Customer Reviews

Badass: A Relentless Onslaught of the Toughest Warlords, Vikings, Samurai, Pirates, Gunfighters, and Military Commanders to Ever Live

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

Warning: this book will suck the estrogen right out of you. I would say it was the chronicles of manliness but some of the people covered are women who are apparently more manly than I can ever hope to be. My pregnant wife read this book and the baby spontaneously turned from a girl to a boy. Just sayin'.

The writing style is humorous and light, but admittedly it sometimes borders on juvenile. There are obvious embellishments (I've never actually seen someone crushed under the weight of testicles, but there are things on earth I haven't seen). However, I give the writing style a thumbs up because the author presented a lot of good history in a form that would even keep the attention of a 13 year old boy.

The author does have an odd fetish with faces. He mentioned "face" 105 times in the book, mainly accompanying words like "crush", "stab", or "burn." Oorah!

Attention Universe: BADASS: A relentless onlaught of the toughest warlords, vikings, samurai, pirates, gunfighters and military commanders to ever live is the greatest work of literature in the history of the written word.

#1: BADASS is very, very good. So good, it is as though Odin himself reached into Valhalla, chose the 40 best heros of history and penned their history into this wonderfully illustrated tome.

#2: After I purchased BADASS, I opened the book to the Library of Congress page. I was immediately slapped in the face by the sheer awesomeness of it. I was transported through history and witnessed, FIRST HAND, the amazing exploits of the legendary historic characters. Once I regained consciousness I actually read it.

#3: This book is so funny that I laughed until my nose bled. I got blood on the pages of the book (it seemed appropriate), but the blood was absorbed by the pages. I think the book was feeding on it.

#4: The information in this book is all historically accurate. And I should know. I work at a university.

[...]

I love this book and the website! It is a great mix of real life and screen/literary badasses, told in a very entertaining, lively fashion. The style is such that you actually feel like the author is sitting in the room with you, telling the story and acting it out at the same time. Some of the real life historical people he mentions are seriously badass, performing such incredible acts of crazy courage that it seems foolhardy, and only sheer luck allowed them to be remembered as heroes and not fools. The website is a must - lots more stories and some are expanded over the book (one personal fave - Voytek the soldier bear). Can't wait for a volume 2!

I love reading history books, as long as they were not approved by the Texas Board of Education(because then they aren't worth a damn, apparently). However, I understand that not everyone shares my love of historical events. A lot of history books are pretty dry, at best. At worst, they are downright boring. This is not that kind of a book. This is one of the coolest history books I've ever read. I had originally bought it for my nephew, but once I actually started perusing the pages I realized that his mother would have a massive coronary if she saw the language. Even if said language adds to the ambience.

The author, Ben Thompson, runs a site called [...]. He searches the history books for badasses. Not all of the badasses are men, nor are they all from the 20th century, which is refreshing. Thompson relates the stories with gusto, like a teenaged/college aged boy would describe a videogame boss fight to his friends--and this generates interest. The stories of these people maintain that interest. The humor seals the deal. There may be a bit of 'embellishment' in relating the stories, but this doesn't detract in the least. And each chapter is only at most five pages long--perfect for a short attention span or when you only have a minute here or there to read. So of course, I read the whole thing in a couple of hours, with a pause here and there.

This might be a good book for a person who doesn't read a lot to improve their reading skills with a high interest book. It would be perfect for a reader who has trouble with maintaining attention when reading. In short, this is a perfect book to encourage reading in older teenaged boys. The language is really the only thing I think that a parent might take issue with, but since the profanity is a part of the schtick and not specifically gratuitous, I wouldn't have a problem if my 15 year old decided to read it.

While this book's considerable merits have been praised by a variety of reviewers, I want to point out something about it that is easily ignored yet most exemplary:

Its bibliography.

Author Ben Thompson has clearly done his research. His list of sources stretches for a glorious ten pages, thus granting his work a credibility that most nonfiction books for younger readers lack.

This, combined with the fact that reading this book will make even the most thin-blooded milquetoast reach for his short sword, means that this book rocks like Wolf the Quarrelsome.

I am a history teacher and usually am pretty picky about what I read. I saw this book at my local bookstore and thought it looked really interesting. While the writing is juvenile I find that is what gives the book its greatest appeal. Granted I am a young guy that gets most of the jokes and the words used but I think that this would be an awesome book for some high school kids to read. I would not most likely let my kids read it because of the language but it speaks to them. It teaches the content greatly and I learned about a lot of different badasses that I have never bothered with learning in the past. I really don't see much of a problem with the book at all other than he loves to use face bashing analogies which get a little old but it didn't detract from the book. Overall I would say anyone willing to take a little humor with their history would love this book. If you are looking for what us history lovers are accustomed to reading then you should run away fast!

OK, so I don't have the book in front of me, so I can't be specific. BUT, there are quite a few historical inaccuracies in this book. Other than that, it's a fun read and made me want to learn more about some of the BADASSES in the book. I am going to go by a ghurka knife and ship off to Iraq tomorrow! Seriously, if you're looking for history, start here, then go read the real stories. There's enough truth to acknowledge the true badassery of all the dudes (and badass chicks) in this book. A fun read!

Pretentious sackless haters are the only ones that find this book off-putting. reserved only for those with the utmost testicular fortitude, don't hate when this guy tells it like it is and does a good job doing it. forget conventional writing, this is the future of the good king's language. take shots because you are not worthy

This book had the potential for perfection. I will give 4 stars for introducing me to an array of neglected, unappreciated historical characters from around the world that simply kicked ass. I love the international flavor of the chapters. Not out of political correctness but because there are some warriors in India, Egypt, and Scandinavian countries that have yet to receive their proper due. This is a great book for teenagers to read to get interested in history. I must give a huge caveat about the writing style of the author. The amount of embellishment, hyperbolic metaphors, overused slang, and obsession with penises takes away from real-life stories that need none of the above. This is coming from someone who loves profanity and a punk runk ethos. But what do you expect from a book called Badass. Thanks for the great chapters on Peter Francisco, Wolf the Quarrelsome, Horatio Nelson, Bass Reeves, Carlos Hathcock, and Jon Netanyahu. Worth the price of admission....

This book read as if Quentin Tarantino and Hunter S. Thompson got hold of a high school history text, or maybe a compilation of biographies, and said, "Hey! This is boring! Let's rewrite it!" It is heavy on over-the-top comparisons of historical death dealing to pecker jokes. That doesn't detract from its mission, to talk about well known military figures and not so well known sidelights and why they kicked butt. Our gaming group passed it around, with lots of laughter.