Ever sat on a train and eaves-dropped on a conversation between strangers? - Rated 
Ever sat on a train and eaves-dropped on a conversation between strangers?
Course you have! Well so has the writer of this book, and he's written an entire book based on his prying.
But whereas you or I would perhaps hear a couple of snatched sentences and shirk away for fear of being discovered, here the writer has gone the whole hog and listened in on entire conversations.
It's a similar concept to the Overhead-In-New-York website, but here the writer has contextualized the conversations with his own descriptions and prose, which are often caustically witty and just a little misanthropic.
All Ears is laugh-loud funny, surreal and, yes, even thought-provoking.
As the book demonstrates that if you study the banalities of everyday life closely enough, you can find the truly bizarre and fascinating.
great stuff from michael - Rated
this is a great and unusual book. perfect for the smallest room in the house. this book changed the way i feel when trapped on a bus or train and subjected to other peoples conversations. now i find myself thinking "could michael use this".
A great insight into modern Britain - Rated
I would take the negative review with a very large pinch of salt.
As a regular reader of All Ears in the Guardian Guide - the first page I'd turn to, and still do as it happens - I was glad to hear this book was coming out, especially as it contains previously unpublished material.
I think every one can relate to the situations Holden finds himself in, the tedium of queues, the long bus journey home, an inappropriately loud conversation in an enclosed space and people's general lack of self awareness that lends itself ideally to the casual - or in Holden's case professional - eavesdropper, and that's where the hook lies in the book.
A slice of everyday modern Britain, that encapsulates more than most one dimensional census's or survey's ever could.
Not to mention the fact that it's very funny!
Dull & disappointing - Rated 
I had great expectations of this book but two thirds of the way through, I am on the verge of giving up on it. I thought it would be humorous but it hasn't raised so much as a smirk yet. The situations and conversations are mind numbingly boring and although each captured conversation is, of course, unique, they seem very repetitive. I haven't felt tempted to share a single one with my wife who is more rewardingly involved with her Sudoku in the chair next to me.
I'm glad that I borrowed it from the library and didn't waste my money!!
All Ears - Rated
Since he and his little buddies started a magazine called Loaded way back when, Michael Holden has been known for his sideways look on events and wry humour. I guess matching Jonny Rotten drink for drink in LA or interviewing supermodels in the back of limos has palled on him- these days apparently he's taking a back seat to events a little more, and has been amusing himself by listening in on people's conversations and recording them for articles in the Guardian. This is the kind of thing which might be mildly diverting at the best of times, but here Holden has tweaked it into a neat little piece of social anthropology.
To some people, it will be a reassuring and entertaining confirmation of the world they live in, and to those who don't live local, it will be something totally other. Anything that encourages us to take a second look at what we would usually ignore as banal, unsettling, or irritating can only be a good thing.
Recommended for reading in crowded public places- as, inspired, you can tune in to what people are saying around you.
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