Our Dumb World
by Inc. The Onion
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Book Reviews of Our Dumb World
Book Review: Amusing Geographic Skewering Could Use a Greater Distribution of Poison-Penned Stereotyping
Summary: 4 Stars
If it wasn't for the title - granted a big "if" - you would swear this was one of those glossy DK Eyewitness Travel guides which stake their claim on elegant graphics that blend key facts, historical timelines, topographical maps and robust color photos. However, a flip to any page will expose the prevalent cutting humor - familiar to fans of the satirical faux-newspaper - that leaves the reader either offended or in stitches. I have to admit I am mostly in the latter camp since it soon becomes clear that no one remains completely unscathed is this parody of the paperback desk atlas, a literary species that has miraculously survived the Web since one can surmise that the globe in all its complexity is too enormous to present on one screen. There are definitely more hits than misses here, but the misses do swing wide.
Look at the section on Mexico, for example, which starts with the subheading, "Now Hiring 2.4 Million Busboys" and presents a photo comparison between the work done by ancient Mayans (The El Castillo pyramid at Chichen Itza) and that done by modern Mayans (a pile of dirty dishes shaped like a pyramid). In explaining the language, the editors assert "Mexicans speak Spanish as quickly as possible just to get it over with" and record that in 1953 that the U.S. decided to export San Diego back to Mexico. The Vatican City is described as "The Catholic Disneyland", while Brazil's iconic image of Christ the Redeemer has been photo-shopped into Christ the Avenger with automatic weapons extending from each hand. The Caribbean is lumped together as "The Seriously Who Cares Islands", and our cumulative indifference to Darfur makes the sarcastic description of Sudan rather apt - "All Better Thanks to You".
Not all their targeted zingers work well. Describing Uganda as "No Child Left Alive", the editors claim the country has the world's largest standing child army and that they are willing to be killed for their country if someone can help them tie their shoes. That's pretty harsh no matter how cynical one could get about the absurdist machinations in the third world. In contrast, some countries appear exempt from serious-minded skewering such as Australia which the editors describe as one giant nature cable TV show. The book could have been tightened up for such lapses to provide a more even hand in cultural stereotyping. Regardless, the editors made no country safe from the barrage of acerbic comments including ours. A good example is Florida, which is dubbed the "The Silent Holocaust". Some of the funnier comments show up upfront where one world map is subdivided into Bono Awareness, meaning each country is graded on how much U2 singer Bono cares about it within his personal agenda. This is funny stuff, although not consistently so and probably best absorbed in small doses. The cynicism can get overwhelming.
Book Review: The GREATEST book ever written
Summary: 5 Stars
Occasionally, a book comes along of such great importance that to not buy it--even if it means letting your kids go hungry for a couple nights--would be a crime. In fact, it should be a crime, and I advise you to write your local legislator. Such a book is Our Dumb World, the Atlas of the Planet Earth from the Onion.
The seventy-third edition of this magnum opus offers an even more profound look at the world we live in than any of the previous seventy-two. Some of the new features are mentioned on the cover, including curvier latitude lines and 30% more Asia. And unlike lesser atlases, Our Dumb World includes all the continents, even the ones you'd rather not think about.
The featured maps for each nation are worthy of the Cartography Hall of Fame, should such a Hall of Fame exist. Even obscure countries like France have detailed maps which point out the locations of important sites and regions like the Institute for Pretentious Mustards and the sole acre of France that has never been surrendered to a foreign power.
Of course, a great atlas--and this is the greatest of them all--is more than just maps. There is history: did you know that in 1200, Japan invented karate to defend against invading stacks of wooden boards, or in 1968, it formed a tentative peace treaty with Mothra? There are cultural facts: for example, Ecuador has a Gross Domestic Product of $5.62 and tried to privatize the equator.
I would not recommend this book for children, as its intense brilliance may cause their small brains to explode. For everyone else, however, it is imperative that you buy this book (or it will be once we get that law passed). Sadly, Amazon's rating system restricts the number of stars you can give a book to five, which may be fine for minor writers like Shakespeare or Steinbeck, but inadequate for this book, which merits 1,356,298 stars.
Book Review: Hilarious & intelligent, great eye for detail
Summary: 5 Stars
As someone who loves geography and the Onion, this book is the perfect combination for me. This book is not for the easily offended, as the Onion merrily meanders along the line between good taste and going too far when it comes to jokes about genocide, corruption, child prostitution, AIDS, and the like. To that end, many country profiles are quite sobering reminders that many people around the world live in conditions that simply aren't "funny". However, the subtle humor, and the strategy of taking the style of an Eyewitness Guide (or other pretty but "generic" atlas) and infusing the substance with the usual humor from the Onion was rather clever.
Other reviewers have said that the Onion went for quantity over quality with this one, and while there are times when the material gets a little repetitious (genocide jokes in Africa & Latin America, for example) overall I thought this was a hilarious and intelligent book. I think one needs a strong interest and grounding in geography to fully enjoy it, however, as the humor often relies on the country context at hand. Therefore, for people who like geography and/or travel, and enjoy the irreverent humor of the Onion this will likely be a four or five star book. For people who like the Onion but aren't that interested in geography, it might be a three star book. For people who like geography but don't "get" the Onion, or for anyone easily offended ... you will probably want to find a different book to read. For me, however, it was an enjoyable read and a pretty reasonably priced find as well.
Book Review: Funny and Annoying
Summary: 3 Stars
There are some very funny parts of this book. I have lived in many countries and states and the authors really did a good job (for the most part) of finding and writing about true funny things. Fiji is nowhere to be found in the book which I thought was odd and Virginia's story seemed to fall short of funny but other places were right on. We laughed out loud a lot reading this. The annoying part about this book for me was the fact that the only place that actually had good things written about it was New York City. Obviously the authors live there and are of the same mentality of many New York City dwellers that there is absolutely nothing negative about the city, but come on. Really? Nothing at all? It is a great city but there are many funny things to poke fun at. I guess of course that would be blasphemy to a New Yorker. So the message we got from reading the book was that everywhere in the world is stupid except New York City. Some people may be able to get past this and enjoy the book but I just found that to be egocentric and it ruined the book for me.Book Review: Better for browsing than a straight read, but hilarious either way.
Summary: 4 Stars
A pretty awesome atlas compiled by The Onion staff, with pages dedicated (more or less) to every country on Earth. If you buy it, I recommend just browsing through it - if you read it all at once, as I did, it can get a little tiring and tedious in parts, especially as they attempt to find a way to get comedy out of yet another horrific situation in Africa. Honestly, they do a great job - the book is equal parts cynical mocking, satirical jabs, and horrific trip around the world, all done with the Onion's trademark dark humor. It's rare to find a book that makes me laugh this hard or has so many quotable lines - it's just better in small doses, I think. But it would make a superb counterpart to America: The Book and I Am America (And So Can You) in its taking on of the current world. Not for the easily offended, but for those who enjoy the Onion's typically warped stuff, highly recommended.