Steven Poole (born 1972) is a British author, journalist, and video game theorist. He particularly concerns himself with the abuse of language and has written two books on the subject: ''Unspeak'' (2006) and ''Who Touched Base in My Thought Shower?'' (2013).

Biography

Poole studied English at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and has subsequently written for publications including ''

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'', ''

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'', '' The Times Literary Supplement'', ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'', and the ''

New Statesman ''The New Statesman'' (known from 1931 to 1964 as the ''New Statesman and Nation'') is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first c ...

''. He has published two books and currently writes a weekly nonfiction book-review column in the Saturday ''Guardian'' called Et Cetera, as well as regular longer book reviews, plus a monthly column in '' Edge'' magazine. Poole was invited to deliver the opening keynote address at the 2006 Sydney Writers' Festival, and also gave a keynote at the 2008 Future and Reality of Gaming conference in Vienna.

Books

''Trigger Happy'' and ''Trigger Happy 2.0''

'' Trigger Happy'' was published in 2000 by 4th Estate in the UK (with the subtitle 'The Inner Life of Videogames') and by Arcade Publishing in the US (with the subtitle 'Videogames and the Entertainment Revolution'). Investigating the aesthetics of videogames, Poole notes similarities and differences to other artforms such as cinema, painting and literature, and finally offers a description of games as semiotic systems that may provoke 'aesthetic wonder'. In 2007, Poole released a PDF version of the book for free download on his website, calling it an 'experiment' in the tip-jar model for writers. In 2013, a collection of Poole's ''Edge'' columns was published as ''Trigger Happy 2.0''.

''Unspeak''

''Unspeak'' was published in 2006 by Little, Brown in the UK, and by Grove Press in the US. The second UK edition (2007) has the subtitle 'Words Are Weapons'. It is a book about language in contemporary politics, structured around buzzphrases, for which he names 'community',

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

global warming Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes ...

, and ' war on terror' as examples. The book was shortlisted for

Index on Censorship Index on Censorship is an organisation campaigning for freedom of expression. It produces a quarterly magazine of the same name from London. It is directed by the non-profit-making Writers and Scholars International, Ltd (WSI) in association wit ...

's T.R. Fyvel Award in 2006. According to Poole, 'unspeak' is related to framing: it is a rhetorical way of naming an issue so as to avoid having to argue one's position, and to render the opposing position inexpressible. In a negative review of the book in the ''Guardian'', former British government communications chief Alastair Campbell wrote, 'I am not quite sure what Poole is trying to say.' Since publication of the book, the author has continued to discuss new examples of unspeak at the book's dedicated blog.

''Who Touched Base in My Thought Shower?''

''Who Touched Base in My Thought Shower?'' was released in October 2013 by Sceptre, an imprint of Hodder & Stoughton. The book was expanded from an article written for ''The Guardian'' and ridicules workplace jargon. ''The Spectator'' thought it "does show occasional signs of having been written in a rush, but it's a valuable glossary to corporate life and demonstrates the empty-headed arrogance of what passes for management style."

''Rethink: the Surprising History of Ideas''

''Rethink: the Surprising History of Ideas'' was released in 2016 by. Among other subjects, it takes up the life-cycle of bad ideas and argues that retooling past ideas often leads to significant progress and innovation.

Journalism

Poole writes book reviews and literary and cultural essays for numerous publications, including a long obituary of

Jean Baudrillard Jean Baudrillard (, ; ; – 6 March 2007) was a French sociology, sociologist and philosopher with an interest in cultural studies. He is best known for his analyses of media, contemporary culture, and technological communication, as well as hi ...

for ''The Guardian'', and a critique of the work of Alain de Botton.

Media

In 2004, Poole presented a television documentary for

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

called ''Trigger Happy: The Invincible Rise of the Video Game'', based on his book. He also appeared in the documentary ''

Thumb Candy The thumb is the first digit of the hand, next to the index finger. When a person is standing in the medical anatomical position (where the palm is facing to the front), the thumb is the outermost digit. The Medical Latin English noun for thum ...

'', and has guested on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

and other outlets in numerous discussions about language, including an appearance on the '' Today'' programme in 2009 talking about the term "swine flu".

Other activities

Poole is also a composer of music for documentary and short films, including the short film ''EVOL''.

References

External links

Steven Poole's official website
*
Steven Poole's articles
for ''

''
Review of Unspeak
in ''

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''
Review of Unspeak
at ''

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'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Poole, Steven British male journalists British non-fiction writers 1972 births Living people Framing theorists Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge