to smile, giggle and laugh.
Professor Dawkins and his assistant, man servant and dogs body Smee, are travelling to Upper Bottom so he can convert The All Bottoms Women's Institute into Humanists. Unfortunately the snowy weather puts an halt on their journey and they find themselves staying with The Reverend and Mrs. Potter of Market Horten. The Professor is a totally over the top character. Self righteous, pompous, arrogant and so incredibly rude, woo betide anyone that doesn't agree with him, The story goes from one hilarious event to another, Switching on the Xmas lights, Cyril the journey in the snow. Mr Tumbles and Smee. My favourite has to be the final journey to Upper Bottom, some people just dont know when to keep their opinions to themselves!!!!!! (sorry couldn't help it).
I thought the end of the book was excellent, again and again. I am looking at other books this author has written.

I'm rarely stuck when it comes to writing a review. Most books fall into a particular genre; expectations are met, or not. Dan Rhodes latest, When The Professor Who Got Stuck in the Snow doesn't fall easily into any category and I went into it with a totally open mind, not knowing quite what to expect. It seemed quirky from the blurb, a bit different. And it is.

The loose plot centres on a character called Professor Richard Dawkins. He and his glorified PA, Smee, are en route to a speaking engagement when an exceptional snowstorm curtails the rail journey and they're forced to stay over in a village a few miles away from the appointment. A retired vicar and his wife offer emergency hospitality. The story continues to unfold.

Did I enjoy it? Yes, it's hilarious. I can understand why mainstream publishers weren't keen to take this up. I've no idea how the real Dawkins feels about the way in which he may think he's portrayed. I suspect possible repercussions were the reason for publishers' reticence. I took the name as nothing more than one with which readers could identify. He's an academic with a couple of popular titles and some interesting propositions. In this story, many facts are embroidered. The fictional Dawkins is opinionated, rude, dismissive, elitist, foul mouthed, argumentative, pretentious and overbearing. Other people are his foils and he fights, almost constantly. Smee is the voice of reason and moderation. His opinion often goes unheard and in any event, he is easily swayed.

The book's filled with reference to popular culture; T shirts printed with a message, Mr Tumble a CBeebies character, Pippa Middleton and litigation. It's a curious mix of the comic and the philosophical. It's sharply observed, partly satirical with a smattering of farce and anarchy. Is it bonkers or genius? That's for the reader to decide but I have a feeling that this could be one of those delightful books which many will love and it'll spread by word of mouth. It's a cracking read.

My thanks to the publisher for an early review copy via Netgalley.

I do love irony and this book contains its own bit of its own as well as a fair amount of quirky humor.

Professor Richard Dawkins is both delusional as well as pompous. The irony comes into play when he talks about Christians being zealots in regards to their religion when, in fact, he is just as zealous in attempting to convert everyone to Humanism. He is such an extreme character that you can't help but laugh about some of the remarks he makes or the situations he gets himself into. Luckily, he has Smee to help him out, even though the Professor seems clueless what a boon his assistant truly is.

I found all of the characters very likable and the book itself was lots of fun. It's well written, fairly face paced and an easy yet entertaining read. If you enjoy ironic humor and quirky characters, then I definitely recommend you pick this one up.

didn't know what to expect from this book. It certainly made me laugh in places. Some of the humour and most of the plot is very contrived.

It is hard to describe the book without risking spoiling it for others. I really like the characterisation of the professor's assistant, Smee. The vicars wife is also an amusing character.

The twist at the end was certainly not what I expected. I have not read any other books by Dan Rhodes, but on the strength of this I will certainly add him to my list of authors worth reading.

My Thanks to Netgalley and Gallic Books/Aardvark for the chance to read and review this title.

What a comical tale! I loved it! Professor Dawkins is an atheist and on his way to address the Women's Institute of Upper Bottom he gets stuck in a snow storm. The only place to stay is a B&B run by none other than an ex vicar. I thought the characters were great, well described and most of all just down right fun. Dan Rhodes has written a tale the kept me laughing the whole way through. This was my first Dan Rhodes book and I can't wait to read more.

This book is my first foray into reviewing for NetGalley and I'd like to say a big thank-you to them and to the publishers for providing the book, and making it such a great experience.

