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On the Edge: My Story

by Richard Hammond

(based on 1 review)

£10.96 £13.70
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On the Edge: My Story

He describes his childhood and adolescence and the emergence of the adrenalin junkie, the first ridiculous stunts on his tricycle, and an increasing and near obsessive attraction to speed and the smell of petrol. He finds an attractive girl, Mindy, who shares his interests and helps him organise his high-speed life. For such a lively and intelligent communicator TV beckons and he becomes one of the daredevil trio, with Jeremy Clarkson and James May, who make such an enormous world-wide success of the revamped BBC TV programme Top Gear. He describes the personalities, the camaraderie and the stunts with which they entertain their weekly audiences until the day of his 300 mph crash that took Top Gear off the air and plunged a nation into mourning. The day of the crash, his rescue and the flight to hospital in a coma are described and then Mindy recounts the anxious waiting until he finally emerges from his coma - to immediately pull out all his life support equipment - and Richard then pieces together the stages of recovery as his shattered mind slowly reforms. We learn exactly what happened to him and the milestones in his slow recovery to full health. The final chapter recounts the return to Top Gear and the screening of the events of that fateful day.

Top reviews

A gripping narration from people who truly know the pain

Getting this on CD, so I could hear Richard narrate himself, I feel this was the best way to hear the story, abridged or otherwise.
And there, consequently, is one slight downside to the story. Not having the full text, I cannot say how much may have been cut, for this abridged reading, but it is always a slight hindrance to not have an unabridged recording.
However, what text there is, Richard reads with sensitivity in the darker parts of book, as well as an affectionately cheeky tone in the lighter. Whichever tone a section may have, however, you can tell that Richard's journey is, bit-by-bit, continuing.
This isn't just Richard's point of view. The book is a shared effort, from the man himself (giving us a first-hand account of the condition) and his wife, Mindy. Therefore, we have the view of what happens not only to Richard (when Richard is in a state where he can't record what is happening, such as during his coma), but also the effect on the world around him.
As the book is indeed a shared effort, it seems only fair that the reading should be shared. This is another little niggle. While Richard cannot be faulted in his reading, what with experience in speaking to an audience, Mindy's reading can sometimes be emotionally underwhelming. This can be forgiven, however, as dwelling too much on the emotional events could be potentially damaging to Mindy, and there is no need for her to be hurt in reading out and reliving the events.
Despite these tiny little flaws, which are in no way enough to merit a bad review, this audiobook is a good addition to the collection of anyone who likes biographies, as well as a possible comfort for others who have gone through such experiences. No doubt this is one of the reasons the book was written, if Richard's brief anecdote on fan letters is anything to go by.

Review by AC Smith on 16:27, 14 Jun 2009

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