Unutterably funny...a riot of aimings and blamings and score-settlings. Smith manages to have a right laff, and reveal himself as a figure of dazzling sociological import

A rollicking good read

A thoughtful, understated memoir

Witty and enjoyable

Compelling

Fascinating

Extraordinary... Simply looked at as a repository of information on how to perform Chopin, the book is invaluable... Much the most interesting aspect of the book, however is in the main intellectual investigation and defence of the amateur...prepare to be inspired.

Play It Again is based on Rusbridger’s diaries and in pianistic terms is a two-handed one, one part being an account of the travails of learning the Ballade, the other chronicling a feverish journalistic year... The point of the exercise was never to play like a professional but to relish being an amateur. In this sense his book is affirmatory... 4 stars

Play It Again turns out to be surprisingly pleasing, not only to the mind’s ear but to the heart and even, at a pinch, to the soul...it is about determination – determination to do something fiendishly hard and almost entirely pointless, and having the courage to stare down failure every day... His obsession is both charming and infectious.

The two really appealing things about this book are Rusbridger’s deep love of music and his dogged belief that it is possible to find time for things such as piano practice, even for the most frenetically busy.

What could be a navel-gazing study of self-growth emerges as a much more intriguing story about the value of amateurism... While the diary format can make for a fragmented narrative it also allows the tensions of Wikileaks, the phone-hacking scandal and subsequent investigation to build as if in real time.

Reading music is not an essential requirement for enjoying this book, but getting to the Ballade will make Play It Again infinitely more enjoyable... As soon as you enter the pages you are hooked, not just by the efforts to overcome this elusive piece through curiousity and courage, but by the clear way in which the diary takes the reader into the murky world of WikiLeaks and the still more polluted waters of phone hacking by News International... Riveting stuff... Play It Again is a hugely enjoyable, touching and informative volume.

Any amateur musician will find bells ringing through Rusbridger’s eloquent pages… The Chopin becomes a tantalizing entity that temps him on to better himself. And this makes the book rewarding at a deeper level than its already enticing surface.

This is a journal of [a] year: part piano diary, party day-by-day breakdown of what a 21st-century editor actually does. The result is a unique melange of political and musical reportage, meditations on music-making deftly interwoven with reflections on the ever-changing newspaper industry... The book is handsomely produced, rich in both musical and photographic illustrations. At the end, delightfully, sits Rusbridger’s own annotated score... Enjoyment may not be the word, but Rusbridger emerges unscathed and quietly triumphant, older and wiser. The Matterhorn has been scaled, his epiphany rewarded.

It is...an impressive, even inspiring record of one man’s mountaineering exploit in the realm of music. Rusbridger set himself an ‘impossible’ goal, and then more or less achieved it. There is something admirable, even heroic, about that.

This book is an inspiration...funny, humble and realistic: this is a wonderfully rich read.

The book is a celebration of the dogged persistence of the determined 'amateur' (in the French sense of the word – "a lover of…"), which will give hope and support to pianists seeking a challenge from new or more complex repertoire. The fact that Rusbridger pulled it off will doubtless inspire others to follow his example: I certainly hope so.

A bravura performance of dedication undeterred by disctraction.

I can’t remember a music journal that I enjoyed reading more. One comes away full of admiration for Rusbridger’s ambition and determination.

Inspiring.

Read about Rusbridger's obsession in his inspiring, diary-like new book.

A wonderful account of trying to learn a complex piano piece while running the Guardian at the time of Wikileaks and phone hacking.

Rusbridger’s book is fascinating because you see him visibly struggling to keep up with the complexities of the Chopin piece along with everything else that’s going on in his life