My usual reading choice is a cosy mystery but, as I was branching out into unknown territory, I thought I would try something different for my first NetGalley choice. This book could be thought of as cosy in as far as it is set in a village, or more accurately a group of villages, and has some of the characters associated with cosy mysteries such as the semi-retired vicar and the president of the Women's Institute - but that's as far as the similarity goes!

The basic scenario involves an invitation by the All Bottoms Women's Institute to evolutionary biologist Professor Richard Dawkins to speak at one of their meetings on the subject of 'Science and the non-existence of God'. We find him at the beginning of the book on a train with his assistant, Smee, on his way to Upper Bottom, where the meeting is being held. They soon find themselves stranded in nearby Market Horten because of heavy snowfalls.

The less you know before reading the book apart from this the better, but it's a very funny book. I do actually think anyone who's usual reading choice is a cosy mystery would enjoy this book if you like humour and surreal situations that don't always turn out the way you expect them to.

"Science is the only way –and I am unanimous in that."

4.5 stars

I just HAD to find a copy of this, after I'd heard the synopsis... Richard Dawkins snowed in with a vicar? Genius.

I started though and thought: just WHAT is Rhodes turning him into? Has Dawkins sanctioned this? Will anyone NOT find this rather repellent character utterly insufferable?

Strong words, from me. Dawkins and his 'male secretary' Smee are trying to reach Upper Bottom to address the WI group there. Unfortunately, widespread snow halts their progress in a small village and the Professor and Smee are forced to lodge with the local vicar and his wife.

As you can imagine, conversations involving religion and science ensue. There is a mix-up regarding the turning on of the Christmas lights, and a very funny episode with a labouring cat. And lots of snow.

Now most people reading this will be very aware of Dawkins stature in the world of evolutionary biology and his anti-religion stance. I'm a fan of both, unapologetically. I've read his books (the more populist ones that the Dawkins of Rhodes, writing would gently sneer at, most likely), watched him on television. So I was puzzled and actually a little horrified at the portrayal of Dawkins when I began reading this. Dawkins is an absolute AR$E. He's a sneering, superior, supercilious religion-obsessive, who begins every conversation with put-downs and condescension. While in the back of my mind I could feel myself applauding some of the sentiment, of course I was also horrified that this character would treat everyone he knows this way.

‘You are very kind, Professor.’
'You are quite right. I have devoted swathes of my life to kindly telling people how ignorant they are, and correcting them, and giving them the opportunity to think as I do.'

I found it hilarious at the same time, though. He's just so over-the-top with the emotionless and cool putdowns.

Sometimes he is just outright brilliant:

‘Christians! Let us remember my motto.’
(Smee) ‘There is no God.’
‘No, not that one, the other one.’
(Smee) ‘I am the expert.’
‘No, no, one of my other ones: Cordiality always.’
(Smee) ‘Of course, Professor. Cordiality always.’

If you are easily offended, I would say that you might want to steer clear, but actually, you may find yourself surprised by the end and feel differently about everything that has gone before. Of course, if you're not easily offended, this will be an absolute hoot.

Smee is our centre, his name bestowed on him by his employer. Smee dedicates his life to helping the genius of his boss be lauded, applauded and spread, though he finds his faith in the message waining in their snowbound prison. He starts to see the Professor in a new light as he struggles to arrange safe passage to the awaiting Women's Institute.

This is very, very short, at less than 200 pages, but a cacklesome pleasure nonetheless. Will definitely split opinion. A winner with me, after the initial shock.

Review of a Netgalley advance copy.

In my opinion when an author chooses to make anyone the target of humorous derision in their book then they have a duty to themselves, their readers and their subject to be compelling and funny. Unfortunately, Dan Rhodes achieved neither objective in my view.
His very narrow focus for targeting Richard Dawkins ran out of steam early in the book but was continued throughout a highly farcical plot that was short on humour.
Unfortunately this combination did not work for me.

A very British farce. Anthropology is one of my favourite books but this is my first foray into one of Rhodes' longer stories. I suspect that if you were to look up the word irreverent in the dictionary, you could well find a picture of this book. Imagine the great atheist and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins snowed in in small town England and forced to board with the local vicar and his wife. Littered with quirky characters and more innuendo than you can shake a stick at, this quick read, as you'd expect from Rhodes is funny and clever.

