Customer Reviews

Our Dumb World

5 star:		(93)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

Are you tired of world atlases that lie about how every country is full of scenic and cultural riches, with charming and friendly people? Wouldn't you like to see an atlas that tells the truth about how dreary and desolate the world really is, with 99% of the human population facing endless suffering and exploitation until their dying breath? Well the erudite social realists at The Onion have delivered an atlas that tells it like it is. For example, you were probably unaware that the leading cause of death in Tanzania is lion tipping, and that Georgia is even more Christian than the other Georgia. Of course The Onion is known for its subversively satirical humor, and here that cracked yet strangely intelligent worldview is applied to the Earth in a fashion similar to the historical coverage of their earlier comedy masterpiece "Our Dumb Century."

Sure some of the national entries in this atlas are built on thin stereotypes (Poland is subjected to never-ending Polish jokes) or cheeky one-issue gags that run out of steam (the entire entry on Jordan is about what a hottie Queen Rania is). But overall, Onion fans will certainly appreciate the depth of humor in this book, because to get the most out of the humor you need some real knowledge on geography and history (for instance, you'd have to know something about mapmaking to figure out why the entry on Greenland is so funny). Meanwhile, that Onion intelligence shines though, sarcastically, in entries for the most suffering countries on Earth (for instance, the genocidal slaughters in Rwanda and Sudan were peacefully resolved because you went to that rally), and there is sinister political satire in the entries for all the many countries that currently have wars going on. WARNING: Read this book with a magnifying glass, and a knowledgeable sense of satire. [~doomsdayer520~]

Apparently social satire is not a popular topic among today's educators. Our son was suspended for three days from Junior high school for bringing this book to school and showing it to some classmates.

My wife and I did not go through the book in detail and realized (too late) that it does contain some offensive language, pictures, and racial references. It was a lot easier to find this offensive content after a school district employee spent an afternoon flagging all of the offending pages with post-its. In my opinion it was all (well mostly all) relevant social commentary, but offensive non the less.

We thought the punishment pretty extreme, given the offensive content is minimal compared to an episode of "South Park" or any version of Grand Theft Auto. I guess you can chalk this one up to bad parenting. Too bad really, as the book humorously attacks some pretty serious issues, it easily engages young adults, and promotes a lot of good discussion.

When I first saw that that the Onion had done a spoof atlas book covering every country in the world, I thought it would be moderately funny. I mean, how are they going to make jokes about places most people know nothing about?
Somehow, they manage to do it, and what results is a f-in hilarious, HUGE book.
So much better than the Colbert book.

As a big fan of the Onion, I eagerly anticipated the release of this book and admittedly had high expectations for it. Over the past couple of days I've spent about an hour or two looking through it (one doesn't "read" a book like this), and I've pretty much had enough of it. The quality of the material is just not very good when compared to the Onion's other books (that's to say the weekly, topical/"area man" material) and especially the brilliant "Our Dumb Century," which is the Onion's other "concept" book (which is really not that different; it just uses historical eras/events for material).

"Our Dumb World" can be easily compared to the Daily Show's "America: The Book"--especially since the Daily Show book has a whole chapter on the "rest of the world." It's almost like the Onion took the "International House of Horrors" chapter from that book and bloated it out into 200 "dense" pages of mediocre, painfully obvious jokes about every country in the world. Have you ever noticed how the word "dense" can have two meanings? So much of the book is this level of humor, based on these kinds of observations: southerners are stupid racists, the Irish are drunks, and "thank God I don't live in Africa." (I imagine that there must have been at least some discussion over how to address the subjects of genocide, poverty, and famine prevalent in so many regions of the world in a comedy book. Apparently those pitching for the photo-shopped "children feasting on the carcasses of the dead" images were more persuasive in these discussions.)

Ask yourself: What makes the Onion funny? What do its writers do well?

Then think about whether a 200+ page atlas parody could possibly be an effective vehicle for these strengths. I actually think that this book is about as good as it possibly can be based on the inherent weaknesses of the idea. So many of the pages are filler material and endless variations of the same jokes... and jokes that were already made much more elegantly, tastefully, and effectively in the Daily Show's "America: The Book."

I think that "Our Dumb World" may actually appeal more to casual readers (or those unfamiliar with the Onion), than to actual fans that expect a high standard of humor and who know how good its writers can be.

I really enjoyed it overall, as the Onion humor is always quite genuine. The massive amount of content in the book probably explains why there are more then a few sections with extraordinarily droll humor. I'm confident that you will laugh every couple of pages at least. The historical background for each country isn't as solid "funny-wise" as I'd like in most sections, but the flag critiques are quite good. The maps and keys for each country are really hit and miss, but it makes a nice touch for every country. Very high-quality production value, and as everything the Onion does, it takes it's humor very seriously.

