Paperbacks: DIY - The Rise of Lo-Fi Culture, by Amy Spencer

Starting with a survey of the "non-commercial, small circulation magazines" known as "zines" – Dishwasher Pete's journal about washing up in every US state has made him "a guru among dishwashers" – Amy Spencer provides a wide-ranging, if erratic history of DIY media.

Her account of underground journals such as the East Village Other, with its pre-PC era Slum Goddess pin-up, will stir memories for readers of a certain age, though they may be perplexed by more recent DIY emanations such as Wiiiija Records (from its postcode W11 1JA): "Their first records were Terminal Cheesecake and Bastard Kestrel."