Steven Poole#Unspeak

Poole studied English at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and has subsequently written for publications including The Independent, The Guardian, The Times Literary Supplement, The Sunday Times, and the New Statesman. 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.edge-online.com/users/steven-poole |title=Steven Poole | Edge Magazine |publisher=Edge-online.com |access-date=2011-03-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100302155536/http://www.edge-online.com/users/steven-poole |archive-date=2 March 2010 }} Poole was invited to deliver the opening keynote address at the 2006 Sydney Writers' Festival,{{cite news|url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/books/literary-festival-unveils-luminous-lineup/2006/03/30/1143441276031.html |title=Literary festival unveils luminous line-up – Books – Entertainment |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=30 March 2006 |access-date=2011-03-11}} and also gave a keynote at the 2008 Future and Reality of Gaming conference in Vienna.[http://bupp.at/frog/frog-archive/frog08-english/program/ Future And Reality Of Gaming], Vienna Games Conference {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090817142131/http://bupp.at/frog/frog-archive/frog08-english/program/ |date=17 August 2009 }}

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.{{cite web|last=Frauenfelder |first=Mark |url=http://www.boingboing.net/2008/01/15/steven-pooles-book-o.html |title=Steven Poole's book on the aesthetics of video games now a free download |publisher=Boing Boing |date=15 January 2008 |access-date=2011-03-11}}

In 2013, a collection of Poole's Edge columns was published as Trigger Happy 2.0.

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/global warming, and 'war on terror' as examples. The book was shortlisted for Index on Censorship's T.R. Fyvel Award in 2006.{{Cite web|url=https://leicesterreviewofbooks.wordpress.com/2006/03/31/french-journalist-wins-tr-fyvel-book-award/|title=French journalist wins T.R. Fyvel Book Award|date=31 March 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.{{cite web|url=http://unspeak.net/introduction/ |title=Extract: Introduction |publisher=Unspeak |access-date=2011-03-11}} 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.'{{cite news|author=Alastair Campbell |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/review/story/0,,1706247,.html |title=Review: Unspeak by Steven Poole | Books | The Guardian |publisher=Books.guardian.co.uk |date= 10 February 2006|access-date=2011-03-11 |location=London}} Since publication of the book, the author has continued to discuss new examples of unspeak at the book's dedicated blog.{{cite web|url=http://unspeak.net |title=Unspeak |publisher=Unspeak |access-date=2011-03-11}}

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."{{cite web | last=Berkmann | first=Marcus | title=The best funny books for Christmas | website=The Spectator | date=2013-11-09 | url=http://www.spectator.co.uk/2013/11/english-for-the-natives-by-harold-ritchie-the-unbelievable-truth-by-graeme-garden-and-jon-naismith-numberland-by-mitchell-symons-who-touched-base-in-my-thoughts-shower-by-stephen-poole-dedicat/ | access-date=2016-05-11}}

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.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/jun/28/why-bad-ideas-refuse-die|title=Why bad ideas refuse to die|last1=Poole |first1=Steven |date=28 June 2016 |website=The Guardian |access-date=30 June 2016 |quote=It is important to rethink the notion that the best ideas reliably rise to the top: that itself is a zombie idea, which helps entrench powerful interests.}}

Poole writes book reviews and literary and cultural essays for numerous publications, including a long obituary of Jean Baudrillard for The Guardian,{{cite web|author=Steven Poole |url=http://stevenpoole.net/articles/transfini/ |title=Transfini |publisher=Steven Poole |date=7 March 2007 |access-date=2011-03-11}} and a critique of the work of Alain de Botton.{{cite news|author=Steven Poole |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/mar/27/highereducation.shopping |title=Review: Status Anxiety by Alain de Botton | Books |work=The Guardian |date= 18 January 2005|access-date=2011-03-11 |location=London}}

In 2004, Poole presented a television documentary for BBC Four called Trigger Happy: The Invincible Rise of the Video Game, based on his book.{{cite web|author=Steven Poole |url=http://stevenpoole.net/blog/trigger-happy-the-movie/ |title=Trigger Happy, the movie |publisher=Steven Poole |date=31 January 2008 |access-date=2011-03-11}} He also appeared in the documentary Thumb Candy, and has guested on BBC Radio 4 and other outlets in numerous discussions about language, including an appearance on the Today programme in 2009 talking about the term "swine flu".{{cite web|url=http://unspeak.net/media/ |title=Media |publisher=Unspeak |access-date=2011-03-11}}

Poole is also a composer of music for documentary and short films,{{IMDb name|2265142}}[http://stevenpoole.net/music/ Music], StevenPoole.net including the short film EVOL.[http://www.chrisvincze.info/evol/ EVOL] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080320060608/http://www.chrisvincze.info/evol/ |date=20 March 2008 }}, ChrisVincze.info{{IMDb title|0804471|EVOL (2006)}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://stevenpoole.net Steven Poole's official website]
• {{IMDb name|2265142}}
• [https://www.theguardian.com/profile/stevenpoole Steven Poole's articles] for The Guardian
• [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/22/AR2006052201526.html Review of Unspeak] in The Washington Post
• [http://www.slate.com/id/2158035/ Review of Unspeak] at Slate

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Category:British male journalists

Category:British non-fiction writers

Category:1972 births

Category:Living people

Category:Framing theorists

Category:Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge