Customer Reviews

Darwin Awards 2

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

If you liked The Darwin Awards, you will find this book to be another winner.

Like The Darwin Awards, let me note that if you do not find witless death and mutilation humorous, avoid this book. Three of the mutilation examples have a sexual context and are pretty gross.

If you find fatal and grisly mishaps funny, you will enjoy the book greatly. In fact, this has to be the best articulated book ever written about stupid ways to die and lose fertility. Anyone will feel smarter and better about themselves after reading these stories!

This book is about people "removing themselves from the gene pool in sublimely idiotic fashion" in “true accidental blunders.” The incidents involve ways that people “unthinkingly engineer their own downfalls, oblivious to warning signs that the rest of us automatically heed.”

The book's premise is very well framed to put you in a humorous mood. The idea is that when people do stupid things that get them killed or keep them from having children, they thus perform a service by improving the gene pool for the remaining humans. Ms. Northcutt uses many witty essays and quotes to emphasize this point, and establishes the mood well.

She has rules for these awards. To win the Darwin Award, you must (1) die or be unable to procreate after the incident, (2) show “an astounding misapplication of common sense,” (3) cause your own downfall, (4) have the ability to use sound judgment (are not too young or permanently mentally impaired) and (5) have the incident verified by someone else. If you don't meet all these tests, you can still get an honorable mention, or be described as an urban legend or a personal account. I thought these distinctions made good sense, because the story's focus and credibility weighs heavily on the interest it creates for the reader drawn to this subject.

In an improvement over The Darwin Awards, Ms. Northcutt has shared feedback from her readers challenging the veracity of various urban legends, personal accounts, and honorable mentions. As a result, this book is tighter than The Darwin Awards.

In another improvement, the stories much more carefully document the victim’s involvement with illegal drugs and alcohol than in The Darwin Awards. In this way, the cautionary lesson about using these substances is brought home more correctly

The stories are grouped around themes: violating the seven deadly sins, women as the genetically removed party, water misadventures, problems with technology, men acting macho, misadventures with animals, explosions, and criminal capers. There is also a chapter on stories that do not qualify, and a dozen of the all-time favorites of on-line readers...

I rated the book down one star, though, because the average humor level here was not as good as in The Darwin Awards. Almost all of the examples came from 1998-2001, so there were not as many examples to choose from. I also think the verification process needs some further work. In many cases, it is in a publication or broadcast news report (which may have an incentive to "improve" the stories to make them better, and sell more issues). Finally, I think the verified examples are vastly more interesting than the fables. I would like to see a version in the future that is only made up of verified cases. I estimate that less than a quarter of these examples were verified.

I came away with two new themes from reading this book. Guns need to be treated with much more respect. The deaths and dismemberment from guns occur with considerable frequency here. The other theme is that people develop so much self-confidence in their abilities that they decide that the “rules” do not apply to them.

Be cautious, rather than daring, so you can live to enjoy the next book in this humorous, cautionary series!

I really enjoyed the first "Darwin" installment, but Darwin II does not cut it. First of all, too much of the book is filler (author's opinions & editorializing, as well as boring discussions of evolutionary theory), and not enough awards are presented. About 40 percent of this book is chaff, with 60 percent consisting of award cases. What really upset me, however, is that of the 60 percent of this book devoted to presenting actual Darwin Awards, an entire chapter consists of repeats from the first volume! Northcutt begins this chapter by saying "here enjoy some repeats of your favorite Darwins from my first book" or words to that effect. What a consumer rip off! Why would anyone want to pay twice to read the same stories! If I hadn't already thrown my receipt away, this one would be going back to the bookstore for a full refund. What invariably happens in movie sequels is that sooner or later the producers make one too many trips to the well, and you end up with something as awful as "Jaws 3" for example. Well, the fatal trip to the well appears to have already been made with the Darwin series. Let the buyer beware.

The Darwin Awards II is a great book that shows just what can happen when people fail to use common sense. It's filled with well-written, cautionary tales of people who did astoundingly stupid things and paid the ultimate price: death, or in some less drastic cases, sterility.

If this were the only thing this book had, it would still be a good book. But this book offers far more than that. In addition to these tales (some certified and some not and both are clearly marked), there are Honorable Mentions (people who did stupid things but didn't pay the ultimate price, but who still might in the future) and Personal Accounts. The book is also sprinkled with the author's wisdom, applicable quotes and each chapter opens with a discussion of a topic related to the subject of the chapter. The book also integrates well with the website, where you can voice your opinion on the book or stories in it, submit new stories, or read more about a particular story in the book, or a topic related to it.

As the book says, the grimness of some of these tales makes it such that it may be that it's best read in small doses. But whether you learn something, or just laugh, you'll love The Darwin Arwards II.

