DAVID CROZIER S SHORTS: Four strings, six glasses and a whole lot of nothing

DAVID CROZIER'S SHORTS: Four strings, six glasses and a whole lot of nothing

SECRETS OF MARY MAGDALENE

by Dan Burstein & Arne de Keijzer, Orion £6.99

QUITE how long the Da Vinci Code cash-ins are likely to go on remains to be seen - presumably until we, the great book-buying public, stop buying them. Here's the latest which investigates Mary Magdalene's role in Christianity and attempts to answer the questions that, the authors claim, "have fascinated so many people." These questions include: Did Mary write her own Gospel? If so, what did it say? And why have I bought this tripe? Actually, I made up that last one but

you get the idea.

A HISTORY OF THE WORLD IN

SIX GLASSES

by Tom Standage

Atlantic £8.99

TOM Standage has the uncanny knack of writing factual books about subjects that you might not think you'd love - but you do. Two of his previous books, The Neptune File and The Mechanical Turk, are both wonderful and this sits alongside them well. What Standage has done is tell the story of humanity through six drinks - beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea and cola. They have been used as currencies, in religious rites, as political symbols, as sources of philosophical and artistic inspiration - and much more besides as this thirst-quenchingly brilliant book demonstrates. Recommended.

MY BASS AND OTHER ANIMALS

by Guy Pratt

Orion, £12.99

MEMOIRS from musicians are usually full of either gaps or lies. It seems that when you've been off your head a lot, it's hard to remember the details when compiling your life story some decades later. But despite that, they are often hugely entertaining. And entertaining is certainly a word to be applied to this memoir even though Guy Pratt isn't likely to be a name that springs readily to mind when considering rock superstars. He started out playing bass in 1980s band Icehouse which supported David Bowie on his Serious Moonlight tour of 1983. Since then he's played bass with just about everyone from The Smiths to Pink Floyd and Iggy Pop to Madonna and there's some great stuff here. Incidentally, Pratt's dad played Jeff Randall in the classic 1960s TV series Randall And Hopkirk (Deceased). That alone makes him all right by me.

David Crozier