You Are Worthless: Depressing Nuggets of Wisdom Sure to Ruin Your Day [Paperback]

Scott Dikkers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1999

Takes a humorous look at inspirational self-help books by providing hundreds of depressing nuggets of wisdom.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

To help craft this lasting account of his life and leadership, George W. Bush turned to two writers who have earned not only his trust but his deep friendship: Scott Dikkers, editor-in-chief of The Onion and coauthor of the #1 bestseller Our Dumb Century, and Peter Hilleren, former producer for public radio and some of the nation's finest public-access cable-television stations. Dikkers and Hilleren call on their finely honed journalism expertise every week to write and record the President's weekly radio address on WeeklyRadioAddress.com. Their work on such stirring addresses as "June Terror Update" and "The Pope Is Dead" made them the ideal choice to meet the challenge of chronicling the visionary mark left on history by its shining light, President George W. Bush.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing; Original edition (September 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0740700251
• ISBN-13: 978-0740700255
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #241,829 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #39 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Entertainment > Humor > Self-Help & Psychology
  • #50 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Entertainment > Humor > Parodies

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Misanthropy for the masses, February 14, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: You Are Worthless: Depressing Nuggets of Wisdom Sure to Ruin Your Day (Paperback)

I used to be a cheerful, if rather withdrawn fellow, but college made me into an out-and-out misanthrope. Naturally, I have developed a fascination for this brand of brutal pessimistic humor. This is certainly not the best in the line, but its sheer unsophistication can be refreshing.

As a whole, this book is uneven, but at its best it's outrageously funny (for instance, when it advices that you can get rid of your children by telling them a that "street hustling is a tried-and-true stepping-stone to movie stardom.")

Some might be disturbed by a book that says things like "think of the sweet release of death," even in jest. But I have discovered that for misanthropes like myself irony and a sense of humor are priceless survival skills. You will find that the dangerous misanthropes (like the Columbine killers) are the ones with large egos and no sense of humor.

If you enjoy this sort of thing but would like it in a more sophisticated form, I recommend Ambrose Bierce's _The Devil's Dictionary_ (first published in 1906), which memorably defined life as "a spiritual pickle that keeps the body from decay."

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From a 13 year olds point of view, June 4, 2001

By 

Skidmark (Hamilton, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: You Are Worthless: Depressing Nuggets of Wisdom Sure to Ruin Your Day (Paperback)

I thought that this book was the funniest book that anyone could ever read that wasn't going psycho. When I first picked up this book I had no idea what it was. I mean, what are you supposed to think when you see a book titled You Are Worthless? Anyway, I started reading a couple pages and I could not stop laughing out loud. This brings out a lot of details that are very, very true about a lot of people. I must have read the entire thing in about thirty minutes to an hour. I couldn't put it down. I always wanted to know what Oswald T. Pratt was going to say next. The stories he told and the things that he said made me want to make the book even longer with more topics. He talked just about everything: your life, your self-esteem, your friends, love, jobs, God, religion, and even more. I would definitely recommend this book to teenagers. They would be the ones who would laugh the most about what Pratt talks about. Adults, if you have a really great sense of humor and you aren't seeing a psychologist, then this is the book for you.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fitting the garden hose to your car's exhaust could be tough, December 20, 2000

By 

Joseph Haschka (Glendale, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: You Are Worthless: Depressing Nuggets of Wisdom Sure to Ruin Your Day (Paperback)

YOU ARE WORTHLESS is one of those bathroom readers that one gives or receives as a gag gift. That's how I got my copy ... from an ex-boss. (Hmmm... at least I think it was a gag gift.)

The book's hypothesis, made with one-liners and short observations, is that you and your life are essentially worthless and meaningless from the points of view of your friends, co-workers, boss, lovers, children, pets, and God. I guess one would have to be careful to whom to give this volume as a present. If the recipient was already suicidal, or maybe just enduring a 50th birthday, it might be enough to push him or her over the edge ... literally.

Some of the passages are particularly warm and fuzzy:

"Killing yourself would be a good idea. The only problem is that you don't have the guts"

"The bus driver would just as soon slit your throat as give you a ride."

"Next time you have sex, fixate on just how horribly unattractive your body is."

"You hate your job. And it's safe to say that no one at your job is particularly fond of you either."

"When you pray, no one is listening. Furthermore, you look ridiculous."

And my personal favorite, because I have a pet cat, Trouble, that I regard as my good buddy:

"That special bond you think you have with your pet is imaginary. As long as it has food and water, you could get hit by a train tomorrow, and your pet wouldn't think anything of it."

I'm enormously lucky in that I have a healthy level of self-esteem. Otherwise, I think I might close this book and go looking for a garden hose to attach to my car's exhaust pipe.