Jeremy Clarkson Recommended Books

A big, powerful saga of men in combat, written over the course of thirty-five years by a highly decorated Vietnam veteran.Intense, powerful, and compelling, Matterhorn is an epic war novel in the tradition of Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead and James Jones's The Thin Red Line. It is the timeless story of a young Marine lieutenant, Waino Mellas, and his comrades in Bravo Company, who are dropped into the mountain jungle of Vietnam as boys and forced to fight their way into manhood. Standing in their way are not merely the North Vietnamese but also monsoon rain and mud, leeches and tigers, disease and malnutrition. Almost as daunting, it turns out, are the obstacles they discover between each other: racial tension, competing ambitions, and duplicitous superior officers. But when the company finds itself surrounded and outnumbered by a massive enemy regiment, the Marines are thrust into the raw and all-consuming terror of combat. The experience will change them forever.Written over the course of thirty years by a highly decorated Vietnam veteran, Matterhorn is a visceral and spellbinding novel about what it is like to be a young man at war. It is an unforgettable novel that transforms the tragedy of Vietnam into a powerful and universal story of courage, camaraderie, and sacrifice: a parable not only of the war in Vietnam but of all war, and a testament to the redemptive power of literature.A graduate of Yale University and a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, Karl Marlantes served as a Marine in Vietnam, where he was awarded the Navy Cross, the Bronze Star, two Navy Commendation Medals for valor, two Purple Hearts, and ten air medals. This is his first novel. He lives in rural Washington State.

An exhilarating journey through the most creative and catastrophic f**k ups in human history, from our very first ancestor falling out of that tree, to the most spectacular fails of the present day. Perfect for fans of Sarah Knight and Giles Milton.This is HUMANS.In the seventy thousand years that modern human beings have walked this earth, we've come a long way. Art, science, culture, trade - on the evolutionary food chain, we're real winners. But, frankly, it's not exactly been plain sailing, and sometimes - just occasionally - we've managed to really, truly, quite unbelievably f**k things up.From Chairman Mao's Four Pests Campaign, to the sinking of the Titanic; from the American Dustbowl, to the world's leading superpower electing a reality TV mogul as President... it's pretty safe to say that, as a species, we haven't exactly grown wiser with age.So, next time you think you've really f**ked up, this book will remind you: it could be so much worse...

'A great and inspiring book from Doncaster's bravest son. Read it in a day' - Jeremy Clarkson'Ben is the embodiment of positive thinking. What he has achieved, in large part through willpower, is nothing short of miraculous. An inspiration to us all' - Ant MiddletonThe story of Ben Parkinson MBE, the most injured soldier to have survived Afghanistan---What were you doing when you were 22? Where were you in the world? What did you want to do with your life?Ben Parkinson was a 6'4" Paratrooper. He was in Afghanistan fighting for his country. He wanted to always be a soldier, to be a father and to get home in one piece. But we don't always get what we want. So the question how do we react when that happens? You find something new to fight for.Ben Parkinson MBE is an inspiration to everyone. He suffered 37 injuries when his Land Rover hit a mine in Helmand in 2006, including brain damage, breaking his back and losing both his legs. This book follows the story of what led him to that moment his life changed forever - and what happened next. Doctors didn't think Ben could survive the trauma - then they didn't think he would wake up, or talk again, or walk again. Time after time, Ben pushed the ceiling on what was possible, going on to carry the Olympic flame in 2012 and receiving an MBE for the enormous feats he has undertaken for charity.What he has achieved in the face of adversity - for others as well as for himself - is nothing short of a miracle. Nerve-wracking, heart-warming and full of classic soldier's humour, Losing the Battle, Winning the War is a book you'll be thinking about long after the last page.'Ben Parkinson is my hero. His story is one of immeasurable courage and character, a testament to the extraordinary resilience of the human spirit' Dan Jarvis MP, author of Long Way Home