In the book Flat Broke in Paradise, while Wayne is staying in Hong Kong at the Peninsula Hotel living the good life with Nick's money.
With time to relax, he reads a book he bought in a shop in Edinburgh. The book, The Complete Upmanship: Including, Gamesmanship, Lifemanship, One-Upmanship, Supermanship by Stephen Potter.
When I was a young man in high school, a lady friend's mother asked me "Have you read One-Upmanship by Steven Potter? If not, you should." I had made some obnoxious teenage remark and she was taking me to task. To save face, I had her write down the name of the book. It was over 30 years later that I finally ran across the entire compendium. This is one of the funniest books I have read. If you're not into dry British humour, it may not be your cup of tea. Potter, in excellent form, explains how to win at most anything with brutal little ploys. Despite what my lady-friend’s mother must of thought of me at the time, I can’t imagine ever consciously using such tactics. If you’ve ever lost a game to someone who was obviously less skilled, but used clever little gambits to win, they may have read this book. After playing golf and chess with my father-in-law, I’m pretty sure he has.
This is a brilliant and funny book about human behavior.
Head over to Stephen Potter’s Wikipaedia page and look at his photograph. Priceless.
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