"When the Professor Got Stuck in the Snow" by Dan Rhodes was a fast paced read. Even though it was a bit difficult to process, as I'd think more so for ardent believers in the existence of God. Professor Richard Dawkins is a passionate atheist. Well, I thought I was one, until I met the Professor. He moved around giving everyone a hard time regarding their beliefs and calling them dim-witted. The recipients of his abuse gladly reciprocated by calling him a "bell-end", twat and arsehole among other things. But this book told from a third person view is not really about the professor, it is more about his "male secretory", "Smee" who looks up to the professor as his savior after a particularly depressing divorce after which he had fallen back of a life of agoraphobic solitude and anonymous objectionable commenting on internet posts. The Professor is cold and imposing throughout the book until the very end. Even though, he has been propagating my views as an atheist, I couldn't find him more annoying. But in a weird way, this character's contrasting views with Smee's is an eye-opener. His brief role as male secretory to the great Richard Dawkins works like a rebound relationship for Smee to realize a different perspective of life. The reader and Smee both change as the story progresses, with even the professor on momentarily shaky grounds on his belief.
The ending REALLY throws you off. This story is definitely worth a read...or even two to grasp the professor's speeches!

Well, you have REALLY got to like both farces in general and "the Professor" specifically in order to enjoy this one - for me, it was a bit too one-note, although I did like some of the smaller comedic touches. Probably best read on a beach.

Two people are on a train on their way to, of all things, a WI meeting where the ladies of All Bottoms will be lectured on the non-existence of God. One of the two people is Professor Richard Dawkins, rampant atheist, hectoring scientist chappie, and all-round devotee of Deal or No Deal. The other is Smee, his mono-named assistant, amanuensis or 'male secretary'. Smee will come to the fore when the weather sets in and the train journey has to be abandoned some way short of its ultimate destination, Upper Bottom. Instead the pair fetch up at the isolated yet friendly community of Market Horton, and the only option for accommodation is taken – yes, the died-in-the-wool non-believer has to be housed by a retired vicar and his wife. This clash of titanic opinions, peppered with social faux pas aplenty will provide for a particularly English kind of farcical comedy, but one with the legs to go as far as any other Good Books have reached in the past…

I had lost track of the career of Dan Rhodes after the initial few steps on his way to notoriety. He'd given us brilliant collections of micro-stories before flash fiction was even in the pan, rewritten Lassie stories to a much more mature, modern standard, and written a rom-com regarding the death of a Princess in a certain Parisian tunnel. Finding no end of faults with other people in the publishing industry over a ten-year span, Dan produced this book in 2014 as a self-published effort. Here it is in proper, real, paperback and e-book form, and we can only be thankful. It has a great deal of zest, no amount of colloquial balls, and both a cleverness I've so seldom found in laugh-out-loud comedies and a great humour I've found lacking in the social commentaries I've read.

I could go on about how this Dawkins is an ass – braying about having done all the experiments, and forcing his sole disciple to be as much of an evangelist for his ideas as any other similar character you care to mention. This is the point and yet not the point. The book is easy to read inasmuch as the writing is clear, joyous and just flows, and is readable inasmuch as you can tell what the author is doing – up to a point, at least. So there are lessons and observations to be had, as long as jokes about seeing Upper Bottom that, I'm sorry, but can only be applauded. The very name of Market Horton is worth a pat on the back for.

It's a concise read, that even when it seems to make a misstep by closing in on the serious side of Smee at the halfway stage is secure in its ribald insincerity. Perhaps if I were to sit back and find fault with things I would point out that the host religious couple are perhaps cyphers and not real characters – even though the narrator is omniscient and fixated on neither Dawkins nor Smee we don't see much of them as real people. But I don't feel inclined to sit back and find fault with things here. I want to cuddle the book as if it were a puppy. Stick with me for the last sentence then – I say that for it's provided me with a great session of reading, has left me with a cheesy and at times childish grin, and like all puppies has a bark and a bite that while not the most serious thing, still make you aware of what's under the fluffy pelt.

a completely ridiculous but enjoyable book full of innuendo and silliness. It made me chortle a lot and laugh out loud several times. If you appreciate the humour in Nudiknits (or the Carry On films), you'll probably enjoy it too, but it won't be for everyone.

