Customer Reviews

Oh, the Humanity!: A Gentle Guide to Social Interaction for the Feeble Young Introvert

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book satrizes patronizing manuals on interpersonal skills, and pokes fun at the inhibitions and hang-ups those books target in the first place. If you're an introvert, then you know that things like making small talk, correct body language, and nervous chatter are problems. Problems that usually lead to hilariously awkward situations worthy of a television sit-com. But when you get down to it, isn't that just life? And you need a self-help book to tell you that? My advice is abandon the self-help section... for some real perspective read OH THE HUMANITY!

Forget social anxiety--if you have any kind of anxiety (claustrophobia, xenophobia, Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia) this book actually achieves what it purports to satirize. Within moments of absorbing Roeder's smart, subtle, self-reflexive wit, you've forgotten your fear of sleep or the way styrofoam sounds when it squeaks. Suddenly, you're above the fray, streamlining through imaginative pages like a dolphin at an NRA meeting [see figure 3.2]. Roeder's book is entertaining, unique, and oddly effective. A must-read for the ineptitudes of Generation Me.

Reviewed by Connie Anderson

Okay, truth first. It's been a LONG time since I was a young introvert, but that didn't stop me from enjoying Jason Roeder's effort at telling his story.

The book is filled with lots of tongue-in-cheek (at least I hope so), quirky, edgy, smart-alecky advice.

This book is divided into three parts.

Part I: Essential Qualities You Lack looks at confidence, humor, curiosity and empathy.

Confident people have overcome their fear-or come to terms with it, or do things in spite of it. Drinking for confidence (never drink and drive-unless of course the Red Bull and vodka totally cancel each other out, pg. 13).

Part II: Conversations for People Who'd Rather Be Home Fondling Their Record Collection, Knitting Berets for Pets They May or May Not Actually Have, or Just Sitting in a Dark Room, Dreaming of a Darker Room.

This chapter title, longer than some books, covers small talk/chit chat, working with difficult people and difficult topics, nonverbal communication, like body language, and how to deal with people from different cultures.

Humor can win people over, if you're funny. If not, ouch--unless you learn to laugh at yourself. It's important to "know your audience."

Nonverbal communications--gestures that include smiling, eye contact, nodding, posture, physical contact like shaking hands, touching, hugs and kisses. The author introduces you to the unique ways men and women approach each of these!

Part III: Making Friends that Last a Lifetime (Or until they just kind of drift); Friends, who is a friend? and where will I find my friend and will you be my friend.

This talks about FWB (friends with benefits), acquaintances and pals. His "interview with a Pal) Pg. 130 is fun-but also true.

Jason Roeder's humor has been published in many magazines, including Writer's Digest where he wrote a humorous article about how to get out of a book club in a 2007 issue.

Armchair Interviews says: Humor for the young that can be enjoyed by the not-as-young.

I love this book. I love it so much that I bring it to uncomfortable social situations and read it instead of interacting with actual people. But not because I'm incapable of interacting with actual people. Oh no. This book has completely eliminated any tendency towards introvertedness I once had and inspired me to greatness. Plus, it made me laugh.

I was bouncing around the Internet, following blog links, when I came across Jason's blog. He's a got a nice mordant sense of humor, with echoes of Benchley, Dave Barry, and National Lampoon humorists like Henry Beard and P.J. O'Rourke. Just for a lark, I ordered this book, hoping for more of the same. That's what I got, and it's pretty good.

Roeder knows how to walk the line between good natured parody, post modern humor and misanthropy. He's also got the conventions and dramatic structure of the modern "How To Win Friends And Influence People" line of business zombie books down cold, and he knows just how far to push his parodies before they become heartless and mean. Some passages are howlingly funny if you are in the right mood for this kind of humor.

I like the book a lot, and I'll certainly stay on the alert for future writings from this author. But I'll be careful of my audience when (and if) I quote passages from the book...the more strait-laced among us aren't going to, um, 'get' it.

