Customer Reviews

11,002 Things to Be Miserable About: The Satirical Not-So-Happy Book

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Simply put, this is the pessimist's bible. Taken seriously, this book is sure to bring about at least melancholy, and at most a visit from the frowny-face Zoloft blob. Appreciatiating the humor, however, allows the true satirist a treasure-trove of knee-slappers. Jammed from cover-to-cover with OVER 11,000 quick-hit items (I didn't count to confirm), this is the type of anthology that should be revisited numerous times for a pick-me-up. It's the quintessential guide for the misanthropic, cynical, or pessimistic, and it's the definitive response to the perpetually cheery, self-help reading, Monday morning-loving people who skip and whistle obliviously through reality.

Ranging from the obvious (e.g. diseases) to the random (e.g. cats on IV drips), most of the items will cause nods of affirmation. It doesn't matter who you are, I guarantee there are several items on the list that will sway you towards schadenfreude or at least provide a few laughs. Below are several of my favorites from the first 20 pages or so:
-All the books you will never read before you die
-Flushing the toilet, which can spray particles of fecal matter up to twenty feet
-The fact that the French get six weeks of paid vacation annually
-People who speak loudly in public places
-Open-mic night at the local comedy club
-The smell of nail polish remover
-Accidentally printing a hundred-page document when you meant to print just one page
-Getting the middle seat on an airplane
-People who answer their cell phones in movie theaters
-Bad movie adaptations of good books
-The word "va-jay-jay"
-People who get tattoos of Chinese characters but don't know what they mean

And, yes, the Twilight movie is on the list.

...if the publisher paid me to. Sine I'm not making any money on this review, I'll just add it to my personal list of things to be miserable about. Well what more is there to say about this little gem that hasn't already been said by 13 other people? If you're like me and cannot figure out what everyone is so happy about all of the time, and after almost three years in retail enjoy seeing bad things happen to random people, then this is the book for you. Forget all of those self-help and "a better you" books, this one is full of all of those little things in REAL LIFE (because whose real life is anything like those "be happy about the very few good things you may or may not have" books?) that make us head for the nearest cliff. So if you're like me and find things like love, cuddling, dog poop, and the stupidity of society in general to be almost as depressing as death, do yourself a real favor and read this book when your antidepressant wears off. You'll be glad you did. I know I was! :)/:(

Making it 11,003 things to be miserable about, one can add the size of this little volume, fat it may be, but it otherwise will sit comfortably in ones hand, so small it is. But is imaginatively produced with each page heavily bordered in black rather like a funeral invitation. It consists simple of one line, occasionally two line, statements of things to be miserable about. One or two caught eye immediately: Learning that centipedes don't have one hundred legs, Too tight thongs, Ready family dinners for one (I think I remembered that one correctly, see below), Castration, Receiving mouthwash as a gift, and some things you probably never thought about: Thin squirrels who won't survive the winter, Long range arrows, Carrying water in a sieve.

Maybe I should add one more thing to be miserable about, Not being able to find again that absolute gem you spotted on this book, the 11,002 things appear in no particular order. It certainly make for amusing browsing (I can't really imagine sitting down to read this cover to cover), with some things you'll find yourself nodding furiously in agreement with, occasionally having a silent chuckle over, maybe at times laughing out loud; but also occasionally having a flush of embarrassment as you realise that this particular 'thing' apples to you!

Kipfer's "Happy Book" was parodied years ago by Ed Strnad writing as I.M. Peeved in a series of best-selling humor books:
1,401 Even More Things That P*ss Me Off
1,401 More Things that P*Ss Me Off
1,401 Things that P*Ss Me Off
701 Things That P*ss Me Off About Work

This is the perfect book to read if you are standing in the bookstore humor section, waiting for the restroom. Yet another enumerated humor book that jokes at being exhaustive but winds up being plain, old, exhausting. The faux-ironic self-satisfied attitude of the authors is truly grating. Lia and Nick have taken what might have been a periodically funny blog and turned it into a horrific piece of print.

Awesome book, kind of depressing at times but really funny and random with a lot of the information in it. I like how theres no perticular categories just goes from simple things like hang nails to rapters.

This book is a veritable encyclopedia of miseries large and small, a colossally funny book. Every page sparkles with dark wit.

I picked up this book a few days ago and I love flipping through it at random. From "erectile disfunction" and "death" to "the last episode of the Sopranos." Awesome. And, weirdly enough, it always puts me in a good mood. A sort of "we're all in this together" take on this vale of tears we call life... Ha. Definitely recommended.

It might seem like this book would be depressing ... but actually, reading about whooping cough, dirty diapers, ungrateful invalids, and the French and Indian War (just a random sampling) had the odd effect of cheering me up, as well as making me laugh ... a lot. A great gift book or just to keep and flip through in your own personal library.

The title of this little gem is hysterically funny. So I opened it to see if it really lived up to it's name. You've got to see this book! Every page is a riot! It totally cracked me up, and made my week go much faster. I've left a copy in my office, and every client who comes through picks it up and has a good chuckle, sometimes in spite of themselves. There really is something for everyone- makes you think, and occasionally learn, and laugh out loud. I highly recommend this, especially this year, especially this time of year. Virginia