Eamonn Fitzgerald's Rainy Day

Up front, here's one of our favourites: "The president of the United States bears about as much relationship to the real business of running America as does Colonel Sanders to the business of frying chickens." That's one of the many acidic observations that has dripped from the busy pen of British author J. G. Ballard (Empire of the Sun, Crash, Cocaine Nights, Super-Cannes). Now, right in time for the Christmas market, Ballard has come up with a volume consisting of 400 pages of quotes from 40 years of writing. "J. G. BALLARD: Quotes" is the simple but effective title. Here's a sample:

"Sex times technology equals the future."

"Sooner or later all science fiction comes true."

"Americans are highly moralistic, and any kind of moral ambiguity irritates them. As a result they completely fail to understand themselves, which is one of their strengths."

"The advanced societies of the future will not be governed by reason. They will be driven by irrationality, by competing systems of psychopathology."

"A general rule: if enough people predict something, it won't happen."

"A widespread taste for pornography means that nature is alerting us to some threat of extinction."

"Learn the rules, and you can get away with anything."

"The only definition of real happiness: to find yourself and be who you are."

Ballard isn't for everyone. He tends towards the dark, so if you're feeling down, wait until the clouds have cleared before delving into his work. Still, he gets it right a lot of the time, especially about the grim uses of technology that threaten all of us. The "new totalitarianism" is what he calls the deadly mix of bland architecture, pervasive computing and docile citizenry we've become used to. He sums it up brilliantly here: "The New Totalitarians come forward smiling obsequiously like head waiters in third-rate Indian restaurants, and assuring us that everything is for our benefit." J. G. Ballard has warned us, quotably. Meanwhile, here he is talking about the middle classes and mail order Kalashnikovs.