Our Dumb World: The Onion's Atlas of the Planet Earth, 73rd Edition [Hardcover]

The Onion (Author), Scott Dikkers (Editor)

Book Description

Release date: October 30, 2007

Our Dumb World: The Onion's Atlas of The Planet Earth, 73rd Edition features incorrect statistics on all of the Earth's 168, 182, or 196 independent nations. It also features maps, including a fold-out world map at actual size. Readers will learn about every country from Afghanistan, "Allah's Cat Box," to the Ukraine, "The Bridebasket of Europe."
Today's news-parody consumer cannot possibly understand made-up current events without the context of fake world history and geography. That is why The Onion is publishing a world atlas: to help us.
Our Dumb World is an invaluable tool for any reader interested in overthrowing a weakened government in East Asia, exploiting a developing nation in Africa, or for directions to tonight's party at Erica's. It is a reference guide to 250,000 of the world's most important places, such as North Korea's Trench of Victory, the Great Human Pyramid of Egypt, and Saudi Arabia's superhighway, the Mohammedobahn.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. The first all-new publication from The Onion's stable of mad satirists since 1999's Our Dumb Century, this globe-spanning volume raises the bar for topical humor. Known for their savage, irreverent newspaper parody, The Onion staff delight in playing up stereotypes and skewering perceptions, and they have picked an enormous playground in which to do so; this skewed world atlas compiles enough fictional facts to tickle-and probably offend-just about everyone. Profiling every country in the world-from the United States ("The Land of Opportunism") to Greenland ("The Largest Land Mass on Earth") to "The Who Cares Islands"-this handsome parody is visually indistinguishable from genuine reference materials, but with jokes crammed into every inch, from topographical maps ("Largest Mayan casino in Mexico") and tiny vital statistics boxes (Syria's ethnicity: "Anti-Semitic Semites") to historic timelines (Ireland, 1387: "Luck of the Irish runs out") and photo captions ("Emergency shipments of food, water, and Bono reach Sudan"). The group's humor can demand a rarified kind of knowledge-as in the entry for Nicaragua, which revolves entirely around the now-ancient Nintendo game "Contra"-ensuring that some jokes will fall flat; for anyone with a cultural pulse, however, the hit-to-miss ratio will be high. Eminently browsable and compulsively re-readable, this is an essential book for fans of Stewart, Colbert and (of course) The Onion.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Bottom line: Laughed my head off." -- USA Today

"Possibly the funniest book ever written." -- Miami Herald

"This is the best parody since the National Lampoon published its phony newspaper, "The Dacron Republican-Democrat," in 1978." -- Newsweek

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; 73 edition (October 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316018422
• ISBN-13: 978-0316018425
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 0.9 x 11.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (156 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #263,214 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

169 of 176 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Area Man Enjoys Book About Areas November 13, 2007

By doomsdayer520 HALL OF FAME

Format:Hardcover

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~]

41 of 42 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Banned at Junior High School April 30, 2008

By ebe1

Format:Hardcover

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.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Not for the thin-skinned April 27, 2008

By David in Thornhill

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

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.