Dalrymple’s 1989 book Filosofa’s Republic, originally published under the pseudonym Thursday Msigwa, has just been re-published in a second edition under the Dalrymple name. The book has been out of print for many years, and even used copies have been hard to locate online.

Filosofa’s Republic is a humorous satire of Tanzania under the rule of Julius Nyerere and is based on Dalrymple’s personal experiences living and working in a remote village in Tanzania for two years. The book pokes fun at a variety of vivid characters: the fictional dictator and his local party apparatchik, whose somewhat flexible left-wing political principles are really just an excuse for power and riches; a Western missionary with an ostensibly different doctrine but who may be seen in much the same light; and the local villagers who mostly ignore these doctrines and struggle to get out of their own way in their daily lives. (We wrote a longer summary of the book here many years ago.)

Although much of the story is based on real-life events that Dalrymple has described in his essays (like Not As Black As It’s Painted), I think it is still fair to call this his first fictional work, and insofar as it satirizes socialist thought and exemplifies it in one small community, you might say this is his Animal Farm. It is not the tragedy that that work is though: it’s clear that Dalrymple is charmed by these people (except for the missionary, perhaps), and the overall tone of the book is light. I had forgotten how enjoyable this book is.

It is available on all Amazon sites worldwide: here in the UK and here in the US.

To mark the release of the new Saving the Planet and Other Stories audiobook, we’re giving away a limited number of promo codes for other Theodore Dalrymple audiobooks on Audible. The available titles are:

• Midnight Maxims
• Embargo and Other Stories
• Ramses: A Memoir
• So Little Done: The Testament of a Serial Killer

Using the promo codes, you can get a free copy of any of these audiobooks. We only ask that you consider buying Saving the Planet and Other Stories, and leave a review on Audible of any books for which you’re given a promo code.

If you’d like to take advantage of this offer, just contact us here at The Skeptical Doctor, letting us know the titles in which you’re interested and your preferred Audible “marketplace” (only US and UK codes are made available).

We’re pleased to be able to announce that Dalrymple’s Saving the Planet and Other Stories has just been released as an audiobook at Amazon and Audible!

Somewhat in the tradition of Chekhov, these imaginative short stories are by turns bleak and comical, and all demonstrate the usual penetrating Dalrymplian insight into the human condition.

There are eight stories, narrated by long-time friend of this site, Gavin Orland, these being:

• Saving the Planet
• I, Being of Sound Mind
• Panther
• Hilda and Samuel
• A Cupboard Under the Stairs
• Reputation
• Drowning
• Ghost Story

Please feel free to review this title at Amazon or Audible, and let us know in the comments here of any other works which you would particularly like to be made available in this format.

Dalrymple has a new book out, published under his real name and inspired by his walks through Père Lachaise cemetery near his apartment in Paris. Père Lachaise is the most visited cemetery in the world and contains the gravesites of hundreds of the most notable people throughout the world of the arts. In Buried But Not Quite Dead: Forgotten Writers of Père Lachaise, Dalrymple has chosen eight such writers whose work has been almost completely forgotten “not necessarily because they were not good but because cultural memory is necessarily limited”. He writes not only about the literary merit of their work but also about their lives and the wider historical context, thus “illustrating the inexhaustible depth of our past”. 

The book is available at many booksellers. The Amazon link is here for the US and here for the UK.

Continuing the issue of many of Theodore Dalrymple’s books in audio format, Midnight Maxims has just been released at Amazon and Audible! Unique among his works, this is a collection of 365 apothegms very much in the tradition of La Rochefoucauld, but with the skeptical doctor’s typical and particular insight. Recommended listening!

Please feel free to review this title at Audible, and let us know in the comments here of any other works which you would particularly like to be made available in this format.

Hot on the (furry) heels of Ramses, another of Dalrymple’s books has just been released in audio format: Embargo and Other Stories.

Embargo comprises three (at least) semi-autobiographical stories based on Dalrymple’s adventures in far-flung lands. Unsurprisingly, his fiction writing is as good as his other work, and the stories told to us here, while at times amusing, are for the most part dark, graphic, and quite haunting.

Rich with Dalrymple’s usual insights, these make a great listen. You feel a little like you are traveling with the doctor into the heart of darkness, but you can do so while sitting in the comfort of your living room with a pleasant drink, or wherever you like.

You can purchase Embargo now from Amazon or Audible, or get it by using a credit as an Audible subscriber. You can also listen to a free five-minute sample on either site.

Please feel free to review Embargo at Audible, and let us know in the comments here if there are any other titles that you would particularly like to be made available in this format.

Something we missed back in November is that, following So Little Done, Gavin Orland has now narrated a second audiobook for the esteemed doctor, this being the (very different) charming and moving account of his time with Ramses, his Yorkshire Terrier.

Ramses contains the usual insights into the human condition for which we have come to know and appreciate Dalrymple, among other philosophical reflections. But, most of all, the book is a tribute to Ramses and was clearly inspired by Dalrymple’s love of his four-legged companion. This recording makes the perfect listen for any Dalrymple fan, dog lover/owner or not.

You can purchase Ramses now from Amazon or Audible, or get it for free as an Audible subscriber. You can also listen to a free five-minute sample on either site.

Advance tip: we understand that an audio version of another of Dalrymple’s books will soon be released as well—watch this space! Please let us know in the comments if there are others that you would particularly like to be available in this format.

Dalrymple’s 1995 book So Little Done: The Testament of a Serial Killer has recently been released as an audiobook. This appears to be only the second Dalrymple work to have so far been published in this format, and because the book is a work of satire (the philosophical justifications of a fictional serial killer), it makes an excellent choice for an audio performance.

Congratulations to Gavin Orland, a friend of this blog for many years, for an engaging performance as the killer Graham Underwood. This is a fun and provocative listening experience. So Little Done was also adapted as a one-man stage play called De Filantroop (The Philanthropist) and performed (in Dutch) in the Netherlands in 2009.

You can purchase So Little Done now from Audible.com or Audible.co.uk, or get it for free as an Audible subscriber. You can also listen to a free five-minute audio sample on either site.

Dalrymple has a new book available on Amazon. These Spindrift Pages is a collection of thoughts inspired by his recent reading. The material that serves as his inspiration, both prose and poetry, is as varied and profound as you might expect and, naturally, so are his observations. He discusses writers that run the gamut from the very popular to the very obscure, and addresses all kinds of topics, from murder and charlatanism to beauty and compassion.

The title comes from a beautiful Dylan Thomas poem that Dalrymple quotes in the preface. I had to look this up, but spindrift is the sea spray that is blown off the tops of cresting waves, and the title conjures in my mind images of a writer capturing his thoughts as they drift off into a mist. 

To purchase the book, check your friendly, local Amazon page. It is available here to US readers and here to those in the UK.