Professor Richard Dawkins and his secretary Smee are on their way to give a talk to the WI in Upper Bottom when they get caught in a snowdrift and are offered shelter with a Church of England vicar and his wife. Cue some laugh out loud moments and word play as Religion and Science fight for supremacy . This would never happen- or would it? An enjoyable and mischievous book!! Needless to say, there are a few disclaimers at the end!! I love quirky books and this one ticked that box, I enjoyed it.

Very silly indeed, crammed full of jokes both obvious and surprising: unpleasantly delightful.

I first encountered Dan Rhodes with the wonderful, witty, intelligent, feel-good rom-com and more This Is Life. Rhodes on that showing, knew how to warm the cockles of the heart without spoonsful of saccharine, with a delicious, inventive sense of humour, sharp observations, and finely honed prose. I have to confess that the ‘humour’ genre generally raises nary a chuckle in this house, as you can spot the boom-boom punchlines coming in predictable fashion

Rhodes did not do that boom boom in This Is Life. However….he does it rather a lot in this book. If the story of a book will involve an earnest attempt to reach a place called Upper Bottoms, it is absolutely obvious there will be much very unsubtle humour, geared at the reader’s inner four year old, and with more than a whiff of Ooh, Matron! Carry On about it.

And there was……but Rhodes had me groaning out loud with ‘no, no I can’t believe you are really going to go for potty humour in this way’ amusement. I whickered, snickered, sniggered, chortled, gasped, giggled, barked, roared, face-palmed in appalled disbelief, whinnied, screeched, howled, gibbered and made every attempt at working through an evolution of as many animal sounds possible as I proceeded through this possibly shockingly nasty book

One of the two central characters in this piece of fiction is a certain Professor Richard Dawkins who is a worldwide celebrity through the authorship of very well written books about evolution and genetics. He has also written books espousing a very militant atheism and achieved a guru like fame, loved and loathed in equal measure. This Professor Richard Dawkins has also become famous for using Social Media to scatter his pronouncements in peppery fashion on this that and the other. Curiously, the Professor Richard Dawkins who is one of the central characters in Mr Rhodes book bears more than a passing resemblance, albeit tweaked into a Spitting Image puppet kind of way, to a world famous evolutionary biologist and militant atheist whose name happens to be Richard Dawkins. And who is a professor. It’s possibly a coincidence.

The Professor Dawkins of this book is a devoted public speaker, travelling here there and everywhere to carry the message of atheism to ignorant unbelievers who hold different views from those espoused by evolutionary biologists steeped in the scientific method. In this book, this Professor Dawkins is taking his message to the cosy Women’s Institute in a place called Upper Bottoms. He is travelling with his assistant, a man called (by Professor Richard Dawkins), Smee. Though that isn’t his real name. Unfortunately an extreme wrong kind of snow weather event means his train can’t reach the Bottoms, (there are, of course, many Bottoms) and all roads to all Bottoms are blocked. The Professor is forced to seek shelter from the storm, with his trusty assistant carrying the bags, in the proverbial any port in the. Which just happens to be in Market Horton, whose claim to fame is being ‘The Gateway To The Bottoms’

The kindly hosts who will rescue the illustrious Professor and his devoted amanuensis are a retired vicar and his wife, Mr and Mrs Potter, who have a twin bedded bed and breakfast room in their house. Mrs Potter is a slightly simple soul, though enormously kind. She does make quite a few mistakes. For example, confusing this Professor with another gentleman of a reasonably similar sounding last name, who is a real-life mathematician. On being disabused of her error, and told that our professor is an expert on genomes, she makes another mistake, as anyone might, and tries to arrange the décor of the spare bedroom in a way which will make our rescued from the snow Professor feel right at home. Kindly Mrs Potter has installed a collection of objects from her garden, brought in for the winter, to gladden the heart of her chilly guest. And that was where I started making loud animal noises, which only got louder and more frequent

I rather guiltily found this an enormously feel-good book. But then, I’m not called Professor Richard Dawkins, Martin Amis, Lynne Truss, Scarlett Johansson, A.C Grayling, Pippa Middleton, or any of the other names caught in the sights of Mr Rhodes pop-gun

For the record, this book (which I gratefully received as a Christmas gift digital review copy from the doughty publishers, Aardvark Bureau) was originally published a year ago in a limited run of 400 as a self-published book by Mr Rhodes, who is a successful author.

