Don Knightly's The Big Bang And Beyond

No, this isn't a 942 page account of an orgy, but an exhaustive and exhausting epic from time zero to Justin Bieber. Though the tome's tone frequently matches its physical weight (my copy caused three Canada Post operatives to file for compo during its transport), there are touches of whimsy and wit scattered throughout, all the more effective because of contrast, and not least for the difficulty of sidling up to "sweeping fire of God's neglect" with "Samuel's efforts not worth a peep".

Clunky in rhythm, so verbose it'd put Foghorn Leghorn to shame, The Big Bang And Beyond, Don Knightly's Hindenburg ballast is the first in a trilogy, the volumes to come concentrating on a thousand page Canadian day-in-the-life response to Joyce, and a final five thousand page speculation on life and death from 2016 to 2843 at which point the world will apparently physically instigate Nietzsche's eternal recurrence thereby necessitating -- yes -- the same show but in different words from this tireless documentor.