Dan and Phil Go Outside
Dan Howell, Phil Lester
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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Synopsis:
A personal collection of candid photos and insightful stories from Dan and Phil’s adventure ‘in the real world’
Dan Howell and Phil Lester, avoiders of human contact and direct sunlight, actually went outside. Travelling around the world on tour, they have collected hundreds of exclusive, intimate and funny photos, as well as revealing and captivating side notes, to show the behind-the-scenes story of their adventure.
Review:
The Cover:
This cover just embodies Dan and Phil.
And if you're not familiar with who Dan and Phil are; well they're Youtubers. They make video content, that is both relatable and humorous over on their channels: danisnotonfire and amazingphil.
And this cover just represents them. It's perfect ?
Their choice at creating this visual explosion works both at enticing people who may not know who the hell they are to read it and enough for the Youtube community to spot all the little easter eggs from their channels and of their recent stage show.
Bold, enticing and enough to keep my eyes feasted on this cover for hours!
The Content:
Unlike their first book: The Amazing Book is Not on Fire this one is just a giant photo album/book of the events of the past year, with some captions and maybe a few inserts of random events peppered throughout. Something that both my childish teenage side and my matured "ADULT" side did appreciate.
I'm pretty sure this book came about because Dan likes his physical memories so they ended up shoving everything into a book that he could stroke in bed when Tumblr finally lets him escape. So now we all get one!! WHOOP! I say shoving like this this wasn't carefully laid out and not visually stunning. That would be completely incorrect. It felt informal and straight from the horses mouth (SORRY PHIL!!)
Anyway, the reason I gave this five stars is similar to why I gave their last one five stars. This book is supposed to be a celebration as to what these two internet nerds have managed to achieve. And that is definitely what I got whilst I speed through this.
Whole heartedly, if you just want something that will make you laugh out loud and you enjoy their videos then this book and TABINOF is something you might want to just pick up. Whenever I'm down and have no internet, this is what I always go and grab off the shelf.
The Amazing Book Is Not On Fire (The World of Dan and Book)
Dan Howell, Phil Lester
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Synopsis: Hello reader,
In this book is a world. A world created by two awkward guys who share their lives on the internet!
We are Dan and Phil and we invite you on a journey inside our minds! From the stories of our actual births, to exploring Phil's teenage diary and all the reasons why Dan's a fail.
Learn how to draw the perfect cat whiskers, get advice on what to do in an awkward situation and discover which of our dining chairs represents you emotionally. With everything from what we text each other, to the time we met One Direction and what really happened in Vegas...
My thoughts:
This is tricky because I have some opinions of "Youtuber books" that aren't very "positive". Add in some confliction because Dan and Phil are the only two youtubers I have remained subscribed to for the past six years. Then multiply this reviewers recipe, with a dash of- how do you review a book like this?
Yet, I manage to conclude it with the full five stars?
Usually I'd look at character, plot, world development and writing. The only thing applicable here would be: writing. So, lets start with that...
This book was completely, one hundred percent, Daniel James Howell and Philip Michael Lester (with the tad input from Dil Jamicael Howlter.) Every page was a new onslaught of giggles. Until, I reached the final page- and then, Mr. Howell, you made me cry by the bucket load. Ergh, that little speech. It felt so final and I don't like that. At all. Like this was the final thing to give us- in the tiny universal "Phandom". I want a film... I'll get more onto that later.
Although, both are high achievers of the English sector (educationally wise) they still kept their voice. By that I mean, it was clearly them writing every word, discussing every aspect. I could hear Phil's Northern cheer and Dan's sarcasm with so much clarity it felt like I was watching another 5 hour video. They could have easily found theirselves sounding really essay-ish and off putting.
Dan and Phil managed to achieve the compressed 6 years of friendship (and for Phil, almost 10 years of video making) in a complete 224 page book. To go for the cliché: It was a rather magical experience.
Even complete with the email Dan recieved after emailing Delia Smith about co-hosting a cook show.
I think this is hugely the reason for my rating. So very Dan. So very Phil. Although, I won't fail to mention the lack of Malteasers (or Danteasers, whatever you prefer) and Placenta. Hmmm.... was that his choice or his editors.
I want to quickly mention the beauty of the book- the layout, in short. Oh my! EVERY page was a new journey. I was interested in how this would play out, just because they have two different styles. Dan's aesthetic is monochromic, where as Phil's is bright colours, bold and japan. (Although, that'a not the point. If you watch these dorks, you'd know what I mean.) I was concerned that these two styles would clash and take away the enjoyment. I can safely say, my eyes are still intact- well apart from the glasses I still need.
The only thing I think I could say about this book is I wish for more. Stories that they perhaps would never make into videos as a sort of bloopers.
I mentioned "I want a film". What did I mean by that I here you cry. I'll mentipn only one thing: "What really happened in Vegas?" I mean come on guys. Did you really think we'd believe all that? "Photographic evidence" more like took some screen shots from a video (that still somehow exsists) of two really drunk guys; that when they looked back over, realised how drunk they really were.
That sounded more harsh than intended.