Surprisingly, this was a book seen as a little too hot to handle, as the legal teams of publishing houses were curiously worried that a certain Professor Dawkins might have a few choice objections, particularly as there is no disclaimer that none of the characters named in the book bear any resemblance to any real people who happen to have similar names.

I can quite understand that anyone called Professor Richard Dawkins might be very offended by this book. I would be, if that was my name. And so I’m very ashamed to say that even admitting that, I couldn’t stop laughing. Even though I no longer think that Dan Rhodes is such a warm-hearted person as I did after discovering that feel-good rom com ‘This Is Life’

This is a kind of feel-bad because you feel so good book. I’m afraid I recommend it, and hope that Professor Richard Dawkins has some variant of a duck’s back gene, and handles this as if it were water.

I chose this book on NetGalley because I always love stories about academics. The concept of an academic (pedantic or not) stuck in the snow on his way to give a talk really interested me. But lo and behold this was all based on a real person. Even after finishing the book I’m still unsure how I feel about the concept. Nevertheless, I don’t know much about Professor Richard Dawkins and so I took it more as a fictional character. As such, I found the book very funny. It was well-written and a good satire about believing in everything a bit too much, especially without proof – on both side of this religion debate. My only other note would be that I thought all the characters are very unlikely – except for Mrs Smith’s daughter whom I really related to who sends an angry text late in the book – though that fits with a satire, I'm more of a fan of realism. But if you like satires you might like this read!

‘Everybody must take me seriously, and this is something that needs to be enshrined in the law of the land.’

There’s an evolutionary biologist named Richard Dawkins. He and his downtrodden assistant Smee are travelling to the British village of Upper Bottom, where the world famous professor is to address the Women’s Institute.

But, when a blizzard sets in, Dawkins and Smee find themselves stranded in the nearby town of Market Horten. With the help of Dave the taxi driver, they find emergency accommodation – with the local Anglican vicar and his wife. The prospect of staying with Christians has the professor reminding himself (and Smee) of (one of) his motto(s) ‘Cordiality always’.

So, how will Richard Dawkins survive his stay with Reverend and Mrs Potter? And why do people confuse him with Stephen Hawking? Can Smee get Richard Dawkins to Upper Bottom in time?

This is a short, funny story in which the fictional Richard Dawkins proves himself every bit as illogical as he claims the Christians are, and nowhere near as tolerant and pleasant. He is obsessed with the television program ‘Deal Or No Deal’, and with a very important and uninterruptable experiment involving a magnet and iron filings. But eventually Smee is able to prevail upon him to interrupt his experiment to assist with a most difficult delivery. Will the kittens be grateful? And the ending? What does the future hold for Richard Dawkins and Smee? Will the Women’s Institute of Upper Bottom ever hear (and appreciate) his words of wisdom?

‘I currently hold thirteen doctorates so the proper way to address me is “Doctor Doctor Doctor Doctor Doctor Doctor Doctor Doctor Doctor Doctor Doctor Doctor Doctor Dawkins”, but as this is as informal setting I shall permit you to call me simply “Doctor Doctor Dawkins”.’

I chuckled my way through this novel: this is particularly British humour, complete with double entendres. Not everyone will find this funny, but those of us who do will appreciate it.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to laugh my way through this novel.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

This a great piece of comic fiction. It is a quick, quirky and entertaining read. It is the first Dan Rhodes book that I have read and I have to say that I enjoyed it.

It centres on a larger than life Richard Dawkins and his assistant, Smee. Dawkins is to speak at the WI in Upper Bottom when snow disrupts his plans. He ends up staying with the vicar in Market Horton. Dawkins displays an arrogance that is breathtaking in all his encounters. He is positively obsessed with Deal or No Deal. In this piece of satire, Dawkins comes across as the extremist and the christians are the reasonable, kind and tolerant ones.

This book had a fast paced narrative and is amusing. I would recommend it to others as a humorous and light read. Many thanks to the publisher for a copy of the book via netgalley.

