Customer Reviews

Final Exits: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of How We Die

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I really wanted to like this book!

There are just too many errors in the book to take it seriously. Most of them are minor (he states a pair of aces is known as the "Dead Mans' Hand, which is really 2 pair, aces and eights), but some are pretty big. He somehow consolidates the Order of the Solar Temple with the UFO cult "Heaven's Gate." They're both cults famous for mass suicides, but they're definitely different groups.

I quickly realized that I couldn't trust his information, and it took a lot of the fun out of reading this book.

Also, it's kind of scattershot and random. The blurb about children under 3 choking on chewing gum wasn't under children, or choking or even chewing gum, it was under "Rice Cakes." The bit about deaths during bridge construction wasn't under construction or bridges, it was all somehow under "Hoover Dam." This was repeated over and over, throughout the book.

What a disappointment. With better editing and fact-checking, this would be a fascinating book. As it is, it's a waste of time and money

I checked this book out of the library, thank God. If I had bought it, I would have been furious. It contains so many falsities and errors that I could not make it through a third of the book. It reads like the author lifted his material straight off the Internet without checking any facts at all and merely repeated time-worn canards like covering the skin with paint a la Goldfinger will smother you. Hello, Mythbusters busted that one.

This book contains poor research, sloppy writing (affect for effect; wrong!) and typos. The only reason I gave it one star is because it was a really good idea. Unfortunately, the execution did not live up to the design, and the book was an extreme disappointment. I would like to see the author revise this and release a better-researched, corrected edition. Then perhaps I might even buy it. But as it stands, I don't think so. As a writer myself it pains me to give such a poor review. Possibly the author can learn something here and improve his research skills. It really was a good idea, Michael. :'(

If you must read it, look for it at your local library.

From suffocating on bean bag beads to sticking chicken bones up your hole this book has it all, every possible way for a human to die. Did you know in December 2004 a woman ate tapeworm larvae in order to lose weight or that in April 2002 gang members shot a deaf woman in the face because they thought she was flashing gang signs? Well, it happened and it's in here along with thousands of other interesting stories. It's hard to pick my favorites, but I did especially love the one about the moron who climbed on top of a cage full of tigers and started using the bathroom.

Despite the grim subject matter Largo keeps it mostly upbeat. Example: the story about "Mr. Hands" (from the infamous horse/man love video) is entitled "The Beast Within".

For more great death stories check out "Answer Me!" #3's run down of the Top 100 Suicides.

Absolutely fascinating stuff. If you are into factoids and trivia, are fascinated by death and how people die, have a morbid streak, or like Mary Roach's STIFF, this book is for you. I found it very readable, very entertaining and with a sardonic streak that fits the subject matter like a glove. Recommended.

This book was nasty and fun, and I loved it--I really did. It was stuffed with more fascinating, morbid factoids than I can count, and I had a blast reading it (as well as sharing some of the more gruesome tidbits with my unenthusiastic friends). The only thing preventing me from giving it five stars is the fact that it had loads of typos.

Granted, I'm an editor by trade, so I do tend to be overly nit-picky when reading. To that extent, I'm willing to forgive some of the improper commas and unnecessary hyphens (which were probably caused by text reflowing during the editing process). Especially since, I'll be the first to admit, no one is perfect and mistakes happen. Typos slip through the cracks--it's a fact of life. But this book had more than just the occasional wayward comma, and this proved to be a bit distracting to me. Some examples include "heath tip" instead of "health tip," "Edinborough" instead of "Edinburgh," "serve electrolyte imbalance" instead of "severe electrolyte imbalance," "Los Angles" instead of "Los Angeles," John Lennon's death year was listed as 1979 instead of 1980, etc.

Other than that, it's a terrific book!

What to say about this book?? Its a good read. The format is like a typical encyclopedia so its not one to just sit down and read start to finish. But its highly entertaining and light hearted despite the morbid subject. I've read through it more than a few times and crack up every time. It stays on our cofee table and without fail anyone who glances through the pages begs to borrow it.

Final Exits is an amazing idea and is actually very interesting, however, some of the errors will annoy you. The flaw that stood out to me the most was in a section talking about the death of John Lennon, where it is said that he was assassinated in 1979, when in actuality he was assassinated in 1980. It is errors like this that can bug you, but it shouldn't take away from the entertainment of the book.

Oh my! I read this book cover to cover. It was wonderfully engrossing...

However I highly recommend taking ALL facts with a grain of salt.
I knew very few of the facts presented among the plethora of "facts" this book contains. However, I found that the few I did know and had previously researched or read about were completely flawed in this book.
Example: John Lennon's death was infact December 8, 1980. NOT 1979 as stated in this book.

This is a widely known fact, and easily checked.

Anyway. Final Exits is entertaining, but I would seriously fact check anything you read in it.

Mike Largo has to be the laziest or most-impatient writer on the planet. Two of his books, including this one, are stocked with fantastic material that is derailed by his astoundingly shoddy research. It's almost like he writes straight out of the almost-right material in his head, then publishes his first draft.

The idea is terrific - write an A-Z compilation of the deaths of famous people and of the myriad ways that human being contrive to shuffle off this mortal coil. Whether choking on chewing gum, falling off roller-coasters (while "surfing," no less), cramping from the bends or being boiled by hungry cannibals, the means of flatlining are many and varied. This book, like "God's Lunatics" also suffers from a lack of an index and a jumbled way of categorizing topics. But worst of all is the INCREDIBLY sloppy fact-checking. Largo's World War II started in 1940 - which would surprise the Poles, who were invaded on September 1, 1939, and the Americans, who entered the war in December 1941. In his Battle of the Little Bighorn, Crazy Horse attacks Custer, not (correctly) the other way round. And when he cites death statistics, it's impossible to know whether he is referring to fatalities in the US or worldwide. And these are not small problems! Every page and just about every article are rich in easily-discernible errors, fuzzy factoids and unrelated, unlabeled illustrations. If it wasn't for the fact that the entries are rich and varied, the book would be unreadable.

Advice to Largo: before publishing again, hire a bright high-school kid to revise your brain dump.

For the sheer volume of information and entertainment value contained in this book, it's definitely worth 5 stars.

However, one star is lost due a handful of factual errors, like the blurb that explains how to be rid of tapeworms by way of an urban legend (where you starve, hold food in front of your mouth, and then snatch the tapeworm, pulling it "end-over-end" when it crawls out). Such errors are forgivable being that there's SO MUCH information in this book, but a revised edition with a little more focus on fact-checking would definitely be welcome. As it is, it occasionally reads more like a RIPLEY'S BELIEVE IT OR NOT! than a reference.

Some of the reviews here are unusually harsh though. Yes, there are a few errors, but this book has nearly 500 pages' worth of information touching on ten times as many subjects. Come on, now. When it comes to morbid entertainment you can't beat this book; it's set up in a user-friendly way that lets you pick it up for 30 seconds or an hour. I'd highly recommend it!