A User's Guide to the Millennium

The ninety pieces of J.G. Ballard's non-fiction writing collected here for the first time were written between 1962 and 1995. Many touch on themes and obsessions familiar to readers of his fiction; all show the insight, wit and distinctive vision of the modern world that have characterised his work throughout his distinguished career as one of the most important voices in contemporary fiction.'Few writers can write with equal facility about Elvis Presley, Norwegian lobsters and Deng Xiaoping. Ballard does so with great flair and energy in this fabulously diverse collection. It crackles with a mandarin diversity of interests, from Winnie-the-Pooh to general Schwarzkopf. As we get closer to the year 2000, Ballard offers an exhilarating account of 20th-century mayhem.' IAN THOMSON, 'Independent on Sunday''Ballard's prescience about technological development seems monstrously acute. Like H.G. Wells talking to an audience of the 1900s, he gives an impression not only of knowing what the future will be like, but of actually relishing its arrival. As well as the prescience and the clear autobiographer's eye, we should also value J.G. Ballard for his sense of humour.' D.J. TAYLOR, 'Independent''In a shrinking world increasingly bereft of original imaginations, J.G. Ballard stands alone, a bizarre visionary maverick. Cinema, surrealist painting, crime, the future, madness, sf and China - these are Ballard's specialist subjects. Best of all in this eccentric, relaxed, always readable collection are his laconic wartime memories, the treasure house he kept locked for forty years.' EILEEN BATTERSBY, 'Irish Times''For the reader, pleasure derives largely from coming on the unexpected on every other page, and from randomly discovering new insights into familiar topics, or introductions to unfamiliar ones. Ballard's cool sardonic gaze, eyeing the absurdities of the late twentieth century through the distancing science-fictional viewfinder, renders tragedy almost amusing.' TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT