Behaving Ourselves, David Mitchell
Behaving Ourselves, David Mitchell
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Behaving Ourselves
David Mitchell on Manners

Author: David Mitchell

Narrator: David Mitchell

Unabridged: 1 hr 50 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/04/2018

Synopsis

David Mitchell sets out on a vigorous but impeccably polite investigation into the confusing world of manners. Are they really in decline, as many would have us believe? Or are we just throwing off the shackles of the Victorian obsession with etiquette?

Over the course of the series, David eats his lunchtime sandwiches with children in a primary school, and later goes to a street market to see manners - good and bad - in action. He explores where our manners come from with Professors Steven Pinker from Harvard University and the author Henry Hitchings. What do we mean by 'civility' and 'good manners' in public places? Why are people still pinching vicars' bottoms, and what can the state do to improve standards of public behaviour? And, David asks, how is the digital age changing our sense of public space?

Produced by Chris Ledgard.

About David Mitchell

English born author, David Stephen Mitchell is a novelist and screenwriter. He was born in Southport and raised in Malvern, Worcestershire, where he attended Hanley Castle High School. He also attended and graduated from the University of Kent, with a degree in English and American literature. He then completed his M.A. in Comparative Literature.

Mitchell has lived in different areas of the world. He lived for a year in Sicily, then moved to Hiroshima, Japan where he taught English for eight years. He then returned to England to focus his efforts on writing, and became financially capable of earning a living with his writing.

Mitchell has awards and best sellers from his body of work: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, Black Swan Green, Cloud Atlas, Number9Dream, Ghostwritter and The Bone Clocks. After the release of his novel adapted for screen, Cloud Atlas, Mitchell became a screenwriter. In collaboration with others, he wrote the series finale of the television series, Sense8, and for the film Matrix 4. He and his wife live in Ireland with their two children.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Barry on November 21, 2024

Behaving ourselves is a short book where David Mitchell investigates manners, where they come from and how they are changing. He interviews diplomats, golf club members, market stall holders etc and concludes that manners are forever changing according to the latest public ideal. Some people feel th......more

Goodreads review by Vivienne on September 22, 2024

This is a short, light hearted and largely funny (unsurprising given the author!) look at the world of manners and how behavioural expectations have changed and are changing. David Mitchell conducts a series of interviews with a wide range of people to collect information and opinions and looks at b......more

Goodreads review by MicheleStitches on January 08, 2023

I always enjoy David Mitchell being David Mitchell. But I was surprised to find that this “audiobook” is really not a “book.” Rather, it is a recording of a BBC radio show hosted and narrated by David Mitchell. That being said, I feel conflicted about listing it in my Goodreads. What next??? Will po......more

Goodreads review by IvanOpinion on December 16, 2020

Not really an audiobook; more of a compilation of what sounds like a series of radio programmes. But I don't think I ever heard them on the radio, so I'm pleased to have been able to listen to them in this form. They are everything you expect and want from Mitchell: wry, humble and intelligent humour......more

Goodreads review by Carol on February 22, 2025

I went into this with misplaced expectations. This is not David Mitchell reading one of his works- it is four episodes of a tv program exploring the role of manners in society. Uses field trips and interviews. Perfectly fine.........more

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