Customer Reviews

Mass Historia: 365 Days of Historical Facts and (Mostly) Fictions

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4 star:		(2)
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2 star:		(1)
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MASS HISTORIA is one of those laugh-out-loud books that I love to have on my coffee table - it's great for people like me who love trivia but are not overly concerned with the accuracy of such! Actually, the author does give some great bits of very compelling historical facts, but the very wry humor comes first and foremost, much to his credit here.
The author wrote for the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, so if you like that hilarious show I bet you'd find this as funny as I do.
A great example of the humor on the anniversary of the Titanic sinking:
"...Of the seven hundred people who survived, many were wealthy women and children and... wealthy men willing to dress themselves up as wealthy women and children."
The book's also great for picking up, having a quick laugh, and putting back down again for later - perfect for short attention spans like mine!
Highly recommended.

After reading Mass Historia: 365 Days of Historical Facts and (Mostly) Fictions, all I can say is too bad there are only 365 days in the year. I did not want this book to end. The zingers come fast and furious. The writing is smart and funny. And the book is big enough to fit nicely on the coffee table, yet not too big to leave a mark on your bare thighs when you take it into the bathroom. I can't recommend this book enough.

I've enjoyed Chris's blog for several years now, so I have been looking forward to the publication date. I've got to tell you THIS BOOK IS HILARIOUS!!, but there are two caveats you should be aware of:
1) Do not use this book to cram for your American History final.
2) Do not take this book into an upscale restaurant, thinking you will read it while you are waiting for your meal to arrive. You will make a fool of yourself laughing out loud. Trust me. (The head waiter suggested that "Perhaps Monsieur would like to close ze book and sit on it." I hate it when the French are right; fortunately for the world, that almost never happens.)

Several people here have referred to "Mass Historia" as the ideal coffee table book and I suppose I'll use it in that way as well. (Note to self: Get a job so you can buy a coffee table.) I learned a number of interesting historical facts that, of course, I googled and found that many are actually correct. For instance, on February 5, 1947, J. Danforth Quayle turned one day old and he "celebrates by halting any further cognitive development." Good, huh? So buy this book, already. You will not be disappointed.

The formula is easy...take a fact and a date from history, present it and then comment on it in a comical way. "Mass Historia" is set up in this manner and it largely succeeds, due to author Chris Regan's wit. If the format looks familiar, Regan was the co-author of Jon Stewart's "America (The Book)".

Arranged in chronological order, "Mass Historia" covers a broad range of historical topics with U.S. presidents leading the way. Some dates are more thoroughly covered than others but there's usually a good laugh with almost every observation. There are some factual errors, however, which include wrong dates for Benjamin Franklin's electricity experiment, William Howard Taft's date of death and that John Adams lived "well into his nineties". (He died at ninety) Sometimes Regan tends to overplay his hand...there are too many inane references to President Taft's weight, British cuisine, Tom Brokaw's "greatest generation" and homosexuality. Those aside, the author has created a book that's easy to read in one or two settings...or several. The "artwork" adds to the attraction, but it's really Chris Regan who should be given enormous credit for coming up with something funny to say about each of the 365 days of the year. (366, actually) "Mass Historia" is a very good book and I recommend it.

"Mass Historia" is a great hybrid of witty and smart...."fun-telligent", you might say. It's so hard to put down, that if they had made this into a page-a-day desk calendar, I'd be sitting in a pile of torn-off sheets laughing hysterically on January 1. This book makes a perfect holiday gift, so snap up several copies. Don't forget to keep one for your collection, too.

Why couldn't Chris Regan have been my history teacher? I never would have dozed off in class if his lessons were anything like those found in the hilarious "Mass Historia". Then again, I may have been too dumb back then to appreciate his smart, witty look at the past.

This book spans the ages, covering many of history's most notable births, deaths, wars, beheadings and touches upon milestones in everything from literature to transportation to hot wings, (first "Hooters" opens, October 4th, 1983. It's in there). It really does cover a lot of ground and keeps you laughing and engaged the whole way through. Hilarious, well illustrated, and fun. Highly recommended.

I bought this book with the idea of home schooling my children and ended up delighting myself!!! Regan delivers more laughs per page than any other living writer. Buy it.

This history buff loves every page of this book. Both informative and laugh out loud funny, it does what is comedically almost impossible... it doesn't run out of gas!

Most books like this either start off great and then fade out or they are hit and miss from cover to cover.

This book puts the Onion compilations to shame. AND IT'S JUST ONE WRITER!!!

From start to finish the book delivers the hilarious goods with huge laughs and the desire to bust out the Encyclopedia to cross check something.

And Regan's research is always dead on
I hope it becomes a best seller

Here's your review - this book made me laugh! A lot. Simple as that. Most books that are derived from websites make me chuckle - a format that works well at providing a joke a day rarely translates successfully into book format. Mr. Regan does something amazing - he makes you want to read this book straight through. The jokes are consistently hilarious and never repetitive. I have heard people call this book a "bathroom book", but if you plan on reading it in the bathroom, I hope you are plenty constipated, so you have time to read the whole thing.

In what is not as much a parody of a "This Day in History" collections, but more an actual "This Day in History Collection with funny jokes attached," Chris Regan juxtaposes the most dusty details of history with the most current and ridiculous specifics of pop culture and does so seamlessly, brilliantly and hilariously. If you loved the Daily Show, where he wrote for years, the tone and the voice will be familiar.

It is darker and funnier than it's elementary school textbook format implies, a layout that also makes it easy to read a little at a time, and then put down for later. It should make a great gift for anyone who enjoyed "America: The Book."

One of my favorite passages:

April 14, 1846: The Donner Party starts their voyage in Springfield, Illinois. Not enough lunches are packed.

Highly recommended.