Like a well-delivered punch line, Black & White And Read All Over, the tenth book by award-winning writer Arthur Black, is guaranteed to make you laugh. The beloved radio personality and newspaper columnist tackles a range of subjects from Sasquatch hunters to nose jobs to the legalization of pot. Known for his delight in the bizarre and derision of the absurd, Black holds nothing back as he comments on the caprices of a society in which people can leave a legacy by naming bugs after themselves, coffee beans initially "processed" by small Indonesian marsupials sell for $110 US a pound in San Francisco, and gambling and fitness machines have combined so "all those casino addicts steadfastly clutching the plastic buckets of quarters and loonies now have a chance to lose pounds as they lose their money." In his trademark style, Black introduces readers to a colourful cast of characters, including a rock-and-roll critic enroute to her 60th high school reunion, a paralyzed author who wrote an entire novel by moving his left eye to indicate letters of the alphabet, and a Canadian senator who delivered a speech lasting 44 hours ("asking a politician to speak for five minutes is like expecting a great white shark to eat with a dessert spoon"). Black believes that "life, when you think of it, is really a series of accidents all strung together like a necklace fashioned by a drunkard." Dip into Black & White And Read All Over, and you'll see why.

Arthur Black's growing collection of award-winning books include Pitch Black, Black Tie and Tales (Stoddart Publishing) and Black in the Saddle Again, all of which won him the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour. He hosted CBC Radio One's Basic Black program from 1983 until 2002, while also using his comedic talents to host Life Television Network's Weird Homes and Weird Wheels. His recently released audio CD, Planet Salt Spring, features tales from his adopted home of Salt Spring Island, BC Canada.

Arthur Black's profile page

"It's a collection of short, quirky, funny pieces. The book resembles the man...Black is ace at repartee. He says he's always been funny. He blames it on being short...The discipline of radio has made Black a master of a spare prose style that combines comic timing with just a hint of zany twilight zone. He knows how to surprise."
-Pat Burkette, Victoria Times Colonist

Victoria Times Colonist

"Black and White and Read All Over is Black's 10th book and, like others, the title puns on his name...It is full of wit and Black's Canadian view point."
-Annie Boulanger, Burnaby NOW

Burnaby NOW

"Nothing and nobody escapes Black's wide - ranging radar, and his research turns up some of the most amusing anecdotes. Like how the Pickle Arse MacLeans got their nickname. Or how best to squelch a heckler. Or how Gus Wickstrom of Tompkins, Sask., uses a pig spleen to predict weather. It's all guaranteed Black gold, Black humour."
M. Wayne Cunningham, The Kamloops Daily News

The Kamloops Daily News