Seb Hunter is a self-admitted music junkie, however his love of all things aural only stretches as far as mild fear of classical music. In this book Seb heads into an unknown world to learn to appreciate all things classical. 'Rock Me Amadeus' is a hilarious travelogue, detailing Seb's travels in the name of classical discovery. He begins in Bingen, Germany, where he listens to monks chanting through his headphones in the ruins of a desolate monastery. He then moves to Rome, then Vienna, where he discovers an abundance of sausages, as well as Mozart's infantile sense of humour and Moscow, where he experiences a spot of bother with security guards. Going for three weeks without hearing a piece of music with harmony, it is no wonder that Seb develops such a highly tuned sense of irony and always knows when to feed the reader a witty offering.

Remember the teacher who made learning fun by letting you try the highly dangerous experiments? Seb inspires the same sense of interest with his rich anecdotes about classical music, which highlight the secret 'rock n' roll' status of the composers. In fact I'd recommend this book to all music students to brighten up their weary studying and get a more amusing perspective on the subject matter! This ride through Seb Hunter's stream of consciousness is endearing and constantly engaging, with interviews (including one with a minstrel), daft photos, ratings of all musicians for their rock n' roll lifestyles and ambulance ratings for the music itself preventing this book from straying near boring or self-absorbed. Seb's entire family and circle of friends are dragged into his task to create more and more silly scenarios, which make the reader smile, and properly compare them to their own mates.

After reading this book, I'm tempted to challenge my fellow writers to give up pop music for a week- a mere fraction of the time Seb spent glued to Mozart, Bach and Wagner.

Medieval and renaissance culture is mixed with pop culture to hilarious effect in this book; whoever would have thought that buying a lute on eBay could be so tough? Aside from laughing until your ribs ache, you will learn a lot from Hunter's easygoing guide to classical music, assuming that you don't already know what shawns and crumhorns are anyway (they both resemble recorders). A charming, lighthearted read that will make Seb Hunter a constant companion to brighten up your day.

If you like the sound of Rock Me Amadeus, you can click here to buy the book. Or, if you want to read Seb Hunter's first book, Hell Bent for Leather, buy click here to buy it.