Review: Good cause; good book
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 16, 2011
This is a book for charity; specifically to raise funds for the Japanese Red Cross in the wake of the recent earthquakes. Regardless of the cause, I wanted to make sure this review was just of the book itself, and give an honest view on it.Fortunately, this is a great book.It's comprised of a multitude of instant responses to the earthquake - no analysis, but vivid detail while things were still fresh in people's heads. In this respect, the presence of such celebrities as Yoko Ono is a distraction - the best pieces are both those who were actually there, hearing the creak of swaying skyscrapers or realising that the shops were bare of all fresh food except that grown near the nuclear power station affected in the quake.It's a very 21st century book, with its tweets and webcams, and the way it makes clear that even a local disaster like the quakes now affects people the world over; a fact vividly shown by the range of contributions to the book; and the mysterious editor 'Our Man In Akimobo'...It's beautifully formatted for the Kindle too, with pictures, photos, and Japanese text or displayed perfectly.