If you read the first of this series, you really needn't bother with this one. Unlike most series out there, it makes no difference which order you read these in. Just a collection of stories of people who are too stupid to be alive, and aren't. However, one glaring flaw in this book is the constant listings of tales that are "unconfirmed by Darwin". If the story is unconfirmed, essentially meaning it is untrue, why put it in a book of "true stories". A few of these false Darwin's would be OK, but this book is nearly half full of these falsehoods. It was a little disappointing. However, it is amusing to read the tales and imagine what kind of morons would partake in such activities. Really you could read any of the books in this series; they are essentially the same, so if you have a choice between the 3 (so far) pick the cheapest.

T

The Second Edition of Darwin Awards is not nearly as funny as the first. It is usually the case that the sequel is a bit of a let down. This book is appropriate for its use, a book from which you can read a few pages each day.

A good addition to this book is the "Not A Darwin Award" Chapter in which the author shows stories which were unable to receive a Darwin Award for various reason. If nothing else, this demonstrates the logic behind the awards. The book has many entertaining stories which demonstrate that there are a lot of stupid people in the world. It is all the more reason for the intelligent ones like us to be careful.

My strongest objection to this book was chapter of recycled classic stories from the first edition. I would prefer to read new stories rather than ones I have already read. If somebody has not ready those stories, they really should buy the first edition. The second edition is also worth the price.

Seldom have such valuable lessons been so enjoyable to learn. The stories contained within this book and its predecessor ("Darwin Awards") are not only amusing, but valuable.

As a school teacher I find that a brief story selected from within these books shared with the class periodically is not only enjoyable for all concerned, but can help instruct the students to use some minimal amount of reason in their daily endeavors.

I find the quote contained in Northcut's first book to be the among the wisest things ever spoken; "Only two things are infinite -- the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not so sure about the universe." Albert Einstein. Those words say it all, and Northcut has collected sundry examples to verify the accuracy of them in a delightful manner.

Buy two copies -- one for yourself and one for a friend.

Here is the much talked about Darwin awards, where dumb people do dumb things and usual end up dead. A lot of people have said that the book is hilarious, but actually, it's just okay. ... but It's meant to be funny, but it doesn't quite strike a chord with me. Still, it's definitedly a good way to kill time... Worth checking out.

This book was funnier than the first one. It just made me laugh and laugh. I could never put it down. I took it with me everywhere I went just so that I could read another story of what someone did that was stupid. It is so funny to me of how dumb some people can be. They dont even think about what they are doing before they do it. Like one lady who was mad at her ex-lover so she pulled out a knife and stabbed him. The worst part was that he was piloting the plane they were in. She did not think that one through. That is not even the funniest of stories that they have in the book. This will be the best book that you ever buy.

In a media atmosphere that values balance - that is the unfiltered broadcast of diametrically opposing views - there is a need for a voice that seprates the truth from the chaff. Wendy Northcutt and her Darwin Awards team is one of those voices.

Northcutt presents confirmed incidents, known urban legends and personal accounts (all carefully dated, labeled and annotated) to form a highly readable and very entertaining gumbo of the lunacy of human beings. The Darwin Awards, of course, are given to those who have improved the human gene pool by removing themselves from it. The stupider, more unlikely and bizarre the manner, the better.

From the guy who played Russian Roulette (with deadly results) to impress girls, to the guy who literally lost his head looked down a malfunctioning fireworks tube, to the Egyptian shepherd shot by one of his own flock, the examples of human carelessness, arrogance and stupidity just keep coming.

Northcutt is doing a real public service; not only helping the rest of us separate fact from fancy, but (hopefully) teaching her readers that being careful is not just prudent but can help them keep their heads.

This second book in the series continues to commemorate people who remove themselves from the gene pool in spectacularly brainless ways. Although it is intended for readers who can find humor in someone's demise, the stories within are for the most part pitiful rather than funny. How many stories can one read about people whose lack of common sense causes them to be electrocuted, drowned, shot, or crushed? Is riding a scooter at night in dark clothing without a helmet and subsequently being hit by a passing pickup funny? Or dying of shrapnel wounds while juggling a live hand grenade? Or drowning in a bathtub by slipping on a bar of soap while practicing walking on water? Yes, these are typical examples of the awards, which honor impressively idiotic deaths, perhaps, but not really humorous ones.

It also appears that the supply of anecdotes on failing Life 101 is running low, since the book has little substance. Perhaps the original concept from the web site has played itself out. Of the over 100 stories, less than half of them are confirmed Darwin Award winners. The rest are unconfirmed Darwins, honorable mentions (where the award recipients are still swimming in the gene pool), urban legends, unconfirmed personal accounts, disqualified awards, and a series of "classic" winners from past years. As if that is not enough padding, the book also contains discussions on evolution, safety, biodiversity, and other unrelated topics. Sprinkled throughout are dozens of inane sayings such as "I don't think, therefore I am not" and "Another sap from the tree of life." And finally, there is an appendix containing Internet etiquette.

I suggest you save your money and go to the author's web site instead. The best of the awards listed in this book are there, along with many others. If you want to read about some really funny prizes, read "Ig Nobel Prizes" instead.

Eileen Rieback