"I AM far too young to have a full autobiography," writes Lewis Hamilton in the acknowledgements to his updated autobiography which just has been published with a new chapter on his triumphant 2008 season.

And yes, you'd have to agree with Hamilton on that one, even if the great book-buying public appears to disagree. Because premature autobiographies are a bit like celebrity magazines or tabloid newspapers: we can complain all we want but there is – as the sheer volume of titles suggest – a sizeable market.

Amid a glut of Hamilton books, 'My Story' is – as the 'my' suggests – the official one. It also appears to be the first to be updated with a new chapter on his world title. It won't be the last.

It has to be said that it's a substantial improvement on last year's version, which was notable for its large type and blank spaces. Well, how much of a story does a 22-year-old have?

This year's model is different; it is more like an annual. It's big, it's glossy, it has a beautiful silver border – this is a very handsome book – and it has a lot of photographs. And therein lies the 'added value' – the pictures are stunning, and in this large format justice is done to them.

You could spend as long gazing at the pictures as reading the text – though that, admittedly, is not saying much.

The new (written) material, covering Hamilton's dramatic last-gasp World Championship victory, opens and closes the book. But it doesn't offer great insight, or anything that could be called revelatory, on the recent season – which of course is the biggest problem with such hastily produced accounts: it could take years for a true perspective.

"What a moment that was!" writes Hamilton on embracing his father in Brazil. On winning the 2008 season-opening Australian GP, he writes: "How crazy was that!" Yes, he breaks the golden rule – he uses exclamation marks. A lot!

Of course, exclamation marks are always the last refuge of someone who cannot otherwise convey the drama or suspense in the writing. Hamilton – or his ghost – fails in this respect.

Then there are the clichés. "People keep asking me what winning a world championship actually feels like," he writes. "It's like this rollercoaster ride of emotions riding into one another." Then he admits: "Words cannot describe how I felt" – a serious drawback in a book.

It is a pity that the likeable and articulate Hamilton – like Andy Murray – didn't wait, keep a diary, store up all the juicy gossip and scandal, before writing his autobiography. But Hamilton's at least has the pictures to commend it – they provide a good record of the 2008 season in particular, and, for many, will make this worth the cover price.