Book Review: The Bluffers Guide to Skiing

It is rare that a non fiction book has you hooked, but this little treasure had me giggling from start to finish. While reading it back stage, during the play I was in last week, I was close to missing my cue on more than one occasion.

For this I have the Bluffers to blame.

A tiny little book that fits neatly in any handbag, it is perfect commute reading or to read in one sitting on a lazy Sunday afternoon. There are lots of different Bluffer’s Guides in the series, each helping you become a proud aficionado in a given topic, Giving you the knowhow to wow your friends and prove your expertise without a degree or in this book’s case, without ever setting foot on the slopes.

‘It’s not what you know, it’s what they think you know’.

OK so that wouldn’t be fun, who wants to read a book about skiing without actually trying out this awesome sport, but if you are a skier like me, but wouldn’t ‘quite’ class yourself as an expert, then this book is for you and will help you become famous on the slopes. Armed with your impressive vocabulary and historical ski knowledge and your talk of all the outrageously awesome things you did ‘last season in the Bugaboos…’, you are set to shine.

NB: You didn’t actually do this stuff, being a bluffer is all about insane lies, over exaggerating the truth and pure showing off. 

From the opening page you can instantly relate to what you are reading, from the comical references, to your own feelings of pride as a skier, to the stereotypical references of the different categories of skier and ski resorts.

‘Flushed with pride, they will have puffed up their chests in the fond belief that onlookers were bursting with admirations. In fact, onlookers were doing nothing of the sort…’

Earlier this year I went on a ski trip to Austria and the descriptions of out of town ski lifts, ‘too many T-bars’ and ‘frenetic lederhosen-lowering apres-ski’ couldn’t have been closer to the truth. I remember moments of bouncing up and down to German House music, fuelled by Gluhwein and skiing adrenaline as I watched the locals get quickly more ‘frenetic’ as the sun passed behind the spectacular mountains behind us.

‘Did you know that an airborne powder snow avalanche can travel at speeds of up to 190 miles per hour?’

The book is filled with both genuinely useful advice for skiers of all levels, to comedy humour that will have you laughing into your mochacchino as you read en route to work and prepare to wow your slope buddies with your new found knowledge.

The Bluffers Guide to Skiing is a must read for all skiers and I guarantee you will have a blast reading it, and hey it might even make you a better skier?!

You can purchase the Bluffers Guide to Skiing and other Bluffer’s Guides in hard copies or for your Kindle or E Reader.