Based on the author's long-running column in London's "Sunday Telegraph, " this diverting book offers literary history in bite sizes, presenting surprising details on each of 50 classic work's genesis and composition. Emphasizing books that are literally inexplicable without this background knowledge, the book covers iconic works from Thomas Moore's "Utopia" to Joyce's "Ulysses." Along the way readers learn what Wordsworth's "Prelude" was a prelude to, the identity of the original Jeeves, why "A Clockwork Orange" wasn't "A Robotic Banana, " and much more.