"This may sound silly, but I want you to shake hands with yourself. Yes, I'm serious. Introductions are in order: Meet the new you!"
Yes, it does sound silly, but not really much more silly than the vast majority of self help books out there, does it? And that is what "Oh, the Humanity" is, a humorous send up of all the quick fix books that seem to flood the market these days. If you could just pick the right one for your particular issues, read it very quickly (because you really can't be expected to devote to much effort to this self improvement thing, are you), your live would be a bed of roses.
Mr. Roeder has latched on to just enough truth to make his spin amusing. Speaking of spin, Dale Carnegie must be spinning in his.

Part one, "Essential Qualities You Lack" discusses the four traits that you are deficient in that makes you the loser that you are- confidence, humor, curiosity and empathy. Should be easy to fix, right? Roeder informs us that "as you read, you might come up with some other qualities that you think could be helpful in your particular situation. Put these out of you mind. All character traits beyond those discussed in part one are not to be trusted."
Now, he is a trained professional, with an actual, rare BA in psychology, so he can be trusted.

Part two was my personal favorite. "Conservation for People Who'd Rather be Home Fondling Their Record Collections, Knitting Berets for Pets They May or May Not Actually have, or Just Sit in a Dark Room, Dreaming of an Even Darker Room."
He discusses things such as small talk, how to handle difficult people and topics, nonverbal communication ..."what exactly is body language? My arrest record suggests I need some clarification" and cross cultural communication or "how to deal with the world's five billion hundred million outsiders".
Personally, I think maybe they should just all stay outside. That's a lot of people.
That section was also the favorite of my afore mentioned imaginary kitty, Kitty. I told you about Kitty. I told someone. I think.
Enough said. Let's move on.
Good Kitty.

It's all topped off with part three- "Making Friends That Last a Lifetime...or Until Things Just Kind of Drift". Ok, I was just sort of skimming up then, but I am sure it explained a lot of useful stuff....and whatever.
Friends are overrated anyhoo....just love yourself, and then you will always have a friend! Right inside your head...talking to you all the time.

Some amusing stuff and I loved the illustrations by Eric West. You can look at the drawing on page 104 and pretty much sum up all the types of people in the world. Guess which on I am. Go ahead. If you're curious, you can just go to a bookstore and look at it for free, but if you want to spend a little time, having a little giggle, you could buy it I guess.

To quote Mr. Roeder "'Oh, the Humanity' is available pretty much everywhere slender novelty books are sold..." yes, of course, including Amazon.

I find myself smack in the middle of the scale of introvert and extrovert. Probably a bit easier for me to identify with introverts so this book was instantly funny. It was the type of humor that is written seriously, you are reading along, reading along and then something totally outrageous is slipped in. It totally catches you off guard in the best way!

There are some hilarious illustrations throughout the book and I would have loved to have seen more. At times the chapters got a bit long but for the most part everything was overall humorous.

One of my favorite chapters was one about nonverbal communication, specifically a section on shaking hands and what not to do. It's laugh out loud funny! The next chapter about cross-cultural communication is hilarious because according to the author he didn't have enough text to fill out the chapter so instead decided to insert random pictures of oversized dolphins in different environments including Easter Island and a gun show. It's all about the random, which I love! I also really like the final chapter where the author tries to convince you to be friends with him!

I picked this book up on Amazon about a week back and was amazed how quickly I was able to read it. I read it in about 4 hours in one day. The way the book is written is conducive to a quick read that will set you up for a more in depth look at the subject of introversion from other sources.

My only complaint is that the reliance on humor was a little to over the top in certain sections of the book. Obviously the book is labeled "humerus" so it's not to be unexpected going in but I found the most powerful portions of the book to be the ones which were written with less humor and more of a typical journalistic style.

All in all I would highly recommend this book to anyone who feels like they want to get a little bit of a grasp of what it means to be an introvert. If you read it and don't find the subject very interesting, well at least you got a good laugh.