This book is hilarious but it's also about as un-PC as it gets. If you're sensitive about that, it isn't for you. ODW is funny from cover to cover, and some of it is laugh-out-loud, in the manner of an insult comic's take on the world. The Onion cleverly and often outrageously exploits every national, ethnic, and cultural stereotype there is, both historic and present day. If you can get into that, don't miss this book, and don't miss a word of it including the tiny map notations. If insult comedy bothers you, and no corner of the globe escaped their merciless barbs, spend your money on something else.

I've bought 3 more copies as gifts for family members. When I showed them mine, they so enjoyed leafing through they couldn't wait to borrow it and show it to others themselves. I doubted I'd get it back, though, so I got them their own. It's a terrific gift, as long as you're sure you won't be inadvertently stepping on tender toes.

The journalist jesters at the Onion have turned their attention away from the events of the day long enough to tell us a little more about the world we live in. Since this is the Onion, you're not going to come away knowing the chief export of Chile or the most populous city in Uzbekistan. It's not like you'd remember that stuff anyway. Instead, you get a description of Afghanistan as "Allah's Cat Box," and that's hard to forget

As with their take on the news, the Onion writers realize that an atlas isn't so much a collection of facts as it is an attempt to try to make the world make sense from a particular perspective. No matter how neutral an atlas writer thinks they are being, they are in fact comparing and even judging the entire world in opposition to their home culture.

By bringing the bias right to the front and pushing the less important trivia of facts to the rear, The Onion creates a book that is not just more entertaining than your average atlas, but may in fact be a more useful resource in conveying the world we live in then any atlas before it.

When talking about a news source as reliable as the Onion, one can only quote the equally reliable new source -- Wikipedia. Here's what they say about Jesters:

"In societies where the Freedom of Speech was not recognized as a right, the court jester - precisely because anything he said was by definition "a jest" and "the uttering of a fool" - could speak frankly on controversial issues in a way in which anyone else would have been severely punished for, and monarchs understood the usefulness of having such a person at their side."

I think the ability to recognize the seed of truth in the middle of the message of the fool is a skill more of our leaders could use.

And to top it off, the book is funny as hell.

For people who are unfamiliar with "The Onion", it is a publication of made up stories presented in news print that circulates in major metropolitan areas of the US. This is not a factual atlas so people who buy it as reference are sure to be disappointed. This is probably the funniest book I have come across in a long time. I can turn to any page and find side splittingly funny content. Others may not share my taste and may even find some of the content offensive.

I bought the book after listening to the audio cd (which is extremely well done, but goes through a lot less regions than the book).

For someone who is skeptical, turn to any page (preferably about a country or region you have interest in or know something about). The layout is amazingly simple. The book is devided by regions (US, South America, Europe, Asia, Middle East Asia etc). The punchline is right at the top of the page. There is a map, not detailing geograhic landmarks, but making humurous and intelligent observations about the region.Each page has "facts about the region" (national pastime, conflicts etc), history and pictures with subtitles. While there is is little in terms of actual facts, one does learn something about each region (albiet twisted for the sake of humor and extremely exaggerated).

This is just about the perfect book for someone who likes to be entertained, has a short attention span and does not have time or interest in reading books in general

Since I enjoy atlases and Maps, as well as the Onion web-site, this atlas caught my attention in my latest trip to a local bookstore. It has the look of the many family/student atlases out there, with plenty of pictures, individual country maps, "historical" data, and specific customs. Most countries have 1 page allocated with plenty of Onion-style descriptions and less than politically correct jokes. If you want to learn geography or history from this atlas you may be up for a surprise. If enjoy sarcasm, then this atlas is for you. For example the State Bird of West Virginia is the Dead Canary (reference to the state's mines). On the map of North Dakota the only comment states "Nothing there". While Alabama is part of the Shoe-less region, Georgia is part of the Shirt-less region. Visit Costa Rica where everything has either a Remax or a Century 21 sign. Or go to narrow Chile for the Argentina to Pacific jumping contest. In case of war, the French flag can have the blue and red detached, so the white stands out.

Have a quick flick through this book and you might think it was a Dorling Kindersley world gazeteer. It has all the DK appeal: well produced maps and state flags, interesting photos plus very clean layouts and typography but as soon as you start to read the words you realise you're on planet Onion.

The two hundred and two countries mostly get a page each with two pages given to topical (in the American sense) nations like Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, North Korea or Cuba for instance. Pages 207-209 covers The Stans: Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakstan. Did you know this last nation has a space programme? Probably not but there is a photo of a rocket strapped to the back of a donkey to prove it.

The two pages on Nigeria kick off with a page email: REQUEST FOR URGENT ASSISTANCE. Dear Reader, WE NEED YOUR HELP May the blessing of God be... and so on in the usual 419 scam prose. The sub-head under Chile says: 'Preventing Argentina From Enjoying The Pacific Ocean Since 1818'. It's this offbeat quirky copy that has made The Onion rightly famous and this book contains page after page of it.

As with a real atlas you're not meant to read it all but this is one of the Onion's better efforts and with its high production values I think this will be a well-thumbed book.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.