Complete & Utter Failure: A Celebration of Also-Rans, Runners-Up, Never-Weres [Hardcover]

Neil Steinberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1994

A cheery exploration of the many fascinating facets of failure includes all kinds of disasters, from the National Spelling Bee with 8,999,999 failures to corporate debacles like Reddi-Bacon, plus a humorous look at the author's own disappointments.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Chicago Sun-Times reporter Steinberg's book of humor is anything but a "complete & utter failure." Rather, it is an informed and witty look at events, products and people that either never succeeded or first scored victories then faded away. He begins with the New York World's Fair of 1964, a fiscal fiasco from opening day, stops to survey such consumer items as butane candles and the Edsel, and attacks the national Spelling Bee, which turns kids into public failures. He goes on to victims of bad timing; those who insisted the impossible is possible, like inventors of perpetual-motion machines; and those who lived too long, like Newton, who devoted the last decades of his life to alchemy. Much fun. First serial to Granta; QPB and Library of Science Book Club selections.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Publisher

So you've got these fond hopes for blissful love, professional glory, fame, and fortune. But in the back of your mind there's that nagging fear. The man of your dreams will laugh in your face. Your hated office rival will come up with some whizbang marketing idea and get promoted, while you'll be asked to "help out with the phones." Steven Spielberg will buy the rights to your screenplay, spend $40 million producing it, and the critics will savage the film, mercilessly singling out your work for especially contemptuous, poisonous derision. But hey, everybody fails sometime. It's inevitable. So don't fear failure. Embrace it. In Complete And Utter Failure, Neil Steinberg joyfully explores the many fascinating facets of failure, from pointless failure (a brief history of several very dumb attempts to climb Mount Everest) to product failure (Reddi-Bacon, smokeless cigarettes, and Baby Jesus dolls) to institutionalized failure (the horrifying Dickensian spectacle of the National Spelling Bee, in which 8,999,999 children out of 9,000,000 fail in an excruciatingly public and humiliating fashion). This delightful book is filled with surprising and useless arcana--who really invented the telephone, what turned on Isaac Newton--guaranteed to help you annoy people at cocktail parties. Along the way Steinberg meditates on his own myriad miscues and disappointments, beginning with his failure to perform a magic trick in front of the neighborhood kids at age four (he blames Captain Kangaroo). Complete And Utter Failure is a wonderfully literate, witty book that issues a ringing message for our times: If at first you don't succeed, have a scotch and forget about it.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 258 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; 1st edition (October 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385472919
• ISBN-13: 978-0385472913
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,987,274 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Complete and Utter Failure" my behind!, November 9, 2002

By 

John T. Feaster (warsaw, indiana USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Complete & Utter Failure: A Celebration of Also-Rans, Runners-Up, Never-Weres (Hardcover)

This was a funny, interesting, facinating book. Filled with an amusing mix of facts and story, I have to say it's easily one of my favorite books of all time. If you're going on an extended train, bus or plane ride then this is the book for you. Neil Steinberg is a genius!