This is a quirky story about professor Richard Dawkins (who is frequently mistaken for Professor Steven Hawkins) who is marooned in Market Horton by snow. He is assisted by his assistant who he names Smee in his quest to inform the population that there is no God. I enjoyed the story until about three quarters of the way through and laughed out loud at a number of places but it seemed to get stuck and unfortunately I could not finish it. It may have been better as a novella.

This book is hilarious. It mixes British humor close to Wodehouse with a satire of contemporary atheism. The main character uses the name and convictions of Richard Dawkins, famous British biologist and ethologist, who has written various books to prove there is no God. The professor here, called Richard Dawkins like in real life tries to demonstrate his atheism in the English countryside, when a snow storm leaves him and his assistant unable to move. Dawkins will use any way to persuade the people around him he is right. Ready to discuss religious beliefs with anyone, sure of his superiority and very patronizing, Dawkins does not manage to upset the local Christians, and his rudeness and prejudices are accepted with British politeness and a hint of surprise when he pushes too far.
No matter what you personally believe, you have to laugh at Dawkins'stubbornness and I often wanted to call Smee, the professor's assistant, Jeeves!
No wonder this book is among the ten best of Netgalley UK for 2015.

Definately a romp! Very funny with a rather unexpected ending. Reading about the book's background I would say Dan Rhodes is not so much in danger of legal action from Dawkins as trolling by some of the members of the atheist and humanist community who lack a sense of humour. Which would be a shame.

This is one of those books that's hard to review, as the less you know before diving into it, the better. What I can tell you is that it's funny in a dry wit sort of way, and that it would be a good Christmas read as long as arrogant characters won't bring you down too much - I know some people only consider heart-warming and loving stories to be suitably Christmassy. He's still likeable if that helps, in a weird 'not really' kind of way - you're still invested in his arc, which is the important thing.

This is fun in that it's surreal and a good cosy mystery, with bits that have you marvelling over how clever it is. With a twist at the end, this results in a strong book and one that I would recommend.

Professor Richard Dawkins is on his way to Upper Bottom to address the local WI when he gets stranded by the weather in nearby Market Horton. What ensues is a slapstick adventure full of retaliations to Professor Dawkins' attacks on those of us foolish enough to believe in God. To begin with it was a bit daft and full of slapstick humour. However, I did get tired of it after a while. That being said I thought Dan Rhodes was brave to defend those who believe in God and clever in the way he managed to insult Dawkins in such a way that Dawkins couldn't sue him for defamation!

What an irritating man the professor was, I would have buried him 6 feet under and poor Smee so loyal. The story was very funny in parts and a wonderful, chaotic ending.

I thought this was a daring subject but possibly difficult to carry off successfully. Sadly, I found it uncomfortable and wasn't amused by it. If it had been serialised by Private Eye I might have been more amused - a periodical seeming a more suitable place for lampooning a living person.

This was dreadful. I really hated the writing style and the plot seemed just ridiculous. I think it was supposed to be tongue in cheek and amusing but failed miserably. I didn't finish it. There are far better books for me to read so I won't waste my time of a second rate novel. I was also a bit insulted on behalf of Professor Dawkins.

an interesting read

I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley in return for an honest review.

I'm sorry but I found nothing humourous about this book. In fact by the halfway mark I couldn't wait to finish the book as I had lost all interest in it but had to finish it just to see if it improved in any way so that I could give my review. I have been told I have a great sense of humour but the humour in this book, if there is any, totally passed me by.

I found the main character of Richard Dawkins really pissed me off, I found him to be a bombastic bully who felt that his opinion was the only right opinion. At the end of the book you found out why but by this time it was too late for me.

The only reason I have given this book 2 stars is the village characters and how they interacted with Richard Dawkins.

Some funny, some forced parts. Overall, a decent enough farce. I think you can only wring so much hardyharhar out of the subject matter at this stage.

When the professor got stuck in the snow

There are elements of a homour in the story that lifts it from being very childish and silly in it's use of the stereotypical mad professor character. Most of the characters are very two-dimensional with limited depth.

Unfortunatly I feel the content is too philosophical and religious for this to be a recommended read for reluctant teenage or male readers.

Something to read for a laugh but not for serious readers.

I was given the novel free by netgalley.com for my fair and honest review.

An obnoxious, self opinionated little man. The reader cannot help but feel sorry for his assistant Smee. But there's a twist in the tale. I hated this book and then loved it A must read !!