Customer Reviews

The Onion Ad Nauseam: Complete News Archives, Volume 13

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In a time when picking up a newspaper will present you with just about any horror story imaginable (terrorists, nuclear war, snipers, child abductors), nothing is as much of an antidote as The Onion. I have been following this mock-newspaper ever since Dispatches From The Tenth Circle, and I have never once been disappointed. This volume begins a new series that chronicles all of The Onion's stories in the past year. Open it up to ANY page, and you are guarenteed at least one laugh, if not multiple fits of laughter. Articles range from ground-breaking front-page news ("No Jennifer Lopez News Today"), to Opinion pieces ("I Bet I Wouldn't Be Laughing So Hard If It Was Me In That Fire"), to advice columns ("Ask A Man Getting Yelled At By His Wife Over The Phone At Work"), plus horoscopes, infographs, and tips for everything from pet care to toy safety. It's everything you have ever wanted in a newspaper, but could never get because, let's face it, the news is getting worse all of the time. And included in this volume is the amazing coverage of post 9/11 (with articles such as "Hijackers Surprised To Find Selves In Hell"). While we almost feel as though we should be offended by them making light of such a tragedy, The Onion does it in such a way that it actually makes us feel better. It's always nice when something puts a smile on your face, and that's exactly what this book does. Most of the time you don't even have to read the articles - sometimes just reading the headlines is humor enough. If you have not yet read anything from The Onion, I am urging you to do so, because you will not be disappointed. However, I will say that The Onion's humor is NOT for everyone, and anyone who is easily offended will probably find this book to be despicable. But for everybody else, it's just a great pick-me-up.

Great book... while I'm not a fan of every article in the Onion (some of them take religion way too far), there is no denying that the majority of their stuff is downright loopy and sure to make you bust a gut. They update their website theonion.com every Wednesday, and I'm always there. Now you can get some of their "greatest hits" in the form of this book. It is important to note that you won't find every article in this book on their website, and that really supports the argument to get this book.

Be sure to check out "Congress Holds Weekend Trust-Building Retreat", "Supportive Gay Friend to Counsel American People on Ways of Romance", and "Hilarious Love Letter Found in Street" among others. If you are brand new to the Onion, you won't find it in this book, but you could search on the Internet for "Holy...!, Man Walks on ... Moon". That's really a great place to start.

One other thing to note -- rather than just get this book, there is also a 3-pack of Onion books. They really aren't priced much more than this book. It's called "The Onion Platinum Prestige Encore Gold Premium Collector's Collection" and the ISBN is 1400049059.

There is absolutely no white space in this layout! Ad Nauseum is packed cover to cover with pages packed top to bottom with great Onion-isms. This book will take anyone a year to complete! Plus-you learn a great new word-ad nauseum (or is that 2?)

Like the web site, the book is hilarious. However, beware - it's a bit raunchy. While I don't personally mind the humor, it's not necessarily a book to leave out on the coffee table when grandma comes over to visit.

I love the Onion. I have read it online for the past 3 years, and I never miss a week. Ever. But over the course of those 3 years, I have gone from a rabid "every Wednesday is like Christmas Day, and I must email stories to my friends to proselytize them to the cult of Zweibel" Onion fan to a casual "check out the the headlines, smile broadly, and maybe read one story through with a chuckle" fan.

Don't allow the NASDAQ-like diminishment of my zeal for the Onion make you think that the writing has deteriorated. The Onion is the same as always: off-the-charts ironic, profoundly cynical, coolly misanthropic, cheerfully profane, and very funny. It's just that after reading for a while you realize that the punchline of each Onion story is presented immediately in the headline and then repeated "Ad Nauseum" in the copy, the journalistic equivalent of a Satuday Night Live skit. That's not to say the punchlines aren't clever and funny, because they are. However, once you have read the headline, there's not much point to being clubbed on the head with the same joke in the 500 words that follow it (barring a particularly acute case of ADD). Similarly, there isn't much need to plunk down ($$) for a book of jokes you caught the first time around.

The Onion has done it again!

After three hysterical releases of Our Dumb Century, Finest News Reporting, and (my personal favorite) Dispatches From the Tenth Circle, The Onion has published a cry-out-loud-it's-so-funny book filled with satire on many subjects-ranging from September 11th (Hijackers Surprised to Find Selves in Hell) to religion (God Diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder) to fast food (Developmentally Disabled Burger King Employee Only Competent Worker). However, if you are easily offended, don't buy this book. Somewhere or other within these 264 pages of sheer brilliance, you will get offended. Otherwise, buy it without a doubt, as well as the other Onions. You won't be disappointed.

One of the most unique styles of comedy. This is the complete news archives of Vol 13. You can not find this stuff anywhere else unless you horded every single issue from October, 2000 to October, 2001. I bought the book just as I have every other Onion book, and this is the best yet. Buy it today, you will not regret it.

If you've read The Onion's website regularly for the past couple years, you won't find much new in this compilation. It's mostly just the stories from their site, reformatted and without color. Of course, all the stories are still hilarious, even on the second or third reading. It would definitely make a great gift for someone with an open-minded sense of humor who hasn't yet discovered The Onion.

I would recommend getting this compilation, if only for the September 11th parody coverage. A few weeks after the World Trade Center tragedy, The Onion began helping Americans deal with it by satirizing the rest of the media and its ubiquitous coverage of the crisis. When I first read it, even as I was laughing, I thought "This is what is great about Americans! No matter what happens, we pick ourselves up and two weeks later we're making jokes about it." The Onion has other funny things, too, but I especially recommend this one as a "freeze frame" of time and how people responded to the disaster. I printed every article out on the web that day and I have them with the New York Times from Sept. 12th and other magazines, to pass down to my children someday as a reminder.

If you love satire, you'll love this book. It is completely sick and wrong, and that is why I love it. I have laughed extremely hard while reading it in the morning over breakfast. It brings that crazy year in a better light.