“…if there’s one thing British audiences enjoy laughing at even more than their own failings, the rapacity of corporations or xenophobia in the Daily Mail, it’s the French”

Thinking About It Only Makes It Worse: And Other Lessons From Modern Life is a book by British actor, comedian and writer, David Mitchell. It contains a collection of columns that Mitchell has written for the Observer over the period 2009 to 2014, with some additional commentary. It also includes a twelve page appendix of predictions (made with tongue firmly in cheek) for years to come. Amongst the myriad of subjects on which Mitchell opines, TV shows, ad slogans, elections, wheelie bins and a comparison of GFC bankers with Nazis are just a sample.

Much of what Mitchell says is very funny, clever, incisive and often thought-provoking, but some of it would only be so for the British and those who closely follow British politics and current affairs. None-the-less, some opinions are universally applicable: “…in general, we should avoid changing the names of aspects of the state or government because politicians’ tendency will always be to make the new names more emotive, more like adverts. And the government has nothing to sell us that we don’t already own” and others will resonate with many: “If those who misuse the apostrophe are not adversely judged for it, they why did I waste so much time listening in class?”

Although some columns are quite dated, they may still be interesting to most readers, but others are, frankly, boring and readers could not be blamed for skipping pages. Viewers of QI and Would I Lie To You will hear Mitchell’s distinctive voice behind the text. Not for everyone.