Impossible Owls

Reviews / Votes

Again and again, IMPOSSIBLE OWLS proves that Brian Phillips is a cultural codebreaker of the highest order, unlocking the hidden systems of our mad world. Hilarious, nimble and thoroughly illuminating A rich mix of derring-do, insightful analysis and creative non-fiction . . . funny, sharp, obsessive and very readable * i NEWSPAPER * Brian Phillips's essays are out of this world: big-hearted, exhaustive, unrelentingly curious, and goddamned fun * THE MILLIONS * An absolute blast . . . I couldn't get enough of this book: Phillips is the perfect adventure guide ? down for anything, talented enough to translate the experience * BUZZFEED * Phillips is a long-form journalist of the old school, a deep research artist, and a killer stylist. His digressive and frequently hilarious explorations . . . recall the work of John Jeremiah Sullivan and the late David Foster Wallace, with a dash of Janet Malcolm. IMPOSSIBLE OWLS is an absorbing and totally distinctive exploration of wildly disparate corners of our world * VOGUE * Brian Phillips has a way of making you care about the things he cares about in the way he cares about them, which is passionately, almost obsessively . . . invigorating and muscular . . . the book is a must-get * ELLE * Big, powerful, beautiful essays Phillips takes readers down unexpected paths that are as world-expanding as they are entertaining * TIME MAGAZINE * These far-flung tales all share the same inspirational spark: Brian Phillips's soulful, intrepid spirit, and his masterful ability at turning everyday curiosities into epic quests that you can't stop reading Get lost in this captivating essay collection, which brings to life both the extraordinary and the mundane * VULTURE * Takes you deep into worlds both far-flung and familiar - tiger trails, tiny towns of the Yukon, Route 66, a Walmart parking lot. Brian Phillips riffs and reports with abiding curiosity and incisive humour. A fantastic, transporting read Witty, pensive, sometimes whimsical, always truthful, IMPOSSIBLE OWLS is testament to Phillips's gift for enchantment, and his genius for knowing exactly where our alienation from the world meets our sympathy for it I love that this is a book of highways and historical touchstones and large geographic shifts. But I also love that at the heart of those bigger things, there is the gentle touch of Brian Phillips underneath it all, creating a landscape for a reader to see not his work, but to better see themselves [Phillips] has now established himself as a master of long form reporting that is indistinguishable from the literary essay, through which he bares witness to our contemporary moment * LOS ANGELES REVIEW OF BOOKS *