Omnibus Book Tour

Monday, August 21, 2006

Now it can be told...

I've held off announcing this until I was certain it was going to happen, but now since I have my passport and plane ticket in hand, I can finally tell everyone... I'm traveling to London in October to speak at the Dana Centre, an offshoot of the Science Museum.

On Tuesdays and Wednesdays at the end of October and beginning of November, the courtyard at the Dana Centre will be converted to a combination of fairground and laboratory of thrilling experiences. Visitors will be invited to ride one of three fairground rides -- the sideways-spinning Miami Trip, the looping Booster and the spook house dark ride Ghost Train -- while video, audio and physiological data transmitted from the riders will be viewed by the audience and commented on by a panel of experts, including a space flight surgeon and a criminologist.

My job will be to sit in the ride control booth and present a brief history of each of the rides, complete with low-tech cardboard models and diagrams, and then to introduce the poor guy who will take the first ride. The two of us will join the other panelists inside afterwards.

In addition to this speaking engagement, I'm looking forward to making a couple side trips. I will definitely go to Sheffield to visit the National Fairground Archives, and I'll probably scurry off to the Netherlands for a few days to visit De Efteling, which is considered by many in the industry to be the most beautiful theme park in the world.

I am excited beyond measure. I have been waiting for someone to pay me to yak about amusement park rides for years!

More information about the Dana Centre.

More information about the event (PDF).

Buy my book and see what the fuss is about.