I HAVE been a fan of Steve Martin, the white-haired American comedian, for most of my life. I remember watching his movies, such as The Jerk or The Man With Two Brains when I was young; surreptitiously staying up late to watch the re-runs on TV or getting an older family member to rent them from our local video shop (kudos to my older and slightly unhinged cousin)!

I had not seen much of his acclaimed stand-up work until recently. You may know him from his movies but his stand-up comedy was truly remarkable. Totally original and off-the-wall, he laid the groundwork for everyone from Andy Kaufman and Richard Pryor to Eddie Izzard and Bill Bailey.

This is, in Martin's own words, a remarkably honest look at how he stumbled into stand-up comedy and drew the biggest concert audiences in the history of comedy - and why he walked away from it all. There aren't many books like this out there - the nearest I can think of is Jimmy Carr's recent The Naked Jape.

Born Standing Up by Steve Martin is a really great insight into the mindset of a comedian and has some very personal and poignant moments. On my (newly-invented for the purpose of this review) scoring system, I give it four-out-of-five bananas.

Talking of bananas, I have been trying to read The David Icke Guide To Global Conspiracy (and how to end it). This is not an easy book to read, never mind review!

Icke, ex-goalkeeper turned prophet, argues that the people in charge of the world are aware of everything we do and that they are trying to install their tyranny on us all.

Strong words, perhaps, but quite plausible - until you consider his theories on an alien lizard race who have been disguised as humans for thousands of years (causing everything from the birth of civilisation in the Ancient World to the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers) so as to corrupt and control our society, and then things go a bit funny.

At face value, this is all very easy to ridicule. However, if you look closer, you can see that he brings a lot of unanswered questions to the table. For example, if President Bush knew about the first plane hitting the Twin Towers before he famously entered a school classroom to read a story to the kids, why did he continue, especially when told of the second plane hitting the buildings?

This book is full of coincidences and worrying facts that will make you wonder if Icke knows something that we don't. It may be a strange choice but you'll be amazed, or at least amused, by what's inside.