There was quite a commotion at Day Job Headquarters yesterday evening.
"Does everybody know David Beckham is at Waterstones?"
"What's he doing there?" was the quite reasonable question.
"Signing books," came the slightly surprising response. I mean, David Beckham signing books? Who would have thought it.
"Shall we go?"
"It'd be rude not to."
So off they went, a positive exodus of otherwise quite sensible people, who had upto now betrayed no interest in the life, work, or literary career of David Beckham. But Christ, here was a genuine celebrity, an a-list star, a hero, almost, in a bookshop nearby.
And there you have the whole celebrity publishing phenomenon explained.
Lesson Number 2.
However, the most eagerly awaited book in the Morris-Yarham household was not David Beckham's autobiography, or whatever it is he's peddling, but the latest Captain Underpants epic novel from the pen of Dav Pilkey - Captain Underpants and the Preposterous Plight of the Purple Potty People.
Anyone who's met my son Luke will know that he is the world's biggest Captain Underpants fan. They will know this because Luke will tell them.
Anyhow, the new book arrived yesterday, at long last, all the way from America. It's not out in the UK yet. Yes, we're mad, but you've never experienced pester power like this, and at least it wasn't for a Play Station or a kiddy quad bike. It was for a book. Books are good. Books we like. Books we encourage.
Is it really possible that the big, gap-toothed-grinning joy, the I'm-so-excited-I'm-shaking excitement, the laugh-out-loud pleasure, the Dad-Dad-look-at-this wonder could have been caused by the arrival of a mere book?
We now have the happiest six-year-old boy on the planet living in our house.
So what is lesson two? Just that I think people who predict the end of reading are wrong.
If you would like to experience a similar excitement at the arrival of a new book, click here now.
