Instead of doing something productive (like writing this review), I have spent the last twenty or so minutes Googlewhacking profusely, with thusfar disappointing results. It was precisely this kind of distraction which led Dave Gorman (previously of Are You Dave Gorman?) to go wandering around the globe for three months in the name of a drunken bet, rather than settling down to write his "adult" novel.

Before embarking on a profile of a Googlewhacking Adventure, it would be a good idea to explain the concept of a "Googlewhack". Perhaps this is best practically illustrated - first, open a new window, and pop over to Google. Halfway there, now for the whack - type in Barracked Superhighway (or better, Postulating Cassocks), and allow yourself to wallow in the results; of all the billions of pages within the world wide web, this is the only one that contains both of these words.

Gorman's original set (including Francophile Namesakes and Dork Turnspit) have now been rendered non-Googlewhacks by the numerous websites referring to this book, but when they existed as unique pages, they provided their finder with a worldwide pathway he couldn't help but follow.

The task set of Gorman worked as follows: He must find a Googlewhack, and e-mail the person behind the relevant site, who will then find him two more Googlewhacks. Gorman meets this person, then repeats the process with the supplied Googlewhacks until he has a chain of ten. Sounds relatively easy (albeit time-consuming and expensive, given the travel involved) doesn't it?

Apparently not, as the book demonstrates - of all those three billion websites, a great many have since been abandoned by their creators, or not been updated when these people's contact addresses have changed. Other times, a person may decide (perhaps understandably) not to respond to an unsolicited message, the author informing them they are a Googlewhack and expressing a desire to meet them. Frustratingly, it only takes two of these situations to occur together, and the whole chain collapses.

So, with the concept of the book elaborated upon, what of the quality of the eccentric tale? If you have read Are You Dave Gorman?, you will be prepared for the style of this adventure - Gorman is a wonderfully charismatic hero, albeit one who suffers from recurring foot-in-mouth syndrome and has an unfortunate routine which entails waking up feeling hungover and slowly recalling the misguided actions of the previous night. He is unwaveringly persistant, and imbues his writing with the kind of casual, chatty style which must earn him his success in his unpredictable journey.

In a trail which takes him all across America, to Holland, China and a last-minute dash to Australia, Gorman places his fate in the hands of dozens of unprepared characters, including a homo-erotic fiction writer, a Chinese performance artist and a devout Creationist Scientist. The latter turned out to be the pre-eminent power in his highly controversial field, but had not the slightest familiarity with the Internet itself, let alone a panache for Googlewhacking - which was unfortunate for Gorman's chain.

With his tendency to be irrationally pragmatic in the most bizarre of situations, and hilariously wacky when confronting everyday banality, Gorman makes this tale come alive in the mind of the reader, and almost every other page contains the kind of laugh-out-loud moment that earns you dubious looks on the bus. It's silly, it's pointless, but in many ways, this is where its principal charm lies - this is a work of utter childish mayhem, told by a writer whose exuberant passion flies out of every sentence.

Although his aim at the start of the book was to write the kind of serious, thoughtful novel that 31-year olds should write, the result is much more inspiring. Detaching oneself from all the pressures of life to pursue a personal quest like this is something many would love to do - and although the exercise left him out of pocket and permanently marked (see the Texas chapter), this is an achievement to be truly proud of.

Recommended: Yes